Message from the Board: Hurricane Helene Disaster Relief

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03Oct
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Since the invention of the motorcycle, riders have thronged to Western North Carolina’s mountain roads. It’s time to give back.

UPDATED October 5, 2024

For more than five decades, the BMW Riders Association (BMWRA) and its members have ridden the legendary roads in areas impacted by Helene. Western North Carolina has been home to ten official BMWRA events since 1977, so it is with an ache in our hearts that we see photos and videos of the widespread devastation… knowing that many of the kind people and organizations that we’ve met over the years—and past and present members and their families—are facing profound loss.

Overwhelming crisis

Hurricane Helene and a preceding rainstorm dumped more than 40 trillion gallons of rain on the Southeast United States — a striking amount of water that has astounded experts. That’s enough to fill the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium 51,000 times. It’s enough to fill more than 60 million Olympic-size swimming pools. It is 619 days of water flowing over Niagara Falls.

Repercussions have been apocalyptic. As of October 4, eight days after the storm hit land, 223 deaths had been confirmed (about half in NC alone) and the number grows each day. Hundreds are still reported missing. Flood waters and all the debris carried with it—large trees, vehicles, buildings, and more—destroyed homes, businesses, roads, bridges, and power grids. In many areas, normal rescue efforts and evacuation plans were stonewalled for days and will continue to face overwhelming challenges for weeks. 

In NC right now, dozens of FEMA personnel are navigating unreliable communication channels and severely damaged, winding roads—yep, our beloved motorcycling routes—as they try to find people stranded in the aftermath of Helene. In some counties only 40% of the population are accounted for.

“Entire towns have been demolished. Whole neighborhoods are swallowed up,” writes one Asheville journalist. Steel your heart a bit before following these links, but be aware that the information contained there is mild compared to more graphic reports of what is happening.

One friend of the BMWRA is Big Lynn Lodge in Little Switzerland, NC, where our Swiss Alps Weekend was held in 2022 and 2023. Our first glimpses of the area after the storm came from Sam Perkins on September 29, who had hiked 11 miles to his parents’ home near Big Lynn Lodge the day before. His public Facebook post garnered national attention. He shared gut-wrenching pictures of NC 226A, the road on which Big Lynn Lodge is located. A handful of them are below.

On October 1, Big Lynn Lodge owner Hoyt Johnson was interviewed via phone by WCTI-TV in New Bern, NC. Today on October 3, we hear from Hoyt’s sister that the Lodge now has a generator installed and running, and supplies are getting in. Hoyt is cooking for the community and opening the Lodge to locals who have lost their homes.

How we are helping—and can continue to help

This is a difficult time. Riding motorcycles is trivial by comparison. But motorcycling fosters community, and when so many in the communities we have ridden through are experiencing tough times, we encourage our members to support Western North Carolina in any way  possible. Below we have compiled a list of organizations that are aiding in recovery and relief efforts. Please support them with donations or by volunteering if you are able. We’ll continue to update the list as days and weeks progress.

On October 1, the BMWRA donated $750 to the American Red Cross and World Central Kitchen for hurricane relief efforts. This money came to us, sadly, from the shuttered charter club BMW Riders of Chattanooga in Tennessee. While Chattanooga did not suffer as extensively as Western North Carolina, RA Trustees honored the Appalachian-based riders’ club by using their funds to help Appalachians hardest hit by the disaster.

 

Mitchell and McDowell Counties
Little Switzerland sits in both counties; Big Lynn Lodge is in Mitchell.

 

Haywood County
This is the county that welcomed RA rallies in Waynesville and Maggie Valley.

 

Buncombe County
The rallies at Biltmore in Asheville were held in Buncombe County. 

Buncombe County government recommends the following orgs: 

 

Regional, State, and Federal Aid

 

This crowdsourced list of WNC humanitarian resources is being updated daily. It started out as Asheville only, but now many affected areas in NC are represented: ashevillerelief.com

 

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