BY: Susan Stepp
Sara’s small home is a townhouse in Asheville, North Carolina. As it happened, she found herself very close to the devastation of Hurricane Helene on September 27, 2024. Sara’s residence itself remained mostly unscathed. A fallen tree grazed her porch roof and caused a very small amount of damage. Her biggest problem was having no water and a power outage for a while.
On October 16, Sara finally got her water functioning again at her home. That was 19 days without running water. She had been depending on bottled water for drinking and cooking. She has been resourceful about going to a brook just down the hill from her home to carry back buckets of water for the purpose of flushing her toilet and boiling it for her pets to drink.
Sara felt very fortunate. Many of the folk all around her fared much worse. She could not return to work right away, and Sara was not one to sit home idle while she knew she could be of help elsewhere. She immediately volunteered to help distribute food to people in need. Sometimes Sara had to hike quite a ways to reach people who could not get out to distribution centers. She also volunteered at a homeless shelter organizing and handing out clothes and supplies.
She listened to the stories of hundreds of people in the Asheville area whose entire homes were underwater or in some cases washed away completely. These people were desperate for any help they could get. Some had lost loved ones. Others told her their worst problem was that they had no cash to pay for groceries or gas. Both the gas stations and the grocery stores nearby were taking only cash because their computers were all down. Sara didn’t hesitate to use her cash to help as many people as she could.
Sara’s friends and relatives in the Clemson, Pendleton, and Anderson areas, have heard Sara’s vivid description of the desperate needs and have helped by sending supplies and cash.
One of her neighbors acquired a portable water tank for her neighbors to use for drinking and cooking. This showed one way neighbors were being creative in helping neighbors. Others organized a grilling party to cook up items from their freezers and then share the cooked food.
Looking for missing persons was one of the jobs that continued to be the most heartbreaking task some of the volunteers have struggled with. Loss of life along with businesses and homes has been devastating for many.
FEMA and UMCOR volunteers are in the area doing all they can. Smaller church groups and other caring folk are supplementing the efforts of these well-known organizations. There have been many individuals offering their sweat equity and skills to help clean up downed trees, for instance. The sound of chainsaws cutting downed trees has slowly lessened as most of the roadways have been cleared. Power lines are gradually being restored, but power outages continue in some places. Other places remain virtually inaccessible due to flood-damaged roads.
Helene wreaked havoc on so much of the Asheville area that it would take a long time to recover. This mountainous area has long been well known for its beauty and hospitality to tourists and vacationers. The livelihoods of many depend on the tourist business. People are pulling together, and it is a delight to see people sharing resources in the short term, but patience is one of the hardest elements for local folk as they face the long road to recovery ahead.
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