Jennifer Seifert knew all about Asheville’s communal spirit. As a 12-year resident of Western North Carolina, the Juno Pottery owner had long felt the love from locals and those within the city’s tight arts community. Still, it wasn’t until Hurricane Helene barreled across the Southeast, causing more than 200 deaths and $47 billion in damages, that she truly felt its extent.
“To be honest, there was a moment where I thought it was just a complete loss,” says Seifert, who, along with other creatives in Asheville’s River Arts District, lost everything when heavy rains overflowed rivers that spilled onto neighborhoods. “As far as my studio, it filled with water and almost created like a washing machine. Everybody’s tools, equipment and unfinished work swirled around. Everything filled with mud and water. It was just devastating.”
Seifert’s studio rests near Biltmore Village, a quaint shopping area just outside of Biltmore Estate. According to Explore Asheville, visitors spent nearly $3 billion around the city in 2023. In late October, Biltmore Village is usually filled with vest-donning shoppers looking for fall-themed art and Christmas gifts. This year, 26-foot-high waters no one ever imagined have left things decimated. Some stores will be closed for six months. “I don’t know anybody who hasn’t been affected in some form or another,” Seifert says.
Biltmore announced that it will donate $2 million to relief efforts, even though it sustained its own blows. Waters reached as high as 20 feet up the famous arch at the attraction’s main entrance.
“We had 10 employees that lost everything,” says Charles Thompson, Biltmore’s vice president of resort experiences. “Their houses and cars are gone. And we had six employees that had significant structural damage to their homes. The group sales building that is directly in front of the estate is gone. The Starbucks that is just to the left of the estate is gone. It’s catastrophic in the sense that we’ve never seen flood waters to this level.”
Biltmore, which houses Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star The Inn on Biltmore Estate, plans to reopen in early November, right in time for a holiday season that’s traditionally quite lively around these parts. Thompson says cherished annual events such Christmas at Biltmore (November 2 to January 5) are still slated to carry on as normal.
Any sense of normality is what Florida is hoping for these days, too. Occurring just two weeks after Helene’s fury, Hurricane Milton made landfall on Florida’s west coast on October 9. The second-most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico, Milton hit Florida cities such as Siesta Key and Sarasota hard. Officials say the destruction has already surpassed $50 billion.
By now you’ve seen pictures of the damage caused around Tampa. The Tampa Bay Rays’ Tropicana Field was mangled so badly by Category 3 winds that MLB officials are contemplating if the baseball team will need to play in a nearby venue to begin a season that won’t start until March.
The Vinoy Resort & Golf Club, Autograph Collection, a property sitting less than two miles from the stadium, didn’t sustain any major damage. Still, to get the hotel back to its elevated pre-storm standards, it will remain closed until October 28. As for hotel employees directly impacted, The Vinoy is offering TakeCare Relief Fund grants, giving disaster pay to those who missed shifts and collecting paid-time-off donations for staffers with no or low balances.
People outside of the worst-hit areas are also rallying to help. Even though Atlanta dealt with its own flooding issues after Helene, a fundraising dinner there organized by chefs Howard Hsu (Sweet Auburn Barbecue) and James Beard semifinalist Arnaldo Castillo (Tio Lucho’s) raised $10,000 for World Central Kitchen, which is directly helping efforts in Asheville. “It truly speaks to the camaraderie and mutual respect we all have for one another,” Hsu says. “Everyone is willing to step up when it counts, and that’s something really special about Atlanta’s restaurant scene.”
Back in North Carolina, country superstars Luke Combs and Eric Church are headlining Concert for Carolina, an October 26 show in Charlotte where 100% of the proceeds will go to rescue efforts in the Carolinas.
People like Seifert are feeling the love. “[I thought] I wasn’t going to be able to pick it back up and continue,” she says, “but the community here has been just as they’ve always been — generous and strong. The encouragement has been so widespread for everyone to keep going and to find a way forward and to not give up on this community that’s been built here.”
For those who want to help, there are several opportunities to do so. The winter holidays are when many Western North Carolina businesses generate a big chunk of their annual sales, so Seifert suggests purchasing your Christmas presents from affected businesses this year. One easy way to do that is through Love Asheville From Afar, a curated website where more than 300 area businesses’ wares and gift cards can be purchased.
And should a last-minute winter road trip come up or you’re already thinking about a spring getaway, consider parts of Asheville and neighboring towns as your destination. While it’s true that some shops and hotels will be closed for a while, many properties are either back open already (such as The Horse Shoe Farm) or will reopen very soon (The Inn on Biltmore Estate and The Foundry Hotel). They all need your travel dollars now more than ever.
Several crowdfunding efforts have also been established. With the Asheville arts scene, in particular, a host of initiatives — such as River Arts District recovery, Center for Craft and the Craft Emergency Relief Fund — is raising money to aid a community that Seifert and others so passionately built get back on its feet.
“Asheville is going to change,” Seifert says. “It’s going to look different. It’s going to take a really long time for the recovery. It’s going to require a lot to help us recover. But we are determined to stay and to keep creating. We’re just determined to not give up on it. There’s a soul here that can’t be diminished.”
