September 2024 was a mean season already. Our healthy, athletic, 39-year-old son Eric suffered a stroke, the result of trauma in a soccer game. He was home, but he wasn’t allowed to drive, his wife needed to return to work, and they had a 3-month-old son.

So on Sept. 25, when Helene was still spinning in the Gulf of Mexico, I drove to Raleigh, to help out, leaving my husband Rod and our pup at home.

It was already raining. In fact, on that Wednesday, before Helene came ashore far to the south, our home rain gauge showed 4.45 inches of rain.

By the time I arrived, Eric was back in the community hospital with worsening symptoms. We finally busted him out and took him to Duke. I sat with him in the ED there until he was seen by a neurologist and admitted.

Meanwhile, it rained hard in Ashe

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