New York Times Editorial, 20 September 2004

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September 20, 2004
Storm's Devastation Is Revealed, and a Mountain Hamlet Mourns
By MARC SANTORA

FRANKLIN, N.C., Sept. 19 - The rains and the winds were expected, as were the power failures and the flooding. But what nobody expected was that Hurricane Ivan would move a mountain.

But that is almost what the remnants of the storm did Thursday night, setting off a two-mile-long mudslide in the Peeks Creek area of Franklin that left at least three people dead, more than a dozen homes destroyed and this close-knit North Carolina community devastated.

On Sunday, for the first time since the storm hit, residents who had barely escaped with their lives were allowed to return to where their homes used to stand. Under clear blue skies, many spent the day rummaging for memories in the debris, even as teams of rescue workers continued to search in the hopes of finding four people who remained missing.

Peeks Creek is a community of 30 to 40 homes about 55 miles southwest of Asheville. The name refers to the mountain stream that runs down Fish Hawk Mountain, part of the Blue Ridge mountain chain in the southwestern part of the state.

Robert Crisp, 55, has lived in the area all of his life. He said that in normal times, the creek is no more that 10 feet wide. Now a gash has been ripped along the side of the mountain, 50 yards across in some places. Mr. Crisp, whose mother and sister narrowly avoided being caught in the slide, said it was amazing more people did not die. "Some of them were real lucky," he said.

It was only when the sun came up Friday morning that the true scale of the devastation became clear.

There is a brown, barren spot at the top of the mountain, striking because it is surrounded by lush greenery. Like in a tornado, only things in the mudslide's path were destroyed, while homes and gardens feet away were left untouched.

Along the 3,000-foot path that the mudslide cut, brick homes where lifted from their foundations and transplanted yards away; scores of oak, pine and poplar trees that lined the creek were ripped up by the roots and scattered like toothpicks; cars were tossed like toys, with one Mercedes-Benz ending up in a tree.

Amid the destruction, unexplainable odds and ends were left intact. A bed that crashed through the wall of a house was all made up and looked ready for someone to retire for the night. Glass wind chimes were still hanging from a porch on a house that had moved far from where it once stood.

Two adults and a child were confirmed dead. A woman 28 weeks pregnant suffered a miscarriage, officials said.

President Bush declared western North Carolina a federal disaster area, making assistance available to individuals and the community.

Residents who returned to survey the damage on Sunday mingled with the authorities, many who had spent the last three days combing the area.

A geologist was brought in to try to explain why the slide occurred, but there was no immediate answer other than the fact that rains played an integral role. Across North Carolina, the rains caused heavy damage, washing away part of Interstate 40, knocking out power for tens of thousands and leading to the deaths of at least eight people in all.

Specially trained search dogs moved nimbly on the spots where homes once stood, as swift-water teams tied themselves to the riverbanks and waded into the muddy water, still well above the normal level. Scores of others, including firefighters, police officers and volunteers, combed the area on foot.

Larry Dills sat on an uprooted tree overlooking the scene. The dogs were searching for one of his relatives. Mr. Dills had already lost a cousin in the slide and now they were searching for another. "It's unbelievable," he said.

The police asked reporters to withhold the names of the victims until their families could be notified and the community could come to grips with the storm's impact. In fact, with electricity out in 14,000 homes in the area, many people were still unsure of what exactly happened.

Warren Cabe, director of emergency management in Macon County, home to Peeks Creek, said workers were still searching for four people. They hoped that two of them might not have been at the scene of the destruction and would be found alive.

"We are slowly making progress out of the situation we are in," Mr. Cabe said.

The local authorities have been joined by teams from neighboring counties and states as well from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Part of the reason at least half a dozen people made it to safety was the quick work of the Cullasaja Gorge Fire Department, near Peeks Creek.

The fire chief, Johnny Teem, said he reached the area only minutes after the slide ended, between 10 and 11 p.m. Thursday. In the darkness, it was hard to know what was happening, Chief Teem said. People living in the area likened the noise of the slide to that of a dozen locomotives barreling down a track.

"It was terrifying," he said. "It was just a wall of big trees and water."

Firefighters were quickly dispatched to either side of the slide and began searching for survivors. "Our radios were going out, our flashlights were growing dim," Chief Teem said.

They quickly found a boy with a broken ankle writhing in pain and brought him out through the woods.

Farther up they found an elderly woman who needed oxygen, which they got to her, Chief Teem said. One couple told him about being inside their house when it moved 50 feet. They were unharmed.

As the firefighters made their way in the mud and darkness, they found a man with his leg broken.

"It was such a terrible thing," Chief Teem said. One woman was trapped in such a way that it took firefighters until morning, eight hours after she was found, to get her out. She is in critical condition, law enforcement officials said.

National Guard helicopters circled the mountaintop on Sunday, helping the searchers on the ground and photographing the destruction. Local church groups also volunteered to bring food and supplies to residents whose homes were not destroyed but who are now cut off from water and electricity. The main road serving Peeks Creek is still largely destroyed or covered by debris, but some four-wheel-drive vehicles are able to get through.

There are also those coming who are not helpful, the Macon County sheriff, Robert L. Holland, said. "We are having a real security issue with people up there coming in," Sheriff Holland said.

Many, he said, seem to be curious and want to take a souvenir or just look.

Even as the sheriff helped direct rescue efforts, he worried about members of his own family who live in the area. He said it was not until hours after the slide that he found out they were unharmed.

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