Asheville, North Carolina — As Florida grapples with the destruction from Hurricane Milton, the people of western North Carolina know that reality all too well. Helene roared through the mountains, leaving more than a million people in the disaster zone without water, power and spotty cell service.
But what they did have was the radio.
For days, WWNC host Mark Starling and producer Tank Spencer were a lifeline, serving as a proxy dispatch service to help coordinate wellness checks and connect the stranded with nearby resources.
How a local radio station became a lifeline after Helene roared through North Carolina
