Man who left Florida to escape hurricanes nearly loses everything to Helene

House after house in western North Carolina has been ripped out with insulation, and a life’s worth of belonging now forming mountains outside.

Brad Ettestad is holding on to what he can.

“We’re trying to salvage some of this,” he said as he cleaned out clothes and pictures from his home.

His story is one of many families experiencing the aftermath of Helene, which swept away towns, communities and lives in western North Carolina on Sept. 27.

Etterstad lives in a neighborhood in Hendersonville that showed the devastation. While some homes were completely untouched by Helene, some were nearly destroyed.

Ettestad said he got to his home just before the worst hit but nearly lost everything.

“We moved from Florida to get away from hurricanes and evacuations, and this is where we’re at,” he said.

One of his daughters still lives in Florida, right in the middle of Milton’s path.

For her and her father, it’s been a heavy two weeks.

“Overall, it’s faith that keeps us going,” he said as he teared up.

While his home is a skeleton of what it once was, with a neighborhood stepping up its humanity is still intact.

“You can’t let stuff define you,” he said.

It could take more than a year to rebuild, but Ettestad is still salvageable. He and his family plan on rebuilding the home, wanting to stay in the place they love.