Canaan Otting Interview recorded on September 20, 2025, at the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum.
Story
This story was submitted on December 4, 2025 by Admin
- Title
- Canaan Otting Interview recorded on September 20, 2025, at the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum.
- Description
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This oral history interview features Canaan Otting, recorded on September 20, 2025, at the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum. Otting, an 18-year-old resident of Burnsville, North Carolina, had recently moved back from living with his father to his great-grandmother's house when Hurricane Helene struck. He describes Burnsville as a small, sheltered town surrounded by mountains where hurricanes typically cause minimal damage—usually just basement flooding and brief power outages lasting a couple hours. The night of the storm, after losing internet and cell service, Otting went to bed thinking it would be a typical hurricane season event. He was awakened hours later around 3 a.m. by the sound of rushing wind that "sounded like a tornado," something he'd never experienced before. Looking outside, he saw trees falling everywhere and the driveway already flooded. His mother came upstairs reporting the basement was flooding, and when they opened the basement door, water came gushing out "like a waterfall"—it had built up under the porch and burst through the basement window.
Otting, his two brothers, and his mother tried desperately to salvage belongings and bail water, but it reached knee-deep and they gave up, grabbing what they could and moving upstairs. Living in the home were also Otting's great-grandmother (who had dementia and has since passed away), his great-uncle (who is blind, crippled, and diabetic), and his grandmother (who has MS and difficulty walking). The storm was so dark and gray—"the darkest time I've ever been through"—that clear skies didn't appear until noon. When they went downstairs afterward, everything was destroyed. The entire downstairs where Otting, his brothers, and mother lived was damaged and they lost everything. His mother's fiancé came to rescue them, but they couldn't bring the elderly relatives because they couldn't walk and there were no rides available. Otting, his mother, and brothers walked ten miles through devastation and debris to reach the fiancé's truck, having to cross a broken bridge because there was no other way. Otting held onto his younger brothers, guiding them through the rubble—an experience that remains vividly traumatic for him.
They moved to the mother's fiancé's house, having lost everything and needing to restart. For the first few weeks, Otting did community service in the affected area to obtain medications, shots, and groceries for his grandparents and disabled relatives. His private school started classes just one month after the hurricane while other schools remained closed, which frustrated him as he was trying to care for his family. He spent two weeks in community service and two weeks living at the damaged house helping his uncle up stairs, ensuring his great-grandmother got her medicines, and assisting his grandmother with cooking. His preacher from Concord Baptist Church, located up that same road, was also trapped at his house. By Christmas, the area was still "rubbly" and inaccessible by car, requiring ATVs to navigate fallen trees and damaged roads. His great-grandmother passed away about a week before Christmas, adding to the grief after having already lost two other people before the hurricane. Samaritan's Purse came in and repaired the house completely for free—fixing floors, foundation, and concrete—work done by "a bunch of old guys" who put their backs into it without asking for money. Otting now donates to Samaritan's Purse because without them, his grandmother and great-uncle would have no place to live. He emphasizes three lessons: don't put possessions over family because "you never get family back once they're gone"; find good internal structure because he wanted to break down and cry for days during the depression; and find peace with God, crediting his faith for getting him through and protecting his family when "anything could have happened." Though he lost everything materially, he didn't lose his family, "and that's all that mattered." - Spatial Coverage
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