YANCEY COUNTY, N.C. — In a heart wrenching video from September of last year, the rushing waters of the Cane River nearly drown out the sobs of the Pogalz family as they watch Hurricane Helene wash away their home on a rural road in Yancey County.
Six months later, you can barely hear water trickling down the mountainside, and the occasional work truck navigating what’s left of that road that cuts deep into the earth – symbolizing the scars the storm left on the land and the people.
“This is what used to be our house, right behind the big tree is where our house stood and the where the river took it in. Helene just picked it up as a whole, and down the river it went,” Ashley Pogalz told Channel 9′s Hannah Goetz.
Channel 9 met up with Ashley near where her house once sat. The base of their bridge and roof of their barn are now on the other side of the river – fossils of their life up until six months ago.
We first met the Pogalz family in November when they shared their story on the Mountain Heritage High School football field.
“We are still alive, so that’s the most important thing,” dad, Danny Pogalz, said last fall.
During that interview, Danny told Channel 9 about the day Helene hit: “Picture everything you have gone.”
Danny’s truck was mangled and the family had to hike to safety after watching their community wash away.
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That first interview was just a few weeks after the storm. Their oldest son, Nick, was trying to find a new normal on the football field and all four kids were trying to return to school while the family of six was living out of campers.
Ashley said the kids would say what everyone was thinking: “I want to go home. They say that a lot, but I just say, ‘I’m doing the best I can. I’m trying.’”
Desperate to go home, with no way to get there. Helene destroyed their private bridge – the only way to get to the property by car.
Ashley has discovered it’s hard to get funding for a private bridge like theirs was. She said it’s an estimated $500,000 project.
“We can’t afford to do the bridge and our home. We can’t afford to rebuild everything,” Ashley said. “We’ve tried to get money through FEMA. I’ve sent estimates to them with no result.”
She added, “They’ve not denied us but they haven’t approved us either for funding. I’ve tried to get help through Samaritan’s Purse, which is still in process, waiting on legislatures to pass funding. There’s been programs that the county has that work for smaller bridges, but ours is large.”
Ashley is a teacher’s assistant and Danny is a heavy equipment mechanic. She said they make just slightly too much to qualify for many assistance programs.
No home, no bridge to get there, and no help. She wants people to know that families in western North Carolina are still suffering – including hers.
“Help,” Ashely said through tears. “We’re in a place where we’ve been forgotten. We make too much money for help and that’s not fair because the hurricane didn’t ask us how much money we made before it took everything. So why? Why does it matter how much we make? We need help.”
WATCH BELOW: Western N.C. family recovering from Helene left waiting for home from FEMA
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