Billy Cardine Family Devastated by Hurricane Helene

October 7, 2024 • Addison Ching • News

Steel guitarist Billy Cardine and his family were severely affected by Hurricane Helene which devastated the Western North Carolina mountains, including the town of Weavervile where Billy resides with his family.

Billy was a featured steel guitarist in the 2023 Waikīkī Steel Guitar Festival and the 2024 Kona Steel Guitar Festival.

According to his sister Martina Cardine-Patrick, "He woke up to what he describes as nothing short of a 'war zone'. Trees and power lines everywhere. Roads, bridges and infrastructure literally washed away, leaving he and [son] Brodie stranded on the mountain." His wife and other son were out of town when the storm hit.

The Associated Press reported that several main routes into Asheville were washed away or blocked by mudslides, including a 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) section of Interstate 40, and the city's water system was severely damaged, forcing residents to scoop creek water into buckets so they could flush toilets.

Weaverville, where Billy lives, is one of several mouintain communities surrounding Asheville, and about ten miles away.

Billy posted the following on his Facebook account:

"My incredibly kind and compassionate sister created this for us. Pride was telling me to stay buffered from it, but that was juxtaposed against her repeated messages asking me to share it. Lots of people have asked how they can help from near and afar. It's difficult to enter the zone here due to widespread road closures and of course shipping is a debacle. First let me say, we are proper f*****, but others have it worse. I'm hearing that Beloved Asheville is doing a great job with donations and there are quite a few others. We expect to be out of power in our immediate area for months due to the mountainous surroundings as opposed to in town and the urban setting, tho they won't have water for maybe months. For us, this means no well pump, heat etc. We are working on getting a whole home generator and battery system to run the basics, and a wood burning stove with blower for heat going into the winter. Lord knows we have enough wood to burn. Fuel/Parts for my machine (which has been incredibly helpful). A solution for bringing fuel for generators up and down the mountain. It isn't gonna be normal, but I think we have a plan for making it doable, it's just gonna take some time to gather gear and put the plan into action.

"Economic systems being what they are, different vocations bring in different amounts of money regardless of talent and overall value (looking at you nurses, teachers, artists, etc). I know this looks horrifying, and it is, but if you're on a month to month budget, please don't send anything to this Go Fund Me, just a note saying you care is wonderful (without expectation for a prompt response…we'll see it and it will matter). If you happen to be comfy and want to help financially, one of the overall donations sites like Beloved Asheville or the Go Fund Me my sister setup are there, and we couldn't be thankful enough in either case.

"Schools are closed 'indefinitely', so we're hoping to learn some interesting stuff with the kids over the next couple months (beyond outdoor survival skills). Ideas are most welcome."

A GoFundMe page was created by Billy's sister to help the Cardine family through this crisis. Approximately $31,000 has been raised so far, and the page has been closed to further donations.