LITTLE SWITZERLAND, N.C. — Five people crawled more than a mile up a mountain in McDowell County to get to safety right before Helene sent their inn crumbling into the valley.
Carter Francois is the co-owner of the nearly 100-year-old Alpine Inn, located in the little mountain town known as Little Switzerland. Francois shared photos with WFMY News 2 showing the building completely shattered into the mountainside.
"I think we almost died, and once I got up to Little Switzerland [another nearby inn where Francois sought refuge] and they gave me my own room, I kind of sat on the edge of my bed and I wept," Francois said while holding tears back.
As Helene began to ravage the mountains on Friday, Francois had to act fast to get himself and four others out of harm's way - his co-owner of the inn, a guest staying in the inn, and two unexpected guests using the inn as shelter.
"The adrenaline was pumping so hard, you didn't have time to cry," Francois said.
He was able to provide shelter to folks inside the inn for a while but as the storm got worse, he knew they'd soon have to leave.
"I'll just be honest with you, I was very, very scared," Francois said.
At first, a roadway near the inn washed away.
"We were sitting in there for probably about an hour, just listening to the wind howl and rain, and all of the sudden, you just start hearing, 'pop, pop, pop, pop,' I'm like, 'what the heck was that?'"
As he watched the deck of the Alpine Inn wash away, Francois realized staying there any longer could cost them their lives.
"It started to move and I got kind of uneasy about it and I told everybody to get out and get out now," Francois said.
Minutes later, the storm took out a large chunk of the inn, leaving them without any protection. They decided they had to leave.
"We were going over trees, under trees, over power lines, under power lines. There were Volkswagen bus-sized boulders in the middle of the highway that we were on," Francois said.
They were eventually able to get to that nearby inn, safe and sound. It was a 1.2-mile trek.
As for what's next, he doesn't know, like many others, he said he is taking it one day at a time.
"I don't want to walk away [from operating Alpine Inn]. I love it too much. It's who I am. It's what I do," Francois said.
Francois said there's no telling if or when Alpine Inn will be back up and running. He said for now, most of it sits at the bottom of a mountain.
Take a look at the photos of the damage at the historic Alpine Inn.
