News

'Everyone got wiped out,' Bat Cave survivor says

C. Neville Schork took this photograph of the damage at Creekside Mountain Camping in Bat Cave.

By Amy McCraw, Published: October 5, 2024

C. Neville Schork woke at about 8 o'clock the morning last week’s storm hit to find water all around his cabin at Creekside Mountain Camping in Bat Cave.

With water from the nearby creek rising, Schork left his home and walked a short distance to the campground’s clubhouse.
Ten minutes later, the 39-year-old watched in horror from the club house as the normally shallow creek turned into a fast-moving river of water that lifted his cabin off its foundation.
The river carried Schork’s home and everything he owns away as it raced downstream.
“It was devastating for me,” Schork said Saturday from outside a Red Cross shelter on South Grove Street. “I had everything in my cabin.”
Schork and his neighbor, 79-year-old Beryl Hansen, ended up in the shelter after a Black Hawk rescue helicopter landed three days after the storm and airlifted them and a few other people in the campground to safety. The helicopter also carried Hansen’s cat and a few dogs away from the flooded campground.
“You should see those things coming out of the dark,” Hansen said of seeing the helicopter arriving to the rescue them.
Schork and Hansen and others in the campground survived as best they could during the three days before they were airlifted.
Schork said he tried to assess damage and make sure everyone was well during the wait. The camp store had some food and water and people shared what supplies they could salvage from their flooded cabins.
While Creekside offers camping to people vacationing in Bat Cave, the campground on Gerton Highway also rents cabins to some folks including Schork and Hansen.
Schork said the flood devastated the entire campground.
“Everyone got wiped out,” he said.
Schork and Hansen said they planned to stay at the shelter until they can determine what to do next.
Hansen praised the shelter for its efficiency and the local restaurants that sent meals.
“This place has run like a clock,” she said. “Whoever is arranging meals, I will never eat like this again. The local restaurants are really showing some southern hospitality.”
Kim Falk, a shelter site manager, said 67 people were being housed in the shelter at the Athletics and Activity Center on Grove Street as of Friday.
But she said FEMA seemed to be helping some people find other housing options.
Schork and Hansen said they would like to eventually live in the campground again.
Hansen said her cabin survived the storm but she was not sure how much damage it or her belongings might have sustained in the flood.
Schork escaped the flood with only the clothes on his back.
“I don’t have anything,” he said.