A man on Thursday said he was trapped in his Biltmore Village apartment as flood waters from Hurricane Helene rushed through the town and took homes with it.
Chris Faber took video from his apartment showing the devastating flooding that rolled through the Buncombe County neighborhood.
In the video, flood water was moving so swiftly that it took a house and split it in half against a power pole.
“At first, there were a lot of kegs, propane tanks and things,” he said. “Then it was shipping containers and buildings, and then it was whole buildings. It just kept coming. I was more concerned about something hitting us again like that.”
According to Faber, the water was moving so fast that it shredded building walls like paper.
“If that would have hit the apartment below us, mine would have just fallen into the river,” he said.
Several residents were not as fortunate. Since Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on Thursday night, Sept. 26, more than 200 people across the southeast died, and at least 72 people in Buncombe County died.
Many residents became trapped by floodwaters before being washed away and drowning. Faber was worried he would have a similar fate, as the exit doors below him were completely submerged.
“At that point, there wasn’t anywhere else for us to go,” he said, adding his only choice was to wait out the flood.
Faber said once the water subsided to chest-deep depths, he waded out of his apartment but says safety still feels weeks away.
“It’s a weird, hurry up and wait feeling,” he said.
Faber’s building is no longer safe to house people, telling WRAL News he’s now living from his workspace in downtown Asheville.
