BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University students are back in class after Hurricane Helene washed out roads in Boone and flooded much of the student housing.
Clegg Roe narrowly missed being buried under a mess after mud and water came rushing into his bedroom during Helene.
“Around 10:45, a landslide came down from the hill above us and took out my bedroom and front porch," Roe said. "So we all grabbed what we could and evacuated."
If he had been in his bedroom, he would've been surrounded by mud.
“My bed is all twisted up," he said. "I probably would have looked like a pretzel coming out of that.”
The App State student, who grew up in Hickory, lived in a house with a bunch of guys just three minutes off campus. He’d gone to his room to change clothes just minutes before the mudslide.
“We heard a bunch of cracking noises and the three of us in the living room turned around and saw it all get wiped out," Roe said.
Forbes Wallace, a Myers Park High School graduate and junior at App State is a good friend, and wasn’t far away in another house. He said when he woke up, he noticed it was raining hard with multiple inches of water already visible in the yard. Then he went to check their basement.
“Flooded, it was a pool,” Wallace said. “Our whole property flooded.”
He is grateful though, his house didn’t suffer any more damage.
“Other than having to replace all of our furniture we were good," Wallace said. "We were very fortunate.”
School was canceled for almost three weeks after Helene. During that time, both guys went back several times to volunteer with cleanup efforts across the town.
“I think the amount of support Boone has offered is unreal," Wallace said. "The other day people went to volunteer -- there were a thousand people.”
Roe has found new housing, and both students are now back at school.
“It’s been hard for me to wrap my head around what happened," Roe said. "I’m really just glad to be here right now and not have been in my room at the time.”
The bad news is Clegg, like so many students whose homes flooded, did not have flood insurance – so they are on their own paying for the losses.
Contact Michelle Boudin at mboudin@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.