Holden Beach woman describes experience caught in Hurricane Helene

HOLDEN BEACH, NC (WWAY) — More than 200 people are dead in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene as thousands remain trapped or struggling to get out of western North Carolina.

Judy Maultsby had recently moved to Bat Cave, North Carolina, just up the road from Chimney Rock, and became trapped when Hurricane Helene hit last week.

She said the only route getting off the mountain was impassable until Wednesday.

That’s when a makeshift road was made to get around washed-out portions and she could leave.

But she said it was hard to believe the devastation.

“Well I saw houses in the river,” Maultsby said. “I saw a trailer hanging off the mountain above us, not knowing if it was going to take the moment to drop. We had one friend that lived down the mountain and he had gone out to his shed to get something. And the mudslide just came, washed his whole shed and his house and him down the river.”

She said the support and love her “Mountain Family gave each other helped her get through the ordeal.

“Supplies were coming in and all the school teachers up there, so organized, they were organizing everything in the fire station and they cooked wonderful meals. And as people were being helicoptered out, they would bring all their supplies, their foods for all of us who were left on the mountain.”

Maultsby also owns a home in Holden Beach where she lived until moving to the mountains this past May. She didn’t return home to Brunswick County until early Thursday morning, nearly a full week after Helene hit.

She hopes to never have to experience a similar situation again.

“I hope I never in my lifetime have to see this because its, you know, its just so hard knowing that you, that you can’t do anything. I mean, you’re helpless, I mean, all you can do is like I said before, help one another and if you need this, I’ll share, you know.”

While Maultsby hopes to return to the mountains sometime soon, she can’t ever see herself living there again after this experience.