#HurricaneHelene #@WNCMountains

One Year Mark – post-Hurricane Helene whose name means ‘Torch’

I survived, my family survived.

Our town did not and has not fully recovered. It will be decades for the towns to return.

So many lives were lost, the numbers are still not clear.

The French Broad River claimed many lives – the water is still thought to be unsafe due to the ever-changing levels of E. coli. What’s murmured but not reported is the bodies and bones of those unknown and unnamed that are still at the bottom of the river, tangled in the branches and undergrowth.

Shock and Post Traumatic Stress still creep up as I, and many others attempt to continue with life without Friends, Family, Doctors, Homes, Jobs, Mountains, and Trees.

The Trees appear to be in shock as Spring ends and Autumn turns to Fall in the Western North Carolina Mountains. The leaves are turning brown and dropping to the ground. They are stressed, like us.

Many today are celebrating and remembering those lost and those who have survived this day, the 27^th of September 2025.

I continue to stop periodically to remember to breathe. Holding my breath now, I remember my doctor and friend, Quinn, whom I and many others mourn her absence after she gave her life in service to others in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Many lost their lives

Many lost their homes

Many lost their businesses

Many broken bones

Trees laid down their lives, rescue workers too

Heal dear Asheville, Swannanoa, Burnsville, Marshall, Black Mountain, too

Father, gather us here, those left, in your arms, help us to restore what’s left, to comfort those who are left to remember and commune respectfully to each other and the land you have given to us to steward, so rich and full of life, color, and surprises,

May we never forget.

~ Anita 9/27/2025

This photo of the Autumn Colours was taken years ago…. I hope we see these colours next year! #RememberingAutumnSplendor