Philadelphia students describe getting stuck on North Carolina mountain after Helene struck
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Tiara Dargan is happy to be home, even if it's a little late.
The 14-year-old Girard College student was one of 31 stranded on Table Rock Mountain last week when a camping trip was unexpectedly extended due to Hurricane Helene.
The storm landed in Florida as a Category 4 major hurricane before moving north through Georgia and into Tennessee and North Carolina, where authorities described the flooding and damage as "biblical" in severity. Several locations in western North Carolina broke daily rainfall totals and saw between 12 and 18 inches of rain over three days, which flooded rivers and caused landslides and mudslides.
Students were camping on the mountain as part of the Outward Bound program. It was Dargan's first big trip outside of Philly and first time in North Carolina. She was supposed to return Friday, Sept. 27, the day the bulk of Helene struck the area after two days of precursor showers.
"We had to do many lightning drills and it was just raining constantly, lightning and thunder," Dargan said.
After the storm passed, camp instructors told the students that roads around the mountain weren't passable due to downed trees and landslides and that it would be a few days before they could leave the area.
"It was scary like 'Oh, we're trapped on top of a mountain, we've got nothing to do,'" Dargan said. "But we was safe. I missed my parents a lot, I realized I can't live without them. ... I just appreciate them for what they've done for me."
Dargan said the students had food and water the whole time but just had to keep waiting.
"We had shelter, it was fine. We all stayed strong. I put on a poker face because I can't see my friends sad, so I helped them stay strong," Dargan said.
The group then made a two-mile hike out from the campsite, navigating around mud and downed trees. They ended up arriving back at Girard College just after midnight on Oct. 2.
"Be humble, take what you have right now, and don't take it for granted," Dargan said. "During the camping trip, we couldn't like use the bathroom regularly with a toilet and stuff. We had to go out and dig a hole, whatever. We couldn't wash our bowls and we couldn't have our phones, which was the bad part too."
"I thought we were just coming back Friday, it'd be a nice little trip, learn about camping," Dargan said.
A spokesperson for Girard College said both the school and Outward Bound believed it would be safe for students to go on the trip and said no one expected the storm to cause a significant impact in the Asheville area.
Dargan's parents are relieved she's back home and greeted her with a big hug when they picked her up at school Wednesday morning.
"It was relief. Just hugging my daughter," her father Terrell Dargan said.
"I know she's a strong young lady," Dargan's mother Stephanie Jones said.
They weren't able to hear from her until Sunday, two days after her scheduled return date, when the students were able to call home.
"I couldn't imagine being up on that mountain in the wind at nighttime and raining," Terrell Dargan said. "They had to be scared without their safety net, their parents."
Tiara says she's probably not going on any more trips this year.
"Not without me or her father," her mom said.
Another student, Dallas Yon, turned 15 the day the group made its way down the mountain. His mother, Brittany Yon, was upset she couldn't celebrate with him.
"It's not how I planned or thought that he would be spending his birthday, traveling back home after being stranded in the hurricane," she said. "But I'm very grateful and blessed that he has returned home safely, and everybody's home safe and sound."
Yon returned home to two big birthday balloons his mother had waiting for him. He said the trip was certainly stressful at times, but he learned a lot.
"During this experience, I learned to have hope, be grateful, and just stick together because you never know what's going to happen," he said.
