Cut off by Helene, North Carolina community builds a new road forward — literally
By Justin Berger
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BAKERSVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — A single person or group can’t fix catastrophic devastation. It takes everyone. In Bakersville, community spirit is shining.
“Yeah, it takes us all, everybody, and we’re going to get through it, you know,” Tony Gilbert said. “One day at a time.”
One business shattered by flood waters is building a new road forward — literally.
“When I first got back here on Friday I had to swim to get the trucks,” Aaron Young said.
Young’s Fuel Service, the family business, took on a tremendous amount of water from Cane Creek.
Young is in the business of propane and fuel oil sales. Right now, they’re delivering hundreds of gallons of gasoline to keep generators on for emergency crews and at the local pharmacies. They also have a 500-gallon fuel tanker parked out front so people can refuel their personal generators.
His showroom, encased in glass, was swept away. One of his empty fuel tankers was swept away in the waters.
“It floated up and floated right through the building there,” Young said.
The damage stretches all the way up Crimson Laurel Way, the main drag through town, and beyond.
“We’re all in this together,” Young said. “We’re all one family.”
Truly.
“Dad had some great friends from Nappanee, Indiana, that came down and been helping us muck out all of the parts store,” Young said.
“I just got a phone call, and they said, ‘We’re going,’ and I’m like, ‘I’ll go,'” Cameron Sevy, an Indiana contractor, said.
Sevy doesn’t know Aaron Young from Adam.
“The first day we were walking around, and it’s like, man, I almost wanted to cry for these people, but crying ain’t going to help their situation. So, we just got to work,” Sevy said.
He’s helping to rebuild Bakersville.
“I guess I never really thought about it as we’re down here helping rebuild a town. It’s just like, hey, it’s good people. We’re good, people, let’s get together and get some stuff done,” Sevy said. And what’s a town without a road?
“My employees that can work equipment are rebuilding roads,” Young said.
“I just started pushing, started pushing, and I realized we good little bit of river rock here and a good little bit of base like you’re standing on right there and that’s what roads are built on,” Ronnie Bozeman said.
A section of Crimson Laurel Way was washed away, and Bozeman and company are putting it back together.
“That’s what made this nation great, people helping people, everybody pulling together,” Bozeman said. “When your crops wiped out or your barn burned down, everybody jumped in and helped.”
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