Becca Sykes and Louisa Currie - BRAHM listening day - Sept 20, 2025
Story
This story was submitted on December 4, 2025 by Admin
- Title
- Becca Sykes and Louisa Currie - BRAHM listening day - Sept 20, 2025
- Description
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Becca Sykes and Louisa Currie, both special education teachers who came to Appalachian State University for their undergraduate and master's degrees, describe falling in love with the Appalachian Mountains and staying in the area after graduation. On Thursday night before Hurricane Helene, they planned a cozy sleepover at Becca's house in Powers Creek—a remote property up a holler with log cabins dating to the 1900s—thinking it would just be a rainy weekend. Becca's father called insisting they get water, which they reluctantly did, buying one case before settling in to watch Little House on the Prairie with wine. They went to bed unaware of what was coming. Around 9 p.m., the power went out and Becca's landlord knocked on the window in a panic, saying water was coming over the dam. Becca moved both cars back as water rose above her boots, then they went back to bed. Around noon the next day, the landlord returned banging on the door, traumatized and speechless, saying "everything's gone." When they stepped outside, the beautiful little stream in front of Becca's house had become a white water river. Walking down the road, they saw their neighbor's cottage completely gone—just a chimney remaining with a mudslide covering it. The entire road at the bottom of the mountain had disappeared, replaced by Howard's Creek rapids, and the whole community living above was trapped.
For the next few days, they were stranded as trees continued falling and landslides kept happening. They moved all mattresses to the front of the house, terrified that a mudslide from the mountain behind them would push through their back bedrooms. They couldn't sleep, listening to the rushing water in silence. Becca's landlord family began rescuing people—their son retrieved a girl stuck on top of a landslide, and they found a man trapped under his house. On the third day, they decided to leave, packing what mattered most (Becca brought her cat Yuki in a Trader Joe's freezer bag, photos, and cat supplies, thinking everywhere was destroyed and she couldn't return). They crossed the receding water and walked over huge culverts where the road had been, with EMTs helping people slide down makeshift paths. Driving back into Boone, they were shocked to find town looked fine—people running, shopping at Lowe's Foods, living normal lives. Louisa's roommates were partying, completely unaware of what had happened just miles away. Becca's father drove from Raleigh and took her home, while Louisa immediately "locked in" to volunteering for a month straight with Samaritan's Purse, River Girl, and other groups, backpacking food and demucking houses from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. The volunteer efforts were largely disorganized because the area is so off-grid and private. Both struggled to process the trauma—Becca couldn't express emotions for weeks until breaking down trying to read an article for grad school, while Louisa didn't fully process it until summer after teaching ended. When schools reopened a month later, they received lists of students in "tier one, two, or three"—homeless or displaced—and found students unmotivated because "nothing really mattered" compared to helping families. Leaving Boone at Christmas, Louisa felt devastated seeing the developed DC area, realizing how isolated they'd been and how nobody outside understood. Both go back and forth about staying—the place breaks their hearts daily but also fills them with love for the community. Becca returned to her house after just a day or two, bonding deeply with her landlord family while helping with debris removal, living without electricity for 14 days and dealing with no running water. They emphasize that "nothing matters besides love and community" and the importance of talking about the experience despite how isolating it felt. - Spatial Coverage
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