By Lauren Ellis
A New Perspective on Hurricane Helene in North Carolina
March 28, 2025
Photos courtesy of Rutherford County Transit
You haven’t heard a story about Hurricane Helene like this.
At the end of September 2024, devastating flooding and mudslides caused destruction throughout western North Carolina because of Hurricane Helene. Emergency response teams and communities, including transit systems, swiftly came together to help the recovery. Transit systems play a critical role in emergency response plans, but their vital role often goes unseen. Transit agencies step in to fill necessary gaps when disaster strikes, Asheville Transit provided roughly 5,000 rides a day to help transport people from shelters, FEMA assistance centers, and recovery resources in this case.
After hurricanes or other natural disasters, public transit systems are often the first ones at the scene:
- Providing transportation for essential emergency personnel to and from areas of major concern without causing additional issues from having too many personal vehicles on affected roadways
- Evacuating residents from harm’s way
- Offering warming or cooling and shelter, keeping affected residents safe
- Transporting affected residents to and from shelters, hospitals, and other necessary sites
- Disseminating critical and urgent information to the public.
- Restoring as much regular service as possible and providing alternate routes to help residents and workers with recovery efforts and, eventually, get back to normalcy
CTAA spoke with two North Carolina transit systems. Rutherford County Transit and Asheville Transit swiftly adapted and responded to ensure their community got the help they needed. Rutherford County Transit operates a mixture of deviated fixed route service and non-emergency medical transportation with a fleet of accessible Ford Transit Vans and Low Floor vehicles; Asheville Transit operates a 19-route system with 35 30-foot buses. Both systems immediately sprang to action and provided critical help when the storm hit. Hurricane Helene wiped out cell service, electricity, and the water system, making coordination considerably difficult. However, drivers and support staff that managed to get to the headquarters of these agencies didn’t question this new job assignment, they simply stepped up for their agency and their community as well as they could. As in the pandemic, it’s apparent during an emergency that transportation operations are an essential front-line service.
In what may be considered luck but was careful planning, neither of these transit systems lost vehicles or faced damage to their main facilities because they were built away from rivers and outside of floodplains, and most systems in the area moved vehicles to higher ground. The choice to move their vehicles emphasizes the preparedness and careful planning that these agencies took and how seriously they take their role in emergency response. They knew they would need their vehicles to be able to step up and serve their community.
Kerry Giles, Director of Rutherford County Transit, knew the day before the storm hit that it would be big. Rutherford County decided to not have service on Friday, Sep. 27, and the heavy rain that started two days earlier triggered flood warnings before the worst of the storm hit. She gave local EMS access to 3 vehicles until others could get in. The next day, she, her husband, and a county commissioner with a CDL were driving vehicles to help with evacuations, with drivers joining as they were reachable and able to leave their homes. More than 100 people were evacuated, mainly from Chimney Rock Village which sustained significant damage. Giles admitted she was grateful that the dam alarms had recently been upgraded because they were able to alert to imminent dam failure. The sides of the dam eventually broke, and the water came over the top.
In addition to her role at the transit system, Kerry Giles stepped up to be the communications face of the emergency response, including answering unending calls and emails from worried family members. She used her connected position in the transit agency, as well as her communication and leadership skills, to work with the community to connect more than 1,000 people with their worried loved ones in the storm’s aftermath. The transit system loaned two vehicles to the National Guard who were stationed in the area, and rides were given to the people staying in the shelters to ensure their needs were met. Most of the dialysis patients reliant on the County’s transit services were being taken to their appointments within a week. Dialysis patients require multiple life-sustaining dialysis appointments a week and cannot drive after often depending on the vital services that transit agencies offer across the country. They were able to get back to their essential work of getting people to their medical appointments while still dealing with the aftereffects of the storm.
Amber Wagner, Transit Planning Manager for the City of Asheville (ART), stated “Once we knew the storm was coming, the decision was made to put 6 operators in hotels to ensure there would be drivers available to help with evacuations.” More than 500 people were evacuated with 600 total trips. Drivers aided emergency response crews coming from the area. Using their knowledge of the area and training, the drivers safely navigate response crews around blocked or damaged routes. The transit system distributed water and other important resources to vulnerable neighborhoods where residents lacked basic necessities. ART strategically started running 11 of their 19 routes operating fare-free while vital systems like water and power, and still providing rides to and from the shelters.
FTA works in tandem with The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) throughout emergencies and natural disasters. The relationship was structured in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, with FEMA being responsible for emergency preparedness, response, recovery, and damage assessment and FTA reimbursing transit systems for their actions and damages in response and recovery. The FTA’s Emergency Relief Program received its first lump of funding in 2013 through the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act. That same year, the FTA allocated $10.1 billion to transit systems across 12 states after Hurricane Sandy to help with response, recovery, and rebuilding, including local resilience projects. Transit systems across the country have received funds to reimburse costs from aiding in response and relief efforts after natural disasters. In 2023, Texas transit agencies received funds to cover emergency services they provided during winter storms that froze the state in 2021.
In the aftermath of a storm, we focus on the physical damage, and we forget how service being upended can be financially damaging to a system. These systems dropped their normal service to react to the needs of their community regardless of being compensated for it. Currently, Federal Transit Administration (FTA) emergency funds cover capital losses such as a damaged vehicle or facility. The funds can cover protecting, repairing, or replacing equipment or facilities that were destroyed during or in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Operational shortfalls from not charging fares or running their regular services for extended periods of time or any preventative purchases like generators are not currently reimbursable under the FTA Emergency Relief Program. Transit must (and often does) have a seat at the table for emergency planning, but they may not know the financial impact on their system. Transit has a vital role in communities when it’s not an emergency, and their role when it is an emergency can’t be forgotten.
Both of these transit agencies stepped up to help their community like every transit system across the country would do. How Rutherford County Transit and the ART City of Asheville responded to Hurricane Helene is not an isolated incident. Transit systems across the country play necessary roles in the response to natural disasters. Transit systems across the Los Angeles area stepped up when fires broke out, destroying areas larger than the island of Manhattan. They have not had the chance to reflect on how their actions have helped their communities when dealing with unimaginable destruction. With CTAA’s EXPO taking place in Southern California this year, we plan on highlighting them and their role in the evacuations and aftermath of the fires.
The Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) and its members believe that mobility is a basic human right. From work and education to life-sustaining health care and human services programs to shopping and visiting with family and friends, mobility directly impacts quality of life.