Thursday, October 1, 2026
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Cherryville, NC (WNN)— A Cherryville family is dealing with challenging times after a tree came crashing down on their historic home on Old Post Road during Hurricane Helene on September 27. Jenni Nathe, who's lived in the house with her family for four and a half years, shared her intense experience and talked about how they're working to recover.
Nathe spoke about her family's experience. They came from Florida and were used to hurricanes. The family prepared for the storm, having no idea how destructive it would be. On the morning of September 27, after her husband Jeff had been keeping an eye on the storm, Nathe stepped outside to capture some footage of the weather. That's when she saw a big tree swaying oddly and rushed her family to take cover in the basement.
"I filmed it and it came out of the ground towards our house," Nathe said. "I ran inside and said, 'Get in the basement right now.'" Moments after they entered the basement, the tree struck the house. "It was such a loud impact. It was terrifying," she recalled. Nathe believes the sturdy basement of their home, built back in 1945, was what kept them from being buried under the rubble.
After everything happened, the family thought they could stay in the unharmed part of the house, but they were told it wasn't safe. So, they contacted a public adjuster, Josh Dalli from Trust Pro Public Adjusters, to help them with the insurance claim process.
"The timeline was fairly slow on this project with Nationwide," Dalli stated. I believe they took a total of seven months to come back with a full estimate for this house." He explained that initial estimates were "very low value," causing significant delays in repairs. The full estimate for repairs wasn't received until mid-April, nearly seven months after the incident.
For several weeks, the family lived in a hotel, struggling to find temporary housing in Cherryville due to the lack of available Airbnbs or rentals. "The people were only finding houses that were not in Cherryville," Nathe said, concerned about the impact on her children's schooling. A "godsend" came when a friend's family member, who had recently purchased a furnished vacation home in Cherryville, offered it to the family for rent until they were ready to move in. The Nathe family is currently living in this home off of Moss Lake, but they are having to move again soon.
Nathe has been thankful for all the support coming in from the community. "There were many people who reached out to us," she said, thanking her family and friends for financial assistance, her church for providing food, boxes, and tape, and another church family for offering a stress-free weekend at a women's conference. She specifically thanked Covenant Church, Mount Zion, and her neighbors.
Kevin Heavner quickly stepped in to take care of the fallen tree and received praise for his efforts. Nathe mentioned, "He came right away, and he got his team out here and lifted the tree off before he was ever even paid". She also pointed out that Heavner and his crew had to wait several months to be paid for the tree work while the claim was negotiated and the funds were approved.
Robert Cashion and Michael Upchurch from National Restoration, a licensed general contractor focusing on restoration, remodeling, renovations, and roofing in North Carolina, are responsible for the repairs. Upchurch shared that the first thing they did in the restoration process was ensure the home was safe. He said, "The first step was really getting an engineer in here to look at the roof and decide is this roof going to fall down or are we safe to continue working?" The engineer deemed it unsafe, so they had to remove the roof entirely.
Jenni Nathe with Michael Upchurch, Robert Cashion, and Josh Dalli
July 25th, 2025. By: Ashley Reep (WNN)
The house, originally a "Houser house" owned by Bill Houser, also tested positive for asbestos, which made things a bit more complicated. "We had two dangers to get rid of here," Upchurch said. With the roof and asbestos removed, the engineer can now create a plan for rebuilding. While there is no exact timeline, they are hoping to have the house dried in by the end of this year.
This situation has really thrown off the family's daily life, particularly for Nathe's three children: Jacob (18), Juliana (13), and Jaxon (10). Driving from Shelby to school during their hotel stay was challenging. Their current Cherryville home is technically outside the school district, meaning they must navigate some "loopholes" to keep the kids in their current schools. With the move coming up, Nathe hopes to find a place in Cherryville to keep things stable for the kids' education and activities.
One tough result of their situation is finding new homes for some of their dogs. "We're not in love with the idea of rehoming our dogs," Nathe explained. When living at the house, the dogs could roam freely, but in temporary housing, they are often limited to crates. "It's been hard on the dogs, to be honest," she said. The family is looking to rehome one to two dogs, including a Border Collie Heeler mix who "loves to go hiking" and "listen to commands."
Adding to their situation, Nathe found an expected litter of kittens. A stray kitten "literally hitchhiked home in our truck," and she had five kittens before she could be spayed. Three of these kittens are still looking for their forever homes.
Even in tough times, Nathe stays hopeful, thanks to her faith and the incredible support from the Cherryville community.
Some of the workers who removed the tree from Jenni Nathe's home
Photo taken by: Jenni Nathe
"Thank God, if you don't believe in God, you should, because I had a whole peace that was unexplainable the whole time because I knew he was going to be looking out for us," Nathe said. "He's opened up door after door for us."
Nathe mentioned that while her family's loss is tough, it's nothing compared to those who completely lost their homes during Hurricane Helene. She said, "I don't feel like I deserve all the help we've received from everyone. But I'm really thankful for it."
Even though they're losing a piece of their historic "Houser house," Nathe is looking forward to what's next. "We're creating a new history now," she added.
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