It had been 48 hours since the winds and rains from Hurricane Helene ripped through western North Carolina and Sam Perkins still had not heard from his parents.
So, on Saturday morning, he got in his vehicle and started driving toward their home, nestled on a mountain between Spruce Pine and Little Switzerland, to find them.
“My parents live in an absolute gem of the North Carolina mountains,” Perkins said in a post about his experience. The area is about an hour’s drive from Asheville. “Under normal circumstances, it’s pleasantly very isolated,” he added.
“Little did I know that up there, Helene has demolished roads, homes and utility networks. This area is completely cut off from resources in every direction.”
More than 100 people are dead after Helene tore through the southeastern United States, …