A camping trip to North Carolina turned into much more than 710 WOR morning host Michael Riedel bargained for, as Hurricane Helene derailed his plans.
Riedel arrived in the Tar Heel State last week, and learned that there was rain forecasted for the entire trip from his tour guide. However, he had no idea that rain was forecasted as remnants of the hurricane.
After two days of steady rain, Riedel and his other hikers made the decision to come down the mountain they had traversed to seek saefty.
“The guide said if we don’t get down to the road…the river is going to flood and we will be trapped,” Riedel told his co-host Len Berman and morning news anchor Larry Mendte. “[But] all of the little streams and the creeks that we crossed on the way up…were now raging torrents of water, and we had to find places to cross. And when we crossed the streams, we all had to, like, hold on to each other to form a chain so that the water wouldn’t wash us away…and we had to do that three times.”
The group was ultimately stranded without electricity, internet, phone service, and with limited food and water. After three days, the group made its way to an Asheville bed and breakfast, where they were able to reach civilization and ultimately return to New York to host his morning show on 710 WOR.
“You know, I have to say I was very lucky,” Michael Riedel reflected. “There was a woman who worked [there who] took water from the Creek behind the B&B and…made vegetable soup [using vegetables from their garden]…to feed us.”
