Opinion: I worried my friends in NC wouldn't survive Helene. They told me how they did.

I watched last week as my timeline and national news began showing photos and videos as Hurricane Helene ravaged Appalachia. I watched as it left destruction, “biblical flooding" and drenching rains that damaged more than 500 miles in the South.

My Instagram feed is filled with nonprofit guides, mutual aid resources and other helpful information for people back home.

I've been in contact with my family, who had a large oak tree fall on their street but are otherwise safe. It didn't take long before realizing that not everybody in my home state was as lucky.

More than 200 people have died, and there are still many people missing. Over 190,000 Duke Energy customers still don’t have power in Western North Carolina.

North Carolina is my home. Its mountains cradled me in infancy; its pine trees grew alongside me. Its people raised me. The devastation has been hard to watch, and it’s clear Western North Carolina won’t be the same. But what stands out to me is how willing other people are to go out of their way to help others in this time of crisis.

I saw that in the stories my friends told.

A neighborhood that came together

Alexandria Bounds, 30, a former camp counselor of mine, had to leave her home in West Asheville to get electricity and cell service. She relocated to her parent’s home in Hendersonville with her husband and two cats. To get there, she had to drive three hours with neighbors to a Waynesville gas station to fill up milk jugs with gasoline.

“There are parts of Hendersonville that seem fine, and then there are parts of Hendersonville that are inaccessible,” Bounds told me Tuesday.

Opinion: Helene devastated my NC community. What I saw next helped me survive.

After the storm settled, she and her husband drove to the River Arts District in Asheville. Smoky Park Supper Club, where her husband used to work and which closed this year, was filled with water from the overflowing French Broad River.

She noted that her parents’ neighbors are banding together during this crisis. When an older woman’s at-home aides could not come by, she and other neighbors took turns checking on her, cooking for her and helping her into bed.

“We are lucky that the communities that we are in are very much taking care of each other and keeping an eye out for each other,” she said.

Trying to reach family members with the help of strangers

Abby Cantrell, 26, of Maggie Valley, a former classmate, was at a wedding in Chapel Hill when the storm hit. She watched the devastation unfold on her phone. On Friday morning, she could not reach any of her family members.

“I do not think I’ve ever been that scared in my entire life,” Cantrell told me.

She got on Facebook to reach out to people in various community groups. A stranger with a four-wheel drive truck went out to find Cantrell’s mother. Another neighbor cut up a tree that had fallen in her mother’s yard.

“People were on the ground right away, sharing whatever they had,” she said.

Cantrell was able to return to the area on Monday night but knows the region will never be the same.

Organized relief efforts first came from North Carolina's residents. Not officials.

Other people are out organizing relief efforts. Chelsea White, 30, was at the Pigeon Community Center in Waynesville when she sent me several voice notes about the state of recovery.

“Recovery efforts are completely rooted in the community right now,” White said. “Search and rescue was largely coordinated by government entities, but everything else is happening through grassroots community efforts.”

Opinion: Helene's destruction left NC election officials scrambling. Trump isn't helping.

White and her husband decided not to evacuate when the first floor of their apartment building started flooding from a nearby creek. Their internet went down Saturday, prompting her to walk all over Waynesville looking for cell service to talk to her family, who also live in the area. She soon realized all communication was down.

"That was the other moment that stood out to me, is realizing I had no idea what was going on and would not be able to get in touch with my people," White said.

She noted that the lack of communication services has made organizing a challenge and that they were also still trying to track down people to help them get access to food, water and light.

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Remember the helpers in times of crisis

There’s a quote from Fred Rogers that popped in my head when talking to the people surviving the aftermath. It's one my mother likes to share when disaster strikes.

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news," the host of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" said, "my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ ”

In North Carolina’s tight-knit communities, you don’t have to look very far. Helpers are everywhere, and they take care of their communities as best they can. There are plenty of places accepting donations, organizers getting relief to people and now government entities like the Federal Emergency Management Agency stepping in to provide aid.

I hope that our little corner of Appalachia can come back from this stronger than ever.

Follow USA TODAY elections columnist Sara Peque?o on X, formerly Twitter: @sara__pequeno

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Opinion: Will NC recover after Helene? My friends there offer hope