Hannah Finklestein Interview - BRAHM Listening Day - Sept 20, 2025
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This story was submitted on December 4, 2025 by Admin
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- Hannah Finklestein Interview - BRAHM Listening Day - Sept 20, 2025
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This oral history interview features Hannah Finkelstein, a first-year seminar lecturer at Appalachian State University, recorded on September 20, 2025, at the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum. Finkelstein lives in Ashe County in West Jefferson, just off Highway 163 near the New River, in a neighborhood located behind a low-water bridge. She initially prepared for what she thought would be a typical storm causing a day or two of isolation, but filled pots, pans, and her bathtub with water out of caution—a decision that proved lifesaving during the two-week period without power or water. The storm's intensity became apparent as she watched trees bend nearly horizontal and saw lightning illuminate her cabin from all sides. She lost power at 4 a.m. and spent hours in darkness on the first floor hearing trees crash down, completely cut off from communication with no phone service or Wi-Fi.
When Finkelstein finally ventured outside, she found her neighborhood completely isolated—the low-water bridge was destroyed (with steel I-beams "shredded like pieces of paper"), roads blocked in both directions, and the river flooding 50-75 yards beyond its banks. As the youngest resident in her 30s in a neighborhood of people in their 70s and 80s, she worked with neighbors to check on each other's safety by walking door-to-door. On day four, five strangers from an ambulance repair company who had taken the week off work arrived on ATVs, spent six hours clearing trees and brush from an alternative ATV trail exit, and refused payment—exemplifying the volunteer spirit she witnessed throughout recovery. Finkelstein got power and water restored on day 13, with internet returning three weeks later, complicating her ability to teach remotely and support traumatized students, many from the Asheville area. She emphasizes the critical importance of knowing neighbors regardless of political differences, crediting those relationships with her survival. Her neighborhood collectively rebuilt their bridge in two months, with Finkelstein personally constructing the safety rails. She reflects on FEMA's failure to accommodate working people (going through 11 inspectors over nearly a year before funding ran out), the vital role of Down Home North Carolina in coordinating real-time resources, and the jarring experience of the nation's delayed awareness of the crisis due to widespread power outages preventing communication of the disaster's true scale. - Spatial Coverage
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