When Helene tore through Western North Carolina one year ago, it knocked out power and water for much of the region for weeks.
Appalachian State University was one of the few places that still had both, and the campus quickly became a community hub in the midst of the crisis.
The responsibility of keeping students, staff and neighbors informed despite widespread outages fell to Megan Hayes, the university’s chief communications officer. She shared her reflections with WFDD.
Interview highlights
On communication breakdowns:
“One of the biggest challenges for us was just not knowing what was going on around us. Outside of Western North Carolina, everybody knew what was happening — they were seeing social media posts and whatever news coverage could get out. But in the High Country, we didn’t know. All we knew was what was right in front of our faces.”
On resilience and generosity:
“At the same time that we were able to provide people with internet and showers, there were folks riding horses and mules out to homes to try to make contact.
There were real human tragedies happening all around us and to us. But every single person you talked to would say, ‘Yes, that happened to me, but it was so much worse for someone else.’ Even when people came into our resource hub for assistance — and we had funding available for faculty, staff and students — they would say, ‘Don’t give me the money. Save it for somebody else.'"
On recovery:
“I think we’ve seen our students show amazing resilience. Many of the students who graduated last December and in May started their educational journeys with us during COVID. So these are students who have been through a lot — and they know how to keep going through a lot.
What they really wanted was to be back together. Those moments of coming together as a university — when we were able to bring classes back, hold our first home football game, and take part in those important touchstones — they offered a sense of normalcy in the midst of chaos. That was really important, and it will continue to be."
