MCDOWELL COUNTY, N.C. — In McDowell County, Helene forced entire buildings over the sides of mountains and down hills. One man survived the storm, by helping others crawl to safety.
There are so many people in western North Carolina going without right now — no home, no electricity, no food, no water but the silver lining is… they can say they're still alive.
Even today, getting to parts of McDowell County is impossible. WFMY News 2's Nixon Norman wasn't able to get to Carter Francois, co-owner of the Alpine Inn in Little Switzerland.
Instead, she had to FaceTime him from a nearby town also in McDowell County, Old Fort, to hear his story.
"I think we almost died and once I got up to Little Switzerland [a nearby inn where Francois sought refuge] and they gave me my own room, I kind of sat on the edge of my bed and I wept," Francois apologizes while trying to hold back tears.
As Helene began to ravage the mountains on Friday, Francois had to make a decision to get him and four others out of harms way; co-owner of the inn, a guest staying in the inn, and two unexpected guests using the inn as shelter.
"The adrenaline was pumping so hard, you didn't have time to cry," Francois said.
He was able to provide shelter to folks inside the inn for a while but as the storm got worse, he knew they'd soon have to leave.
"I'll just be honest with you, I was very, very scared," Francois said.
At first, a roadway near the inn washed away.
"We were sitting in there for probably about an hour, just listening to the wind howl and rain and all of the sudden, you just start hearing, 'pop pop pop pop,' I'm like, 'what the heck was that?'"
As he watched the deck of the Alpine Inn wash away, Francois realized staying there any longer could cost them their lives.
"It started to move and I got kind of uneasy about it and I told everybody to get out and get out now," Francois said.
Minutes later, the storm took out a large chunk of the inn, leaving them without any protection, they decided they had to leave.
"We were going over trees, under trees, over power lines, under power lines, they're were Volkswagen bus sized boulders in the middle of the highway that we were on," Francois said.
They were eventually able to get to that nearby inn, safe and sound.
As for what's next, he doesn't know, like many others, he said he is taking it one day at a time.
"I don't want to walk away [from operating Alpine Inn] I love it too much. It's who i am. It's what I do," Francois said.
Francois said there's no telling if or when Alpine Inn will back up and running, he said for now, most of it sits at the bottom of a mountain.