COMMUNITY AND RESILIENCE AFTER HURRICANE HELENE
NOVEMBER 12, 2024
When Hurricane Helene swept through Black Mountain, a small town near Asheville, North Carolina, the community experienced devastation unlike anything they’d seen before.
Marya, a local resident, witnessed a 10-foot-wide flash flood surge down the mountain, narrowly sparing her home from being swept away but leaving it completely flooded. Fallen trees blocked driveways, roads were swallowed by mud and vital power and internet lines were ripped out and washed away, isolating residents from essential resources for weeks.
In the days following the disaster, time seemed to stand still as Marya faced overwhelming challenges. Without electricity, her sump pump failed, and she was unable to clear any water from her home. Mold quickly spread, compounding the difficulty of living in an already uninhabitable home. Roads remained impassable, blocked by trees and collapsed in certain places. Even leaving the home to get help or check on neighbors was made difficult, and access to basic needs was nearly impossible.
“It’s been a total breakdown of systems you take for granted.”
MAryA, HURRICANE HELENE SURVIVOR
Marya and her community needed to restore a sense of normalcy as quickly as possible, so that life could begin again. Despite the exhaustion of weathering challenge after challenge following the catastrophe, Marya found hope in her tight-knit community. Neighbors banded together in kindness and generosity, sharing meals and constantly checking on one another, even when they had lost almost everything.
It didn’t end there: support poured in from all corners of the country, and Marya found additional hope from All Hands and Hearts’ volunteers who assisted in the cleanup of her property. Our presence showed her that recovery isn’t faced alone, but shared by the community and those who step up to assist.
“Community is the greater fabric of our lives, it is how we are all interwoven together.
marya shared while reflecting on the meaning of community
My neighbors coming together to help each other after the storm.
The food, the water and the help that’s been donated from across the country as part of an even greater community.
It’s just the tapestry of humanity.”
We are proud to support communities like Marya’s after disaster strikes. When resilience is tested to its very end, the strength of community provides a vital lifeline, an interconnected fabric that sustains hope and healing.
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