Superior woman’s family impacted by Helene

SUPERIOR, Colo. — More than 150 people are dead after Hurricane Helene ripped through the southeastern United States. Dozens of those people were killed around Asheville, North Carolina, a city in the western part of the state.

Meadow Tarves, a Superior resident, is from Asheville and it’s where her parents still live. 

Doug Mielke, Tarves’ father, calls Hoopers Creek, North Carolina, home. He also has a number of short-term rental properties there. He was at one of the properties during the storm. 

“I was having to hang on because I couldn’t stand up and the rain was coming sideways,” he said. “Telephone poles were not broken in half, they were shredded. They looked like [a] hamburger, lines everywhere, trees everywhere, it looks like somebody came through with a giant blender and just chopped everything up and threw debris everywhere.”

Mielke and his wife, Jennifer Mielke, are thankful to be alive and have the chance to heckle their daughter who had to convince them via text to fly to Colorado. They now share a bond no family wants. 

“I said, ‘I just went through this. It will take time way longer than you think right now,'” Tarves said. “It just feels like its been so close, like I’m just back on my feet and I’m a little triggered. I’m not gonna lie.” 

In December 2021, Tarves lost everything to the Marshall fire. She was not in town at the time, but she came back to find her home burned to the ground as well as her medical spa business. 

“We couldn’t recognize anything,” Tarves said in an interview in 2022. 

Nearly three years later, her family is now dealing with their own loss. Especially her brother who owns businesses in Asheville. 

“My brother lost four businesses,” Tarves said.  “He has 85 employees. It literally just washed away, you know, and so I’m so grateful my parents being okay because their venue is high up but the communities that are low and there are so many that are low by these rivers.” 

Tarves family’s short-term rental properties were spared, but she knows so many lives are not. 

“I feel sick hearing about it. I’ve had [texts from] people that say they have seen bodies floating in the rivers,” Tarves said. “It was just realizing how devastating this is for this community and how unprecedented it is and how much time it’s going to take and it just breaks my heart.” 

Doug and Jennifer plan to stay in Colorado for a bit. They will have to put their short-term rental properties on hold. They were happy to see their last guests, a couple, make the most out of a heartbreaking situation. The couple helped the Mielke’s clean-up debris and shared a secret. 

“He whispered to me he says, ‘I’m gonna ask her to marry me up here,'” Doug said. “Isn’t it great that those simple pleasures and those basic human interactions still go on in spite of it all?” 

That couple thanked them for their hospitality and promised to be back when things clear-up. Doug believes that will be sooner rather than later. He knows right now, in his town, people are stepping up. 

“You’re going to see a spirit in western North Carolina,” he said as he fought tears. “You’re going to see what these people are made of.” 

“We had so much help here after fires and I just want to make sure that my hometown that I came from [is taken care of],” Tarves said as she started to cry.  “I’m seeing my friends and family post and they’re like, ‘I have one bottle of water left.’ As a community here, we have resources and we were so lucky, but this community doesn’t have as much as we did here.” 

Tarves hopes people begin to contribute to any fundraisers that will help this community get back on their feet. She told 9NEWS because of the area’s remote infrastructure, it may be years until everything is rebuilt. In the meantime, she’s just grateful her parents are alive.