Effect of Hurricane Helene on Taylors Valley, Virginia

Yesterday I had the opportunity to interview Ciera Yates, a resident of Taylors Valley, VA, who shared her experience from hurricane Helene that hit Virginia on September 24th, 2024. Her and her husband live right along Whitetop Laurel Creek, a tributary to the Holston River Watershed, and adjacent to the Virginia Creeper trail. While it is difficult to hear how horrendous this storm was, she did an excellent job sharing her story and is hopeful for how the community is continuously responding, even a year later.

After the interview concluded, Ciera shared with me something she had forgotten to mention. While walking through her neighborhood after the hurricane, she came across multiple stranded hellbenders, an endangered salamander as well as an indicator species, and was able to move five of them back to the water after they had washed up onto the road. She then found another one the next day that was completely trapped under an exposed tree root. Thankfully, all of the salamanders were alive when she found them and she was able to safely relocate them.


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