The farmers impacted by Hurricane Helene continue to display their resiliency, and some of them made it to the North Carolina State Fair last week. Trey Enloe of Bright Branch Farms in Hendersonville was one of them after suffering significant losses to his apple crop.
“We had about 50% of our crop already picked. So of the 50% that was remaining, probably 25 to 30% just hit the ground. And then that remaining, you know, 20% 25% you know, as those apples that fell to the ground fall, they’re going to hit those and bruise them up. The wind’s going to bang them against the tree. So, so the fruit that’s left isn’t the best quality anyway.”
And having no electricity for 12 days also took a toll.
“So we have, you know, all those that 50% apples that I talked about, you know, that we already had picked. We had in cold storage, so it was not cooled for, you know, 12 days. So potentially, our insulation in that building is good enough to let some of them hang on. But I know we had some kind of loss there as well. So, and then, you know, we had trees fall in the buildings, that kind of thing. Culverts get washed out. So, you know, up on the farm, when you step back and look at it, you know, I feel really blessed compared to a lot of folks like those folks down in Bat Cave at Chimney Rock, you know, we didn’t have, you know, whole houses swept away. But, you know, it, all that little stuff is going to add up.”
He lost his entire four acres of pumpkins. But Enloe says he was luckier than some others.
“My house is fine. Unfortunately, my parents, they lived down in the in the Hickory Nut Gorge area. And it’s, it’s right at the bottom of the gorge there. So, you know, as all that water continues to fall, even to those lower, you know, it just gets heavier, heavier, heavier, and those rivers start to rise. So I know the Rocky Broad River there, you know, basically wiped out the town of Chimney Rock and Lake Lure. And they’re, they’re in bat cave right up above that. So, fortunately, they’re on the high side, so their house didn’t seem sustained direct damage from the river itself. But the road is all gone. All the infrastructure is gone. They had mud and rain and trees falling, that kind of thing.”
He says just making it to Raleigh for the State Fair was a blessing.
“This is one of our biggest events of the year. So just making it here in time, and, you know, being able to interact with all these people, and you know, it’s, t’s obviously good for the bottom line but, you know, it’s it’s even better for morale, that kind of thing.”