NORTH CAROLINA (WAVY) — Thanks to help from WAVY-TV 10 viewers, many families hit by Hurricane Helene are getting water, food, heat and an assortment of other basic needs met. With many of them having lost their homes, and some forced to live in tents, they potentially face a winter outside or without power as efforts to rebuild the region are stretched thin.
Partnering with Mercy Chefs and Smiley’s Heating and Cooling, 10 On Your Side spent three days collecting donations from people across Hampton Roads, with trunk loads of supplies pouring into Harbor Park. Semi-trailers and a coach bus were loaded up with pallets of supplies.
Our team followed the trucks and coach bus out of Hampton Roads and into the Appalachian Mountains. Countless down trees were seen on the sides of the interstates on our way in. Further into town, the destruction gradually got worse. What were once creeks turned into angry rivers — washing away homes, trucks and entire chunks of land, changing the very geography of this region.
“Roads completely washed away, driveways gone, homes completely destroyed,” said Amber Burris, one of the drivers with Smiley’s.
She said the destruction was difficult to see in person, adding, “You think you could be prepared for it, but you can’t.”
They had to contend with a washed out road right before pulling in. Several days prior, the community put in a gravel path to connect the two sides. It cuts through yards, running alongside a creek that exploded in size during Helene. This wiped out wide chunks of land, tearing out houses and driveways — leaving many either homeless or trapped.
The coach bus was nearly overloaded with donated supplies. A driver known to the team as Mr. Smith carefully made his way around the hazard.
“It was a little rough, but I got 40 years of experience,” Mr. Smith said.
Calm after the storm
Due to concerns of looting, and at the request of the organizations delivering the donated supplies and the recipients, we are not going to reveal exactly where the supplies were brought, but we can say it is somewhere in western North Carolina where Helene hit hard.
The donations were brought to a robust makeshift food and supply pantry. Emptied out freight crates sort food, generators and other supplies along shelves inside. Several large tents surround the area, housing an incredibly array of household goods, clothes and other resources. There is even a livestock section. This community center is continually getting donations from across the country.
“We feel incredibly lucky,” said Kerry, leader of the community center. “Though as we’re getting into the cold weather, and so many people now are homeless, there are still great needs. So while it looks like we have a whole lot of stuff, we still need really important things like buddy heaters and propane, gasoline and generators. We’ve got lots of people living in tents with babies that are cold.”
Before Helene, this community center was a standard food pantry for the area. Their building flooded, messing up much of the interior. But the food inside was spared.
“Because we had them so high off the floor, we were able to save all of the food,” Kerry explained.
But the needs of the less fortunate exploded when Helene hit. They went from serving 250 people a week, to more than 500 people each day.
“Some of those 500 are volunteers that have been riding ATVs or horses up into the woods, finding people that are still inaccessible because of their driveways, taking them basic supplies, taking them meals every day,” Kerry said.
Volunteers work to sort the supplies as families come to take what they need, all at no cost to them. Many have lost their homes. Some will be forced to live in tents or vans for a potentially long time. When asked if she thinks people may be staying in these conditions through winter, Kerry said, “unfortunately, I do, yes. We are very worried about that.”
Help from Hampton Roads arrives
It literally took an Army to help unload the generosity of Hampton Roads. Volunteers at the community center just could not believe how much came in.
“Oh, I just broke down, it’s amazing,” Joey said. “It’s amazing.”
The Smiley’s coach bus was filled with so much stuff, it was almost past its weight capacity. Generators, food, water, diapers, cutlery and an assortment of other household supplies were all given to the expansive community center.
Each of the volunteers who help this place have their own story from the storm.
“I was on top of the mountain taking my young’uns across the top of the ridge because a mudslide come, and about took the house,” Joey said. “We just started praying, and the Lord revealed that we need to just start walking.”
Many others lost loved ones, pets or watched their entire homes wash away in the flood waters. The devastation brought to this region will have long lasting impacts.
“Seeing it down the road, it’s terrible,” PFC Jared McPhillips said. “Roads destroyed, bridges destroyed, debris everywhere on both sides of the road.”
From what we see in this community, even when the forces of mother earth nearly wiped them off the map, someone has their backs.
“It’s incredible just to see how many people are actually getting involved, and I’m just so thankful that everybody is getting involved,” said Thomas, one of the volunteers.
Larry Smiley, the owner of Smiley’s Heating and Cooling, was there to help deliver the donations. He was impressed by the Hampton Roads community for stepping up.
“I was shocked by the food, the diapers, just everything that was delivered to our shop at Harbor Park,” he said.
On Wednesday on WAVY News 10, we will show you the unimaginable destruction in some of the hardest hit areas. Many of the people featured nearly lost everything to Helene.