Last fall, hurricanes Milton and Helene ravaged much of the southeast United States, including parts of Florida and perhaps most notably, Asheville, N.C. The subsequent flooding reached far and wide, however, even as far inland as Tennessee.
AQUA spoke to David Isaacs, owner of Isaacs Pools & Spas and a Tennessee native, about the damage caused in Carter County where he lives, and ongoing recovery efforts since the storms.
Isaacs Pools & Spas is based in Johnson City, Tenn., about half an hour’s drive west of Carter County, where Isaacs has grown up and lived his entire life. It also happens to be where his old high school and much of his hometown was hit the hardest.
“We’re really deep in the Appalachian Mountains,” he explains. “I’ve been here over 40 years; our area has only flooded once before this, and it wasn’t related to a hurricane.”
Isaacs was fortunate enough to live outside of the damage radius, but the other side of town was not spared by the hurricane floods, making much of the area nearly unrecognizable, including his alma mater which was demolished.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Isaacs says, the awe unmistakable in his tone. “I think they can turn it into a community center or something, but they can’t put the school back.”
It’s hard to imagine anything so disastrous for those of us that are strangers to hurricanes and the damage they cause, but Isaacs paints a clear picture now that he got a taste of the hurricane’s wrath. He had been planning to donate a pickleball court to the school, having already gone through many of the first steps to do so, before the storms hit about a month later and washed it all away.
Of course, more than just the high school suffered damages. One of the larger catastrophes in the area was the 107 Kinser Bridge about an hour south of Johnson City, where severe flooding to the Nolichucky River caused the structure to collapse. According to Isaacs, the river rose from anywhere between 30 to 70 feet, inundating much of the surrounding farmland.
“Where the water didn’t take land, it just deposited piles and piles of rocks,” Isaacs says. “Acres of rocks that just won’t move because they’re so large and so densely packed in.”
In many places, Isaacs says that some residents wouldn’t be able to rebuild on their land anymore, given the way the floods uprooted their houses and threw the land off balance.
But in the midst of such a disaster, the hope for a fruitful recovery is still there. “Probably hard to find it,” Isaacs says ruefully, “but there’s positive stuff out there.”
For one, Isaacs was able to share his access to heavy equipment to help out an old friend of his whose yard had been piled full of rocks from the riverbed. Using a dozer, Isaacs helped clear the yard of boulders too heavy to lift with muscle.
“Some of our customers’ pools and things got torn up pretty badly,” he adds, so the company went to work on remediation, offering repairs to pools at a reduced rate. When it comes to the power and means that pool companies have, Isaacs says, there’s lots to do during the upcoming years of recovery, echoing the mindset that has been on display in other storm ravaged areas from Texas to Florida.
“It’s all about being willing to help,” he says. “If you’re someone in the business, think about doing something like a social media post. Put it out there: ‘Hey, we’re a pool company. We’ve got equipment, who needs help?'”
For Tennesseans, lending a helping hand is quite literally in their state’s identity. After the historic event of sending 2,000 willing soldiers to fight in the War of 1812, the state gained its beloved moniker as the Volunteer State. “There’s a reason that people say, ‘These people just fix the problems,'” Isaacs says.
More than anything, however, Isaacs wishes for the return of the national attention on the impacted areas. Attention breeds a desire to help, which can only make the recovery process go quicker. “Everyone’s willing to come help during the first two weeks because it’s on everyone’s mind,” he explains. “Now, we’re at a point where the need is still there, but the media has moved on. It’s just about being open and being able to help wherever you can.”
As 2025 unfolds and the months pass, residents of Carter County will be feeling the effects of Hurricanes Milton and Helene for the foreseeable future. The same — and more — can be said for those closer to Florida and the Carolinas, in the more heavily impacted areas. The geological impact is sure to hang around for years to come.
But the indomitable human spirit is a formidable force in the wake of disaster, as history proves again and again. Almost anything is achievable, if only we don’t forget that fact.
This article first appeared in the February 2025 issue of AQUA Magazine — the top resource for retailers, builders and service pros in the pool and spa industry. Subscriptions to the print magazine are free to all industry professionals. Click here to subscribe.
