‘Beautiful to be alive’: Landslide from Hurricane Helene takes home out with man inside
Western North Carolina resident Colston Byrd is out of a Charlotte hospital weeks after a landslide from Hurricane Helene took his home out.
"I don't have anything," said Colston Byrd, a Hurricane Helene survivor. "I have one pair of shorts, this pair of pants, this shirt."
Makeshift pedestrian bridge is small mountain community's only way in and out
Byrd spoke with Channel 9′s Erika Jackson about what happened on Sept. 27.
"I'm covered in blood and I'm shaking, and I realize, OK, this isn't a story anymore. This is survival mode," he said.
"This is where every single skill in my mind and my body is going to get me to stay alive," he said.
The landslide turned his rental home in Bat Cave into a pile of rubble with no way to escape.
"It sounded like the volume of two gunshots on either side of my ears of every tree in the world just cracking all at once," Byrd said. "And the wall behind me explodes with trees coming through and I run. I can feel all my bones here breaking and puncturing my lungs and organs there. And then I'm just like, covering up, while trees are falling on me, while I'm riding that house down."
Byrd said he crawled out of the debris with broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a concussion.
He trekked hours through gushing waters to find a neighbor so he could send an SOS.
Byrd said it took more than 24 hours before a helicopter crew rescued him.
"It was like hearing The Beatles for the first time. It was like hearing love," he said.
GoFundMe: Help Colston Byrd Rebuild After Hurricane Helene
Byrd said a hospital in Hendersonville had limited resources, so he was transferred to Atrium Health.
After two weeks, he was released from the hospital last weekend.
"It's beautiful to be alive right now and I think that mindset has put my mindset in super-healing mode," Byrd said.
Byrd said he has a new take on life.
"That big shiny reset button. It looks really pretty when it comes with a second chance at life," he said.
