Visit to Toronto During Hurricane Helene

My trip to visit my cousin in Toronto was planned 3 months ago. I asked my friend to pet sit Kitty for me while I was away and headed to the airport in Asheville on September 25th. The weather forecast for that weekend in Toronto was sunny and warm, but it was not great for the area I was flying from. I was concerned a bit, but not very worried. I drove to Asheville and got on my flight just past noon. 

Toronto from above

The flight arrived on schedule, and my cousin met me at the airport. It was the first time in the past 10 years I saw her so I was really excited to meet her daughters as well. After dinner and a short conversation, we headed to bed.

The following day we dropped off the kids at school and drove to Niagara-on-the-Lake, a small town about an hour and a half away from Toronto. It had a wonderful suburban vibe. We walked by the lake and explored the town a bit stopping for sushi for dinner. After the meal, we headed to a small winery for wine tasting and then had another walk at a park nearby.

The second day together we spent locally walking by the lake, enjoying lunch at a small and quirky restaurant and eating a ton of delicious pastries and cakes. In fact, I was so sugar overloaded that I could not even think about more dessert. I didn't take as many pictures as I should have of the dessert, but it was a lot more that you can see below.

Dining room of Chelsea Restaurant - located in a regular house

Delicious lobster bisque

Sandwich

Dessert at a coffee shop nearby

Waterfront

I was heading home the next day on September 28th, but it was not meant to be. I had a layover in Atlanta. The flight there from Toronto was flawless, but as I was departing I got a notification that my Asheville flight got cancelled. I was really stressed out by that knowing that my car was there. The next flight to AVL was not until the next day. After going back and forth, I was able to get another flight to the local airport to home (TRI - Tri-Cities airport). I asked my friend to pick me up. The flight was not leaving Atlanta for several hours, so I walked around for a while. Another concern I had was that this was the first time I decided to check my luggage at the gate in Toronto, so I was worried that I would lose my bag due to this flight change. In the end, my flight did make it to Tennessee without delays, and I was able to safely retrieve my bag.

I got a notification from my friend that my house was okay with no damage. Here is the video of strong winds behind my house that my friend too. 

Without my car though I felt stranded, and my friend was going home the following day. 

We attempted to drive to Asheville the next day, but all roads were closed. I decided to rent a car the next week and do it myself when I heard of roads opening up. Lo and behold, on Monday I saw on Facebook that someone was able to drive to Asheville using a route from Greenville, TN. I rented a car and 2.5 hours later I was in Asheville. The level of destruction was incredible. I stopped to get gas at a grocery store, but all gas stations were out of gas. I had to return the car without refilling it. I was lucky to have found my car undamaged and with half a tank of gas which would allow me to get to Tennessee. That was incredible luck as I remember thinking prior to the trip that I should fill up my tank before leaving my car at the airport, but decided not to. Five hours later and with a moderate charge from the rental company I was home with my car. It was liberating to have my transportation means back. You take so many things for granted and realize that only when you lose them, even for a little while.

My rental - the lady upgraded me to a 4WD when she heard where I was going

For me, this local disaster was an ordeal, inconvenience, but for many others a life-changing devastation. The hurricane came over my town with force and destroyed the town I loved so much.