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Katrina, now Helene: Ex-Cobb County resident determined to rebuild NC business

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Published  October 4, 2024 12:04am EDT
Hurricanes
FOX 5 Atlanta

A tale of two hurricanes: NC woman pledges to rebuild

When Helene blew through western North Carolina, businesses and homes were destroyed. One woman knows all too well how destructive storms like this can be.

MARSHALL, N.C. - When Helene blew through western North Carolina, businesses and homes were destroyed.  

A former Cobb County woman knows all too well how destructive storms like this can be. Alex Webber has been through two of them under very different circumstances.  

Webber now lives in Marshall, North Carolina, where she owns On Your Bike. It's a coffee shop, café and bike store.  

"Marshall is kind of a destination stop for road riders coming out of Asheville. You'll sometimes get 20, 30 cyclists at once. It's like this flock of exotic birds coming in. Espressos everywhere, Mexican Cokes, the pastry case gets cleaned out, and then they're gone," said Alex. 

There won't be any cyclists coming through for a while. Floodwater from Helene took out part of the town. 

Just about everything inside the shop was washed away. 

"Refrigerators, ice machines, espresso machines, coffee machines, grinders, all the bikes. I can't wrap my head around how things were just gone," said Alex.  

This is not the first time a hurricane has impacted Webber's life. The former Cobb County resident moved to New Orleans as an adult. She was there in 2005 when Katrina hit.  

Alex moved back to Cobb County for a while and realized she did not want to go through that again.  

"Decided to move to higher ground which was safe from hurricanes," said Alex.  

She never imagined she would once again find herself in the middle of a storm. But this time she is planning to stay and rebuild. She hopes her business will once again flourish and welcome visitors with a hot cup of coffee. 

"We poured our hearts and souls into that shop. We're going to fight, we're going to try everything we can to stay," said Alex.  

Alex says she knows disaster aid is coming but she worries about her employees and how they're going to pay for gas, groceries and basic necessities. One of her employees will have to find a new place to live after his home was washed away.  

Family members have set up a GoFundMe to help.