Jake Jarvis has been helping the people and businesses in Chimney Rock, North Carolina, ever since Hurricane Helene struck in 2024.
BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C.—Boom! Boom! Boom!—the sound reverberated through the crisp mountain air as Jake Jarvis used his excavator to pound a massive stone into place along a retaining wall.
Jarvis, owner of Precision Grading & Disaster Relief, had volunteered to stabilize a hillside that collapsed during Hurricane Helene in September 2024, nearly taking Ray Miller’s house with it.
Massive stones, some weighing 7 tons, dotted Miller’s driveway like tabletops fit for the Hall of the Mountain King, awaiting the excavator.
Eventually, Jarvis used 500 rocks the Millers bought to create a beautiful, tiered retaining wall system at no cost to Miller and his wife. He finished the project early in January, after starting it in October 2025.
It has been a long time coming for the Millers. Like many in this mountain community, they are struggling to fix their home more than a year after the disaster.
Progress has been made, but the roads leading into Chimney Rock and Bat Cave in North Carolina remain closed to the public. The road to the Miller home—a narrow country road with hairpin turns hugging the mountainside—is closed for construction, except for locals.
Fortunately, Miller and his wife were out of town when the storm struck, sparing them from immediate danger.
Once they made it up the mountain road about two weeks later, they were greeted with devastation.
The hurricane ripped up trees, triggering a mudslide that covered their driveway and filled their garage with dirt and debris nearly to the ceiling. Two giant boulders had tumbled down the hillside, landing in the driveway among felled trees.
Miller said heavy rain washed out much of the foundation, leaving the home clinging to the mountainside.
Trouble on the Mountain
Miller’s neighbor was not so lucky. He lost his life during the storm.
“He was out trying to mitigate damages because the house was filling up with mud and debris [when a mudslide hit],” Miller told The Epoch Times.
“I guess it came like an avalanche, so fast he couldn’t get out of the way,“ he said. ”They were looking for his body every day for 10, 11 days.”
Miller said his insurance did not “pay a penny” and that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) paid only $20,000 toward an estimated $890,000 repair bill, which was far more than what the couple paid for the house.
“We thought we were safe here,” Miller said. He has spent $250,000 on rebuilding so far.
That did not leave the retirees with many options. Then Miller heard about Jarvis’s work repairing people’s properties and contacted him on Facebook.
The repair job was not for the faint of heart.
As usual, Jarvis documented his efforts on Facebook with a photo of his excavator cutting into the steep hillside.
“It’s never too steep when you’re the only hope they have,“ he wrote. ”God always provides a way.”
“They’re elderly,“ Jarvis told The Epoch Times. ”This is their final home. They are buying these rocks. I was concerned that if we had a big rain, the house would take another hit.”
