Man narrowly escapes from Helene mudslide only to have to overcome the odds to survive
By Christian Petersen, Carrie Hodgin
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AVERY COUNTY, North Carolina (WXII) — When Helene slammed Avery County, one man found himself in the fight of his life.
First, raging floodwaters washed away the only bridge connecting him to the outside world, but then something even worse happened.
Tim Buchanan, 66, narrowly escaped a landslide on the morning of Sept. 27, 2024. He would spend the next 10 months finding ways to cross the Toe River after his bridge washed out. “I kept watching the water rise, “he said.
Buchanan watched from his front porch as the storm raged and debris started floating down the river. “Large trees, huge oak trees. Yeah. Big round was coming down the river, parts of houses. It would just be lumber and stuff by the time it got here,” he said.
Buchanan jokingly said that he lives on the wrong side of the river. Like so many folks in this part of Avery County, a small bridge led from his property to the highway.
“There were trees and stuff stuck up in the old bridge, where you could tell it was still there. And then the next minute, there weren’t any trees stuck in it, and I knew my bridge was gone,” he said.
But that wasn’t the end of Buchanan’s troubles. “I heard a sound and went out my back door, and there were trees coming like this, and I kept looking.”A landslide was barreling towards him and his home. “And then I saw rolling rocks, trees, and mud. But I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. I couldn’t run for watching what I was seeing, and I finally ran and got out of the way. But if I didn’t run, it would have, it would have gotten me for sure.”
With no power, internet, or cell service, Buchanan had no way to share with his daughter that he was alive and that his bridge was out.
“Just like it’s a dream, a nightmare,” he said. He also had no way to get help.”A couple of days later, she made it. She made it down, and I saw them, you know, they were yelling at me from the road, and I said, I’m alive.”
Buchanan spent the next several days walking over a mile through the woods to town when he needed supplies. When the water receded, he would walk through the river to the other side. Eventually, volunteers helped him build a small footbridge so he could cross the river.
“It was, it was hard, you know, I didn’t get out a whole lot. Mostly just staying home,” Buchanan said.
It would take 10 months before Buchanan, along with help from several nonprofit organizations like Samaritan’s Purse and the Appalachian Recovery Coalition, built him a new bridge.
“I never did clean the mud off the window. Just a memory I wasn’t ready to shake yet,” he said.
Buchanan’s back porch is also fixed, but the emotional scars from that day will take longer to heal.
“It just feels like I’m blessed beyond what I should be. And other people are suffering beyond what they should be,” he said.
There’s a nonprofit organization, Bridges for Avery, that’s helping folks like Tim who can’t afford to rebuild their bridges.
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