Faces of Swannanoa: Steve Crowell

Between the tourist destinations of Asheville and Black Mountain, lies a rural town called Swannanoa. During Hurricane Helene this small town suffered devastating flooding, washing away homes, businesses and infrastructure. The storm knocked out power and cell services, leaving the town’s citizens stranded with no way to contact the outside world. 

Six months later, the scars Helene left in Swannanoa are still easily visible. Vacant lots dot the town, littered with small remnants of the homes that used to be. The banks of the Swannanoa River are still covered in all sorts of debris from homes and infrastructure. 

Steve Crowell told his story in early April, as he worked on an air conditioning unit outside of Silverado’s Bar in Black Mountain. He was home with his son when the flooding hit. When he looked in to his yard and saw the normally calm spring that runs through his property had turned into a several foot tall wall of water, he knew he had to evacuate. 

“It was like a raging river,” said Crowell. “It was about two feet deep, and I told my son ‘Hey, we got to go.’ Told him to grab all his all his stuff, his medication, some clothes. I grabbed some cash, my laptop, and my dog. That’s all the time I had.” 

When they got into the truck and headed out, they found that their path had been blocked by a single-wide trailer that was washed into the road. As they looked to find another way out, fallen trees and washed-out bridges thwarted their attempts. In this scramble, Crowell’s son started to get lightheaded and slumped over. His son is type 1 diabetic, and while they remembered to grab his medication, they had no time to grab snacks to keep his blood sugar levels up. 

Crowell tried to get snacks from the local fire department, but they turned him away saying they had no food either. When he returned to the truck disheartened, his son was saved by the grace of some of their neighbors. A couple that lived nearby saw Steve and his son in the truck and came down to offer them food. 

“If it wasn’t for them,” said Crowell. “I mean he would have died.” 

Crowell said that when they first left his house, they called his son’s mother to let her know they were evacuating. After that, Crowell said he lost cell service for around two months. 

“We couldn’t even call to let her know that we were alive,” said Crowell. 

Crowell said that once the flooding and rain subsided, there was no outside help for Swannanoa. They were clearing debris from the roads themselves, moving fallen trees, homes, and other wreckage. 

“We had no help from no government, no Biden, no FEMA, nothing,” said Crowell. We were the ones that cleared the trees, the landslides. It was all community.” 

While most of the community came together to help each other, there were some that were only looking out for themselves. Crowell said that once the debris cleanup started, roaming bands of thieves came around, going from property-to-property picking through people’s possessions. With a lack of authority in the area, the citizens of Swannanoa had to defend themselves. 

“I was riding around on a dirt bike chasing them off,” said Crowell. “I lost my whole business and my van. All my tools, my home, everything, and they’re sitting here going around, trying to steal whatever little people have left.”   

Crowell does HVAC work, and in the flooding, he lost his ambulance that he had modified to be a work-truck full of expensive tools. He is grateful to be back working now, thanks to a van and some tools that he received through donations. 

Hurricane Helene was a devastating and unexpected storm for a town like Swannanoa. Being so far from the coast, many people never thought a storm like this would ever hit their town. Crowell said that after this storm, he’s fearful for more in the future. Crowell mentioned geoengineering in the context of this storm, adding that he believed that this was steered deliberately.  

“They can control the weather, obviously, and the path of a hurricane,” said Crowell about the storm. “So, when it came up it lost intensity completely, got redirected and then built intensity.” 

Geoengineering is a conspiracy theory that gained some traction in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, due to the unprecedentedness of the storm. Because hurricanes rarely ever make it this far inland, some believed that there was human interference, even though there’s no evidence showing it. 

Crowell said that he noticed a change in the recovery efforts once President Donald Trump visited Swannanoa. He said he noticed more workers and heavy machinery coming into town once Trump got elected. 

“Trump came here twice, and it was on the news, so as soon as he got presidency, then sh*t started getting picked up,” said Crowell. “He said he’s going to clean everything up, make it more beautiful than it was, and he’s filling all his promises.” 

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This story is part of a semester-long investigative reporting project into the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. It was created by an advanced reporting class in the Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies program at UW-Milwaukee. Other stories from the project are available here.

This work was made possible through the support of MPC Endowment Ltd., the philanthropic affiliate of the Milwaukee Press Club.