Sleeping on floors, seeking gas and cell service: North Carolina National Guard overcomes challenges to deliver Helene help

WRAL reporter Heidi Kirk was embedded with the National Guard for 36 hours Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 as they responded to Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina.

It's easy to take for granted the ability to fill up a gas tank, hop in the car and pull up your navigation. However, some people traveling in and out of western North Carolina this week to assist in the emergency response faced challenges without those services.

I spent two days with the North Carolina National Guard in Asheville and the surrounding communities, documenting some of the challenges faced by agencies aiding in recovery.

I joined 10 soldiers from the 875th Engineering Company, 505th Engineer Battalion, 630th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, and 113th Sustainment Brigade.

On Monday, we lost signal on our drive down Interstate 40 toward Asheville, and many of us struggled to make a phone call for the next six hours.

Despite the poor conditions, many guardsmen will tell you that a crisis like this is why they joined the National Guard, and they came prepared to navigate even the most challenging situations.

The group I joined was tasked with bringing supplies from a warehouse in Weaverville to various locations across the western part of our state.

It might sound simple, but behind the scenes, I found there are more challenges than meets the eye.

For the first several hours of our journey, I saw guardsmen struggle to communicate with emergency management due to a lack of signal, making it hard to get their assignments.

I captured the 10-mile trek from Weaverville to Asheville, where we found just two bars of service to make calls.

After getting the first assignment of the day, we quickly realized gas would be needed soon. Gas stations are closed everywhere you look, leading our group to drive miles outside the city to fill up.

I caught up virtually with Lt. Col. Bethany Barden.

While she wasn't part of any mission, she gets daily updates from groups on the ground.

"There have been challenges that we couldn't even have forecasted, and we've had to react to them," she said.

Barden said communication can be challenging in any crisis, and with so many people on the ground to help, finding how they can help the best can be hard.

"I think one of the biggest challenges we see is that everything is so dynamic and happening, and sometimes the information we're getting is stagnant," she said.

She said her team is working to improve the response in this particular mission and find ways to respond more effectively during future crises.

"[One] good thing that we've developed over the coming days is we've provided a liaison officer to each county out west to adequately communicate what that county needs, what resources they're not getting, and how we can augment those," she said.

The group I was with stayed overnight in Weaverville, sleeping on the floor of the warehouse where they were working. But so many guardsmen said there was nowhere they would rather be.

I ended my journey with the North Carolina National Guard on Tuesday evening, but the group I was with had no end date in sight.