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But at Brown Mountain Beach Resort, nestled on the creek’s banks between the northern mountains of Burke and Caldwell counties, floodwaters had never reached the yurts and cabins guests use at the resort.

As Hurricane Helene approached Jeremy and Kelsey Wallace, who help run the resort and wedding venue, expected flooding but nothing dangerous.

The Wallaces were wrong.

The couple lost a home and nearly their lives as the creek rose from 2 feet to 28 feet deep. Kelsey, who helps plan weddings at the resort owned by her family, had a couple there that expected to get married that weekend.

Sheer terror

When the water started rising at the resort, Jeremy’s mother-in-law, Wendy McDaniel, was trapped inside her house at the end of the property with her dog, Max.

Jeremy Wallace tried to walk to the house to carry her out, but the water was too strong. He and a neighbor, Mike, grabbed a canoe and made their way to the home.

“By the time I got there, the water was already up over the front door,� Wallace said.

Wallace pried the door open, fighting against the current, and water started to pour into the home. Once McDaniel and Max were out of the house, they all piled into the canoe and tried to make it across the water to higher ground.

The canoe capsized.

“I’ll never forget Wendy’s face,� Wallace said. “She’s 70 years old, maybe 71 now, and sheer terror because it was a rushing, raging river.�

They fought against the water for a while, seeking refuge behind a building that ended up getting washed away.

The three adults and one dog needed another plan.

“In the back of that building, we stopped and I called out to Jesus,� Wallace said. “I said, ‘Please help us.’�

A tree fell, landing against another tree, and they climbed it. For hours, they prayed the tree would hold, watching as McDaniel’s home was washed off its foundation. Mike swam to higher ground.

Moments later, another neighbor, Jessica, floated by them on top of a round bale of hay. Wallace yelled for her to get in a tree.

“I hear her scream and yell and holler, and then just nothing,� Wallace said. “I thought for sure Jessica was dead. It was that serious of a scenario.�

Eventually, though, the water started to come down. Jeremy strobed a flashlight at a neighbor who was driving down the road, the first contact he made with another person since seeing Mike and Jessica. A little while later, he saw Kelsey walking by.

“I couldn’t shake my arms enough to express how happy I was to see her,� Jeremy said.

Groom rescues wedding planner

While Jeremy and Wendy held strong in their tree, Kelsey was on higher ground, rounding up their children — Lexi, 13, Ruthie, 4, and Caleb, 2 — to take them to higher ground. When she realized what was happening, she and her friend, Jessica, tried to help.

“There was no plan, it was just to help, because that’s what we do. We help people, right?� Kelsey said. “That’s what we’re supposed to do.�

It was a rescue mission that went awry within moments. Kelsey had to shed her sweatshirt and rain boots to keep from getting dragged down into the water. Jessica was about 20 feet in front of Kelsey when she disappeared, only to reappear climbing a hay bale.

Kelsey realized she needed to find higher ground quickly, climbing atop a dump truck on the property.

Kelsey said she heard shrill screams. “I had no clue what’s going on because I can’t see anything,� she said.

Sitting on top of the truck, she heard someone yell for her to come grab on to a gas tank that was tied to a rope. Another neighbor, Eric, and a groom who was set to get married that weekend, Trevor, had thrown the gas can into the water and were going to use the rope to pull her to safety.

The rope came up about 20 feet short, so she jumped to a horse trailer and crawled across it to get closer to the rope. Once she got into the water and grabbed ahold of the gas can and rope, she was getting hit in the stomach with logs as the rapids tumbled trees down the river.

Trevor and Eric helped pull her to shore. The mother of the bride opened her suitcase and gave Kelsey new clothes to wear.

“That was really the beginning of people just loving simply because we’re human,� Kelsey said.

Family filled with hope despite losses

With the property damage and the loss of revenue, Kelsey estimated the business would lose more than $1 million. She and Jeremy are without a home after it was flooded, and the McDaniel home was destroyed by the flooding.

Now, they are focusing their efforts on getting their business up and running. “We have a responsibility to these employees,� Kelsey said. “That’s what we signed up for. We gotta get food on tables, not just ours. There’s several people relying on this business to put food on their table, too.�

Everyone is safe besides bumps, bruises, scratches and bug bites. Even Max, Wendy’s golden doodle, wandered back home a few hours after the ordeal. The family’s alpacas, goats and donkeys survived. About 25 chickens did not.

The real story, Kelsey said, is how the community pulled together to help during the storm, and the show of support since the storm. “People are good,� Kelsey said. “There’s so many good people, and that’s how we survive. We don’t survive with the government’s help, it’s just help from our neighbors. That’s what makes America, America.�

She said she thinks people need to take a step back from the daily vitriol politics can cause and see how good their neighbors can be.

“Look around you,� Kelsey said. “How wonderful. People just love to love.�

She said a few days after the storm, her friends Amy and John Moore texted that they were coming up with their employees from Brushy Mountain Builders to get started on cleanup.

“I said, ‘Amy, I don’t know where to start. We don’t have a home,’� Kelsey said. “She said, ‘Well, let’s just start. Let’s just start together.’�

The group started small, just picking up insulation.

“We call it moving rocks … that’s what we do with our family, we just move rocks and get over trauma and talk about it and heal together, and now here we are moving rocks again,� Kelsey said.

Brushy Mountain Builders paid their staff for two days to come out and help at Brown Mountain Beach Resort. On the third day, many came back to help as volunteers.

“It’s who we are,� Amy said. “There’s a lot of people helping (everywhere). It’s overwhelming to see how many people.�

Kelsey said it made her speechless to see folks coming together to help after Helene.

“Look around,� Kelsey said. “There’s so much love and hope.�

She added, “Our job is to help, and now, to see people coming out, it’s world-moving. … That’s how the change starts.�