--:-- [Sound of a podcast intro]
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Ryan Knutson. It's Monday, October 7th.
--:-- Guest (Megan Parker): Hi, I'm Megan Parker. I live in Asheville.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): We're talking to Megan Parker today, who owns a yoga and fitness studio in Asheville. Megan, let's start with what happened to your studio.
--:-- Megan Parker: Ten days ago, floodwaters and heavy winds from Hurricane Helene ravaged western North Carolina, cutting off utilities and washing away roads and bridges. In the state, at least 77 people died, and that number is expected to rise.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): That must have been incredibly chaotic. What was it like trying to figure out how to do the basic things?
--:-- Megan Parker: It's a lot of just figuring out how to do the basic things. We don't have running water and we don't have power. The big shelters are full.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): Yeah, there's still so much need. A lot of the chefs in town have just been setting up cooking food for folks, and neighbors with big tractors are grading roads and pushing debris out of the way. And so it's just been a blur.
--:-- Megan Parker: Just a lot of just trying to survive and trying to help each other out. People are still reaching out to each other.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): I've been hearing people comparing just the absolute level of destruction to Hurricane Katrina. And that's not supposed to happen in the mountains.
--:-- Megan Parker: Megan Parker lives in Asheville. Up until a few days ago, I owned a yoga and fitness studio here. Another Asheville business owner is Alex Matisse. I'm the CEO and founder of East Fork Pottery, and I live in Flat Rock, North Carolina.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): We spoke to Alex and Megan last week. They're both navigating what Helene's destruction means for their businesses and contemplating what's next.
--:-- Guest (Alex Matisse): I'm Alex Matisse. I'm the CEO and founder of East Fork Pottery, and I live in Flat Rock, North Carolina.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): Alex, let's start with you. What was it like when you first heard about Hurricane Helene?
--:-- Alex Matisse: At first, it didn't seem like Helene would do much damage to Asheville. The storm landed in Florida on September 26th and tore up communities across the South.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): Soon, predictions for North Carolina got more serious. North Carolina is preparing for Helene tonight. Of course, we're talking all about Hurricane Helene. Nobody in recent memory has seen a storm of this magnitude.
--:-- Alex Matisse: This is going to be a very big storm. We're also learning...
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): Alex, take us through what happened to your studio.
--:-- Alex Matisse: The way our studio was set up, we had a mezzanine level, which was above the all-time flood height ever. And so we had moved all of our equipment up to the mezzanine level. And then we had boarded up the front door with plywood, sealed the front door. We turned off our water valve.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): As it was raining, most of the team didn't work, but you worked with a few folks just getting things kind of buttoned up.
--:-- Alex Matisse: And on the way home, I stopped at a store and I bought a generator and a chainsaw because I'd given my old chainsaw away years ago. And that turned out to be a pretty good decision.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): On Friday, September 27th, the storm hit Asheville. Asheville, North Carolina, that town is basically cut off from the rest of the state right now.
--:-- Alex Matisse: Most of the city is totally submerged in water. Just look at this. You can see the entire home floating in the floodwaters, just floating by.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): The river in Asheville, the French Broad, rose 24 feet during the storm.
--:-- Alex Matisse: The streets in the River Arts District were so full of water that people couldn't get there for days.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): By Monday, the water had receded enough that we could kind of make our way there.
--:-- Alex Matisse: There was still a few feet of water, so we had to, you know, it's like you get on the rain boots and prepare for this operation.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): Yeah, you went through it and started wading through the mud.
--:-- Alex Matisse: And everybody kind of showed up, I think, not knowing what to expect.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): Alex, what did you see when you got to your studio?
--:-- Alex Matisse: We walk up and you could see through the side of our building, I think from where a truck probably crashed into it. And there's no door. There's a tree trunk hanging from the door.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): So then you go inside and everything is just destroyed.
--:-- Alex Matisse: The garage doors on the building had filled up and then those garage doors blew out. All of the things within it were sort of pushed around.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): There was a single yoga mat just hanging from the studio ceiling.
--:-- Alex Matisse: There was actually a memory card that was sitting on my desk in a bowl, and it had lifted straight up kind of to the ceiling, and the bowl hadn't flipped over, and then it had dropped back down, and the memory card was just sitting there.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): It smelled like oil, and it smelled like sewage.
--:-- Alex Matisse: There was a layer of mud that was in some places six inches deep, and slowly it just, I knew that the mud was, like the mud is, it's not good mud.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): It's like the things you know we we spent so many hours doing and trying to get perfect and everything was gone.
--:-- Alex Matisse: It was devastating because we had just opened. We hadn't even been in business for a year and so it It was like, all of that work is gone, but not only is it the sense of grief for everything is gone all of that work is gone but the sense of loss for what could have been because it became immediately clear when we saw the building that it's not salvageable.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): With all that damage, how much is salvageable?
--:-- Alex Matisse: That's next.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): The building where Megan Parker had her yoga studio seems to be totaled. Will you be able to recover anything?
--:-- Megan Parker: Um, no, probably not.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): And I don't know. Yeah, I don't know where, where we go from here.
--:-- Megan Parker: I hope that we have the opportunity to rebuild real estate in Asheville. Both residential real estate and commercial real estate has been very challenging to come by.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): And so what is very uncertain is, can we even find another space?
--:-- Megan Parker: And what does that look like? And will the rent be affordable? And can we come back from this?
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): So I would say the intention is there, but all of the logistics are very uncertain at this point.
--:-- Megan Parker: Do you have flood insurance?
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): We do not have flood insurance.
--:-- Megan Parker: So the building was in a 100-year floodplain. And that's, you know, so roughly like a 1% chance that it floods, meaning that it takes on any water.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): So your thought process and what you based the decision on was there's a low probability that it floods at all.
--:-- Megan Parker: Even if we take on several feet of standing water, which is highly unlikely, we have a contractor as part of our team. We'll rip out the drywall.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): Our floor was all waterproof. The electronics were high enough that they wouldn't be damaged.
--:-- Megan Parker: The value equation didn't make sense for flood insurance that would have been $12,000 plus a year.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): And so obviously, in hindsight, it would have been great to have flood insurance.
--:-- Megan Parker: But we prepared, I would say, for the 100-year flood. We did not prepare for what happened, which was, it sounds like, the 1,000-year flood.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): For Alex Matisse at East Fork, one of his buildings was damaged but not destroyed.
--:-- Alex Matisse: His inventory is largely intact, and his factory is too.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): After checking in on his employees, he started thinking about what to do next.
--:-- Alex Matisse: Figured out kind of how we were going to go through the next few weeks and then said, OK, well, it's not work as usual.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): And we're not, well, we can't make any pottery, but we're not really worried about making pottery right now.
--:-- Alex Matisse: Instead, his employees are helping with relief efforts.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): We organized an aid run from Charlotte.
--:-- Alex Matisse: One of our board members who lives in Charlotte, we brought up a bunch of things.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): We had staff going around delivering to folks that maybe didn't have mobility.
--:-- Alex Matisse: I, you know, I was at the store where I get parts for my chainsaw and saw a whole line of generators there.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): So I'm texting, hey, I got a ton of generators sitting in front of me.
--:-- Alex Matisse: Do you want me to buy these for you? Can you use them?
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): Alex is trying to keep the paychecks coming for his employees and is running payroll out of his house because it's one of the few places with reliable Internet.
--:-- Alex Matisse: And he's thinking about how to keep his business going as Asheville begins the long process of rebuilding.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): Asheville's infrastructure has been an issue for a long time. And so water is going to be the issue for the city of Asheville.
--:-- Alex Matisse: We won't be able to make pottery without water. But we can ship pottery.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): And so I can get people working.
--:-- Alex Matisse: We be shipping and we get through this.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): Um, I feel kind of silly talking about what we experienced because it pales like pales in comparison to what so many other people went through and have been through and are going through.
--:-- Alex Matisse: Communities washed away, people's homes, trailers washed away.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): You know, the last I heard, there was still 15,000 wellness checks that needed to be made.
--:-- Alex Matisse: We will get through this. I have no doubt.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): But how others will, I think, is a question.
--:-- Alex Matisse: It's obviously devastating and we are we're so lucky you know we're the lucky ones there are still so many people that are missing or have died or watched their homes literally wash away entire towns that are wiped out.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): And I think that we still haven't even been able to get a good picture of the level of destruction in this area because those smaller towns have literally been unreachable.
--:-- Alex Matisse: I don't think of Asheville as sort of like a place that would have disasters, wildfires or hurricanes.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): No, people, I think, generally thought Asheville was a pretty safe place.
--:-- Alex Matisse: I mean, temperate, moderate climate.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): I think there's things that we could have done. Climate change plays a part in all of this.
--:-- Alex Matisse: But no, people did not think of Asheville as a place that was susceptible to hurricanes, to a disaster of this scale.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): We considered it to be a climate haven. And we thought, you know, we don't get a lot of wildfires. It's pretty far inland.
--:-- Alex Matisse: Sometimes we get heavy rains from hurricanes, but hurricanes don't usually come through here.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): We don't get tornadoes. And so it's just unimaginable that something like this could happen.
--:-- Alex Matisse: How do you reflect on that? When you think about why didn't we prepare better or why didn't we remove everything from the building or why didn't we get flood insurance?
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): It's because this isn't supposed to happen here.
--:-- Alex Matisse: Like, this doesn't happen here.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): And how do you prepare for something that you didn't even think was possible, you know?
--:-- Alex Matisse: What will Asheville look like? I don't know.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): I think a lot of people will leave. A lot of those folks won't come back.
--:-- Alex Matisse: I think you saw that with Katrina.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): I think Asheville will recover.
--:-- Alex Matisse: There are communities where the damage, I think, was much, much more severe.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): I think that always the most vulnerable people get hit the hardest in any of these things.
--:-- Alex Matisse: Trailer parks that were in low-lying areas.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): So I don't know yet how Asheville will look on the other side of this.
--:-- Alex Matisse: I don't know.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): Things obviously feel very uncertain right now.
--:-- Alex Matisse: Like, where do we go from here? Do we stay in Asheville? Do we leave Asheville?
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): And I think that there will be some people who leave, but I think that there will be more people who stay.
--:-- Alex Matisse: And I think it is because of the amazing community here.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): And I think that's what is getting a lot of people through.
--:-- Alex Matisse: That's like all that you can hold on to.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): That's all for today, Monday, October 7th.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): The Journal is a co-production of Spotify and The Wall Street Journal.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): Additional reporting in this episode by Valerie Borlein, Angela Owens, and Rachel Wolfe.
--:-- Host (Ryan Knutson): Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow.
