A Recovery Message From IGA VP Marketing Ashley Page

Eight years ago my husband and I moved from Chicago to Asheville, North Carolina. After spending so much of my IGA career writing about the power of community, I felt like it was time for us to find our community. A place where neighbors can count on neighbors, local family businesses thrive, and people are proud to be stewards of the land and nature. Asheville delivered all of that and more, and every day we’ve been there we’ve been thankful we found the place where we belong.

It seems like months, but it’s only been two weeks since Hurricane Helene barreled up through Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina before landing in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. The Hurricane left a path of death and destruction in its wake, but we now know western North Carolina got the worst of it, largely because the area received 10-20 inches of rain in the two days before the hurricane even hit. We knew the unprecedented rainfall combined with high winds and additional rainfall from the hurricane could cause flooding, but no one — literally no one in weather, government, or disaster response — predicted just how bad it could be.  

Crews working to restore water amidst the destruction. Photo: Asheville City Government, Facebook

Most of us in western North Carolina lost power and cell service right as the hurricane hit, so we were isolated with no information while we sat through hours of 60-80 mile per hour winds. When the storm finally passed, our neighbors began spilling out onto our mountain road. We were all amazed by the devastation — my property alone lost dozens of trees — but the landslides we had begun to obsess about didn’t happen on our mountain. We were shellshocked, but broke out chainsaws and cleared driveways, marveled at our good fortune, and went to bed, assuming the morning would bring power and cell service back to the mountain.

It was a full 24 hours later before we had service and finally began to learn the soul-crushing truth of what had really happened.  Not from the media, who were still struggling to get reporters into Asheville, but from locals on social media. We learned entire neighborhoods in Asheville were covered in roof-high flood waters, whole communities near us were wiped off the map.  Hundreds of roads in and out of western North Carolina were washed out. Power and water were out everywhere, and while we had sporadic cell service, not everyone did. We were effectively cut off from the rest of the world.  

Debris from the storm made many roads impassable. Photo: Asheville City Government, Facebook

Social media became the lifeline for western North Carolina as the flood waters continued to rise. Frantic people posted pleas for help on Facebook, and we saw hundreds of rescues play out as local police, fire departments, and citizens raced to save them. Then people started posting about their missing loved ones. At first, we thought surely we would all find each other when the cell service came back. Soon we were reading unimaginable stories of destruction and death, and we knew those hopes were heartbreakingly unrealistic.  

It was a full three days before food and water began coming in, and people who could get out began leaving to save resources for those who really needed it. We eventually found a route and made our way to my parents in Kentucky, where thanks to IGA and the local community, we spent the week collecting supplies for the people of western North Carolina.

IGA VP Marketing & Public Affairs Ashley Page and District Manager Terry Dykes load water from Somerset IGA. 

We are back in Asheville now and learning how to live in a new normal. We wait on information about how many people we have lost, knowing the number will be unbearable when all is said and done. Power is back on in many areas but certainly not all, and there’s still a nightly curfew. Water won’t be restored to Asheville for at least a month, and major highways won’t be open again until later next year. Simply put, we’re measuring recovery not in days and weeks but months and years.  

And in the last week, we watched much of Florida prepare for a once-in-a-thousand-years hurricane. Luckily, Florida dodged the "worst-case scenario," according to FEMA Director Deanne Criswell, but even so, death and destruction followed Hurricane Milton.

Those impacted are now wondering how they could possibly find a path forward. If I’ve learned anything from my hurricane experience — and also from my 20+ years at IGA — it’s that there’s always a path forward when you have the power of community.

Ask IGA Australia Retailer Fred Harrison, who sheltered 800 people in his store during one the worst bushfires in Australian history and then helped them rebuild the town they lost.

Ask Gwen Christon, who despite not having flood insurance vowed to rebuild her flooded store, received help from across the country, and successfully reopened less than a year later.

Or ask the survivors of western North Carolina, who are beginning to piece their lives back together, fueled by a constant stream of donated meals and supplies – including two truckloads that came from an IGA in my hometown of Somerset, Kentucky.

Volunteers unload trucks with water in western North Carolina. 

Last week I got a message from NGA CEO Greg Ferrara, who lived through Katrina in New Orleans. He told me it would take time, but my community would come back stronger than ever. He told me to stay proud, but to reach out if I needed help. Those words, from someone who had experienced a similar situation, gave me hope. And just a few days later I now see how right he was.

When you drive down the streets of Asheville today, there are people everywhere. Even without water, our local restaurants are cooking food to give away on every corner. Volunteers are hiking into the mountains to bring life-saving supplies to people who still can’t leave their homes. And people from far away states are donating their time to build back all the communities of western North Carolina, one day at a time. I’ve never seen such an incredible outpouring of love, and the power of community is everywhere.

To our IGA retailers, team members, and friends and family impacted by Hurricane Milton, I promise you, your community will come back, stronger than ever. Stay proud, but reach out to us for help. Most of all, remember this:

Your community is actually far larger than the place you call home.

It’s all of us who want to help in your time of need, and as I was reminded last week when so many of you reached out to me, our IGA community is as powerful as they come.

For recovery resources, please click here.