BURNSVILLE, N.C. (RNS) — A kerosene heater still sits in the middle of Mack and Lucille Thomason’s living room, a testament to the trauma they and others in their rural Yancey County North Carolina community experienced when Hurricane Helene unleashed its raging waters last fall.
The Thomasons, retired in their 70s, saw 4 feet of water slosh up to the door of their doublewide trailer, destroying the floor, furnace, back porch and most of their kitchen appliances. The hurricane also damaged their well, leaving them without water. For weeks, Mack Thomason had to walk to the creek behind the house to collect water in five-gallon buckets so he and wife could flush the toilet.
They were nearly despondent and living in a borrowed camper when their daughter told them she found someone who could help with repairs. That someone was Keith Ashe, the site coordinator for Baptists on Mission in Burnsville, a town about 7 miles north of Pensacola, where the Thomasons live.
“He said he’d be back, so I looked for him and, true to his word, they’ve been here,” Thomason, 77, said.
Hurricane Helene caused unprecedented damage in the mountain region of Western North Carolina, where hurricane-level rainfall is rare and only 4% of residents have flood insurance. The September storm destroyed about 4,400 homes and damaged 185,000.
Gov. Josh Stein estimated the damage at $60 billion, with about $15 billion needed for housing. On Monday (April 14), the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied North Carolina’s request to continue matching 100% of the state’s spending on Hurricane Helene recovery.
Six months later, that recovery has just begun. Securing funding and contractors for home repairs has been a huge challenge for many homeowners, especially those with limited means. The Thomasons — he worked third shift at a textile factory, and she was a housekeeper at a nursing home — were lucky. Baptists on Mission, an auxiliary of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, came to their rescue on Jan. 21.
Volunteers installed two ductless heating and cooling systems, called mini-splits, rebuilt the back deck, hung two new doors and surrounded the raised trailer home with new vinyl skirting. Best of all, one volunteer, a well drilling specialist from Texas, was able to repair the well.
Samaritan’s Purse, another Christian humanitarian relief organization, provided the couple with a new refrigerator, dishwasher and freezer to replace the ones the flood rusted.
The two Christian groups are among a slew of faith-based organizations that rushed to help in the wake of the storm. About half a dozen are still there, but Baptists on Mission and Samaritan’s Purse — both based in North Carolina — have made a long-term commitment to remain. The two organizations plan to help homeowners there, cost-free, for as long as it takes — likely another five years.
Samaritan’s Purse is the bigger of the two organizations and has provided 111 campers for people whose homes were uninhabitable, 179 new vehicles, numerous appliances and other household goods, said Luther Harrison, the organization’s vice president of North American ministries.
Based in Boone, it also plans to build new homes from scratch: 36 have been approved and 10 are under construction. The organization has budgeted $523 million — all from private donations — to help with Hurricane Helene recovery. Of that, it has already spent $61 million.
