El Jobean autoshop reopens after Helene

A man is determined to keep his business open after facing Helene’s wrath. During Hurricane Helene‘s wrath, the location was flooded, but after days of cleaning, the shop is open again.

When Helene struck, floodwater rushed into WSR Performance in El Jobean. It destroyed equipment, including a beloved 1960 Ford Falcon.

Less than a week later, the shop has returned to business.

Russel Howard is the Service Manager of WSR Performance. He said it was the first time he saw damage like this.

“We basically wanted to come see how the water had come in,” said Howard. “We just moved into this building, and I’ve never seen anything like this. The landlord told us they’ve never seen anything like this, so it’s kind of devastating.”

Howard and Sam Rivera found out their auto shop was surrounded by water along with his 1960 Ford Falcon and many tools during Hurricane Helene.

Rivera is the Owner and Operator of WSR Performance. He said that they lost many items due to the flooding during Hurricane Helene.

“The floors were covered in silt and saltwater, and everything in our toolboxes was filled with water from the second drawers down,” said Rivera. “There are a lot of things that we lost, like our AC machine and the vacuum pump.”

After days of cleaning and salvaging what they could, they were back to work on Thursday.

They aren’t the only ones whose cars took on water from Hurricane Helene. Rivera said he saw cars in the water during the storm.

“Bare minimum of their vehicle sat underwater, high enough in water, salt water, that the starter was underwater. Their battery’s gone, and their starter’s gone,” said Rivera.

Rivera said if someone’s vehicle is flooded like this, many were during Hurricane Helene, he has a rule of thumb to decide if it’s totaled or not.

“If you can tap on the dash, the water starts rushing out of the cheese panel,” said Rivera, “saltwater will just continue to destroy what’s gone.”