Hurricane Helene hit Lansing, North Carolina hard on Friday, September 27. The resort town tucked into the mountains of Ashe County did not expect to experience an extreme flash flood. There was no warning, and people had to act fast to get to safety, including firefighters.
"At 11:30 in the morning, we went from 0 to 8.5 feet of water in an hour and a half. It was gone in an hour and 45 minutes. Weird for water to rise that fast and go back down that fast," Chief Jeff Venable of Lansing Volunteer Fire Department [LVFD] recounted the frightening tale to the Progress-Index. "We've seen 2 or 3 feet before, give and take a day's time rising, but not 9 feet." Big Horse Creek runs behind the LVFD's main station, according to Venable, and historic downtown faces them from across the road.