BOONE, N.C. — Winifred Rhea-Unruh says she’s grateful.
“I just turned 21 on Tuesday. I didn’t I would be moving back home at this time of my life,” she said.
While her birthday didn’t go as planned, she also understands that she was just feet away from potentially losing her life in the midst of Helene's rampage through the Carolinas.
“Seeing the tree, it looked like a movie prop. It didn’t look real,” Rhea-Unruh recalled.
The Appalachian State University senior said she heard a loud noise early Friday morning as Helene ripped through the area.
“I go out to my front apartment door, and I open -- it’s a tree,” she said.
Moments after the first responders arrived, Rhea-Unruh and her two roommates quickly started packing as water leaked into their unit at the Mountaineer Village complex.
“Our neighbor across from us -- the tree went through his bedroom. Like completely through his bedroom,” she described. “He’s lucky to be alive honestly. It’s kind of crazy because it was either me or him that would’ve had the tree in our bedrooms.”
After staying with a friend and then a family member in Boone, Rhea-Unruh was able to make it back to Cary on Wednesday evening. She said her apartment is now condemned.
Right now, App State said it’s continuing to assess and respond to damages at its Boone campus as the school provides resources to students, staff, and the community. The university said there are about 1,000 students still on campus out of the more than 6,000 that live in its residence halls.
“[My family] are all very relieved that I’m okay and that all my roommates are okay and that my neighbors that got the brunt of the tree are okay. But i think we are all just anxious about what the university is going to say,” said Rhea-Unruh.
University officials said classes for App State's Boone and Hickory campuses will not meet until after October 15th.
Since the storm hit, the university has served more than 40,000 meals to anyone in need. It’s also providing campus Wi-Fi access points that are available to the public.
Contact Nick Sturdivant at nsturdiva1@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.