With mud caked to the floor and her boots, Libby Morgan shuffled through books scattered along the wood floors of her home alongside the Catawba River in Burke County.
Most of the things she and her husband, Jim, had in their home had already been thrown into a pile outside and declared unsalvageable after torrential rain from the remnants of Hurricane Helene flooded their home. But in the pile of sopping wet books, Libby hoped to find a treasure more than 50 years old.
The white photo album was found on the other side of the room on Monday, mostly intact, though now covered in dirt and the photos soaking wet. The pictures show the couple in their early 20s, before Jim Morgan would start building their house on Libby’s family’s land on Powerhouse Road in Morganton.
‘Starting life over at 82’
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Jim, 81, built the A-frame house on the property when he was 32.
Jim Morgan, 81, describes the flood damage to his home in Morganton following Hurricane Helene on Monday. Morgan designed, modeled and built his home when he was 32 years old.
“I never built anything bigger than a picnic table,” Jim said, looking at the still-standing home. “And I think I built it about as perfect as you could build a house.”
Several additions have been made to the home since the initial A-frame was built. An office, separate from the house, then later a large hallway were added on. Eight years ago, he built a large bedroom with a sunroom on it, where the couple enjoyed a morning cup of coffee.
“It really was just perfect,” Jim said.
The couple heard Hurricane Helene was expected to bring some flooding to the area but did not imagine water levels would be like Hurricane Frances in 2004. In the 2004 storm, the water came up to just under the floors of the home, but never got into the house. The couple couldn’t get flood insurance after Frances, and had not tried to get it in recent years.
Libby Morgan goes through a box of her mother’s letters on Monday, three days after the storm. Libby and her husband, Jim, reminisced over memories from items that survived the flooding from Hurricane Helene.
This time, though, the water got as high as the attic. Jim had been out of the country on a trip to Canada. He drove five days to get home on Sunday.
“I got back, and I started laughing,” Jim said. “I thought, ‘This can’t be true.’ I just laughed. I laughed, and this morning I woke up weeping. … Then I couldn’t do anything but weep. I slept in my car again last night, and I can’t see when — in six months — how we could sleep on this property.
“I’m turning 82 soon. I’m in good health, but do I want to spend the next three years, from 82 to 85, trying to get this house livable? It doesn’t make sense,” Jim said.
Jim said his childhood was turbulent. He left home at 14 and has been supporting himself ever since.
“This is really the only place I’ve ever thought of as home … This is really gonna be an adventure, for sure,” Jim said. “It’s like starting life over at 82. … I just don’t know if I’m up to it.”
Houses, memories washed away
Up the street, Libby’s sister, Hilda White, sat in a lawn chair on Monday, three days after the storm. Her daughter, Lori Stock, and grandson, Spencer Stock, sorted through picture albums and set photos out to dry.
Another wedding photo, the only one of Hilda with her late husband, Ralph, was among the pictures. A teapot a relative brought from Russia survived without a single chip on it.
Suitcases, clothing, and family albums lie out to dry outside the White family’s shed in Morganton on Monday. Important documents, heirlooms and other personal belongings were destroyed in the flooding despite residents’ attempts to store them on higher ground.
But White’s house is gone.
The family tried to save some of her belongings by putting them in a moving truck and putting it at the top of the driveway, but even the truck was washed down the road, getting pushed into some trees and stuck in a ditch. Spencer tried to move the truck when they found out how bad the flooding was but was unsuccessful.
“We’ve been pulling photo album after photo album after photo album out of here,” Spencer said. “We moved everything up here to keep it dry and safe.”
Ralph’s boat was moved to the top of the driveway, too. The boat still hadn’t been found on Monday, but the trailer was found.
“I burst into tears when I saw my daddy’s boat trailer,” Lori said. “It’s like losing my daddy all over again.”
Hilda has moved in with Lori. She canceled her flood insurance in 2021 when it got too expensive to keep.
“Mama won’t ever live up here again,” Lori said.
Family history on Catawba River
The land has been in the family since 1948 when Rom White bought all the land for farmland. Over the years, the property has been divvied up between descendants.
Cindy and Keith White live in another home on the White family property.
“Devastated, just devastated,” Cindy said. “Just no words.”
Spencer Stock shows a compilation of photos of his grandfather, Rom White, outside of a destroyed storage unit in Morganton. Rom White bought the property in 1948 and built White Cabin, later a community center. The cabin was demolished by flooding caused by Hurricane Helene on Sept. 27.
The White family wants to keep the property in the family, passing it down through generations.
“We had gutted our house, so proud of it,” Cindy said. “My kids — this was going to them. It goes to each generation.”
In Cindy and Keith’s home, the chandelier over the dining table was mangled. Furniture is strewn about inside the house. Buildings, roofs and more litter the yard.
But just like with Hilda White and the Morgans, there are some treasures to be found.
A military plaque honoring Keith’s dad, World War II Navy Seaman 1st Class Roy Edward White, remains in the ground though coated in sand.
Cindy White looks at the remains of her family’s Morganton home on Monday. White and her husband, Keith White, had only finished the property months before floodwaters left the property in shambles.
When Keith’s dad, Roy White, died, the first military plaque that came for his grave was chipped. The family kept it and just a couple months ago placed it in the ground with some other flat rock to make a cozy spot by the river for a fire pit. The plaque and the fire pit survived the storm.
The family also found a quilt protected by a vacuum-sealed bag. The quilt, handmade by a grandmother, didn’t appear to have any water or stains on it.
“(It’s) the place where my kids grew up,” Cindy said. “It’s just things in life, but it meant so much.”
Standing under a sign that reads, “The river restores my soul,” Cindy said she didn’t know what the family would do. They, too, had just canceled their flood insurance to make sure their home on the coast had full flood coverage.
“We’ve got to decide,” Cindy said. “Are we going to demolish it? Are we going to try to (save it)? It’s a lot. It’s a lot.”
An American flag and debris hang from the branch of a tree outside Jim and Libby Morgan’s home. Floodwaters from Lake James and the Catawba River rose up to the second story of their home during Hurricane Helene on Sep. 27.
Community gathering center lost
When Rom White bought the land by the river, the first cabin he built was for church and family gatherings.
Through the years, it has been used for birthday parties, church gatherings and civic organization activities. Emergency rescue teams have even used the building as a place to stay during swift water rescue training events.
The remains of White Cabin in Morganton on Sept. 30. This is the second time that the property has been destroyed by floodwaters, previously being rebuilt after flooding from Hurricane Frances in 2004.
The building washed away Friday. Parts of the cabin were strewn around the White family property on Powerhouse Road and down the river.
Some parts of the cabin are still standing, like the kitchen and bathroom. Most of the walls are gone, making it look like a dollhouse with one side open.
It’s not the first time the cabin has been washed away. It also was lost during Hurricane Frances in 2004, but the community helped the family recover.
The Whites are hoping to get that same support this time.
The roof of the White Family Cabin rests along the Morgan Family driveway.
Chrissy Murphy is a staff writer and can be reached at [email protected] or at 828-432-8941.
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