On the 27th of September last year, Western North Carolina was devastated by Hurricane Helene. Historically unprecedented rainfall resulted in cataclysmic flooding, destroying hundreds of homes and businesses in Asheville’s River Arts District and Biltmore Village, ravaging communities around Black Mountain and Chimney Rock, and impacting lives across the region. Furthermore, wind gusts up to 75 mph, landslides, tornadoes, and toppled trees resulted in further damages and fatalities, exacerbated by extended loss of power and cell service, destruction of roads and bridges, and limited access to food and water. As with all disasters, Helene disproportionately affected those at the intersections of marginalized identities, including those who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color; unhoused; un- or under-insured; immigrants; with disabilities; and part of our LGBTQIA2S+ community. When we had nowhere to go, with no one coming to save us, we stepped up for each other. Marginalized people, many of whom suffering their own losses from Helene, organized mutual aid efforts across WNC. We showed up for our neighbors, and they showed up for us.

Natural disasters like Helene have escalated in frequency and severity because of human-caused climate change. Scientists from the World Weather Attribution group estimate climate change made Helene twice as powerful with over 50% more rainfall in some areas, with storms of its magnitude being 2.5 times as likely to strike the region. “One in one thousand years” disasters are growing more frequent and more devastating everywhere, and we can’t face them on our own. Our neighbors around the world are relying on us to resist corporations and politicians that profit off of pollution and rainbow-washed destruction, and to stand up for everyone at the intersections of oppression just like we stand up for each other.