MARSHALL, N.C. (BRAIN) — Alex Webber moved from New Orleans to North Carolina after her home was damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, her sister told BRAIN on Monday.
Webber opened On Your Bike in Marshall in June last year with partner Adam Schmidt, but she couldn't get high enough into the mountains to escape Hurricane Helene. The storm slammed the region this weekend, wiping out the combination bike shop and coffee shop.
Marshall is about 20 miles north of Asheville on the French Broad River, which crested almost 25 feet above normal on Saturday. On Your Bike's building is about two blocks from the river's edge.
"The building took a lot of damage," Webber wrote on a GoFundPage set up by her sister, Joanne Ash. "If you know our shop, everything from the bike counter forward is just gone. The back of the shop is buried under 3 to 4 feet of silt and mud. We started digging out yesterday as the flood waters were receding. We managed to pull out a pickup truckload and will be back at it today. I’m not sure how we secure what’s left. The windows are gone, the double side doors no longer close. After seeing to our people, any leftover funding will go to cleanup as we access what, if any, equipment can be salvaged."
