Tyden Household Hurricane Experience

Story

This story was submitted on September 29, 2025 by Eden Pentes

Title: Tyden Household Hurricane Experience
Description: I am a graduate student who goes to Appalachian State University and who also attended undergraduate school here as well. My partner and I had lived in Zionville for almost a year at the time when the hurricane hit. We are surrounded by people who keep Boone going—not by students. Our neighbors are families, retired couples, and farmers; we are the oddballs out here. We live with our two pets, a cat and a dog.

When the hurricane hit hardest, it was in the night. I remember our AC going out. We live in an old cabin with no central AC or heat—we have a wood-burning stove for heat and in-unit ACs for summer. When the AC went out, it got hot quickly. I somehow went back to bed, but then was awoken again by a giant crash. I woke my partner, and we moved ourselves and the pets downstairs to the futon. At this point, our power was fully out, and it was hot and stuffy upstairs. We all ended up falling back asleep.

When it was finally daylight, we were able to see what the big crash outside the house had been. An old shed behind the house had fallen during the night, but thankfully it hadn’t fallen on us. A thin tree had also fallen onto the porch but hadn’t damaged the house. We stayed inside for most of the day until the rain let up. My partner had a satellite phone, so we were able to contact our families to let them know we were safe.

A thin tree was blocking our driveway, but we ventured out with our dog anyway. We checked on our neighbors, who were on their way to check on their church, which had apparently flooded badly. Another neighbor came by, soaked head to toe, to grab a chainsaw to help someone else. Across the way, our neighbor’s farm had turned into a river, and his cows had wandered into the hills, though they were safe. A whole trailer had been torn to pieces, and cars were floating by. People sped past on dirt bikes and four-wheelers, hollering to make sure we were okay. Construction equipment from people’s farms was already on the road, trying to clear the way.

Farther down the road, we came to the flower farm, which was decimated. Their farm stand was gone, and the road was destroyed. On our way back home, several people told us there was only one way out, so we listened closely and took note to remember. Luckily, our neighbor across the way was a retired lineman, and the one next to us was a current lineman, and they warned it would be a long time before power came back on.

So we decided the next day we were going to hack our way out of there and try to get through in our Prius. And miraculously—we did.
Spatial Coverage: 4250 Old US HWY 421 ZIONVILLE NC
Date: September 26th-27th 2024