Renata Dos Santos - BRAHM - Listening Day Sept 20, 2025
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This story was submitted on December 4, 2025 by Admin
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- Renata Dos Santos - BRAHM - Listening Day Sept 20, 2025
- Description
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This oral history interview features Renata Dos Santos, co-owner of Rivergill Fishing Company, recorded on September 20, 2025, at the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum. Dos Santos, who has lived in Todd, North Carolina for approximately 12 years, provides a compelling account of Hurricane Helene's impact on her tourism-based outfitting business and the Todd community.
Living off-grid at nearly 4,000 feet elevation with her wife Kelly, who served as chief EMT for the Todd Volunteer Fire Department, Dos Santos initially experienced the storm as relatively mild from their home—watching trees sway while drinking hot chocolate. However, the severity became clear when firefighters reported that their 40-foot warehouse containing all their business equipment was gone. The interview describes their difficult journey to assess the damage, the relief of finding their main building (the old train depot) and their animals (a pig and a blind goat) safe, and the shock of discovering their equipment scattered throughout downtown Todd.
Dos Santos offers unique insights into the communication challenges and community response, describing how she and Kelly spent hours each night answering messages via multiple platforms, serving as a communication hub for the area due to their elevated location's cell signal. The interview details the massive volunteer response from across the country, the collection of 88,000 pounds of debris, and numerous acts of kindness, including a stranger paying their entire $20,000 trash bill. Notably, Dos Santos shares the profound emotional impact of the storm, including her inability to return to the river—central to her business—having only kayaked once since the disaster. She reflects on finding purpose in the crisis and the extraordinary display of community resilience and humanity. - Spatial Coverage
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