Day 60 of the Apocalypse, Ground Zero, Gerton, NC pop. 231

We’re on week two of having armed guards with semi-automatic rifles at the entrance to Gerton.

We went about a week and a half without any security, which had previously been given by the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department. But then in the course of one day, there were three accidents that our fire department had to attend to, all with non-residents.

The first person flipped their car going around a sharp curve on a closed road at 5:30 in the morning.

The second started to go up that same road in the afternoon and saw how dangerous the drive was. He backed up into a ditch and couldn’t get his car out. He was headed to a closed hiking trail at the top of that road. Less than two hours later hikers found themselves stuck on that same closed hiking trail and had to be rescued.

Conserving Carolina, our fire department, Henderson County, and just about every other agency have all made multiple statements and posts on social media that our community and all of our hiking trails are closed, yet people keep showing up. Every time one of us goes up to the hiking trail to check if it’s being used, multiple cars are parked there, even though there is giant yellow tape closing off the entrance with a big “trail closed” sign.

I don’t understand what is wrong with these people - that their commitment to hiking, or their own needs, is more important than protecting an entire community and our fragile roads.

Hence the armed guards. There’s some grumbling from community members about how they don’t want to have to stop and check in every time they’re driving through. I don’t mind at all. I’d much rather not have our limited resources go to help people who have absolutely no reason to be here.

This weekend we attended a free Thanksgiving Dinner at the Bat Cave Fire Station, open to residents of Bat Cave and Gerton. It’s the first time Jeff and I have been that far down our Gorge, as the highway is completely washed away in multiple sections and is only one lane for big stretches. We took our side-by-side down, just to make it easier to navigate the four-mile road.

There were lots of folks at the fire station that I’ve seen on social media, but haven’t met in person. It was fabulous to get to hug people, finally meet them, and thank them for what they’ve done for their community.

Two Baptist churches that fed Gerton in the early weeks made the Thanksgiving dinner, which was delicious. It felt so life-giving to be in the fire station with people and get to know them. It felt good to have a reason to come together.

The devastation in Bat Cave is horrifying. So many houses have been completely washed away. The entire community didn’t have power for a month or longer. All roads had to be rebuilt in order for anyone to be able to leave except by air. Search and rescue continued for nearly a month, for all of the missing people. There are still showers and port-a-potties set up in the post office parking lot, for everyone who still doesn’t have access to water.

Driving through the devastation and seeing the destruction didn’t impact me as much as I thought it might. My immunity continues. This is my way of coping, to just observe and move on:

“Oh look, there’s a 200 foot piece of guardrail lying in the river.”

“Oh my, if we veer a foot to the right on this road, our entire side-by-side will tumble 50 feet down that cliff.”

“There’s Mike. He watched his house be washed away by the river.”

“Oh, there’s Clay. He stood in the river behind the fire station, connecting electric wires with his bare hands, when there was power running through them, so that the fire station would have power.”

“Oh, there’s Isaac. He helped his entire remote community get access to resources when all the roads were gone.”

These are just facts now. Stark remembrances of what happened, that we cannot forget. People who made a difference. Devastation that continues.