Hurricanes strike south Atlantic states

Disaster response organizations help with search and rescue after deadly storms

Mennonite Disaster Service volunteers work to clear a road of tree debris Oct. 5 in North Carolina. — Mennonite Disaster Service Mennonite Disaster Service volunteers work to clear a road of tree debris Oct. 5 in North Carolina. — Mennonite Disaster Service

Disaster response volunteers worked in unprecedented ways after powerful hurricanes brought catastrophic flooding and damaging winds to multiple southeastern U.S. states in late September and early October.

Hurricane Helene made landfall Sept. 30 and hit hardest in North Carolina, where entire communities were wiped out by several feet of rushing water. Mennonite Disaster Service executive director Kevin King likened the level of destruction to that of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

“We rarely do this, but the fire companies have asked us to provide access to homes, they’re so overwhelmed,” he said on site near Asheville on Oct. 3. “. . . There are 41 counties with disasters declared in six states. Katrina was only 30 counties and parishes.”

As of mid-October, the Category 4 hurricane’s strong winds and catastrophic flooding had claimed at least 230 lives. The only U.S. storm to cause more deaths in the last half century was Hurricane Katrina.

MDS volunteers were expected to continue clearing trees and other debris through the end of the month. MDS staff reported it is highly unusual for debris removal to last an entire month following a storm.

Mennonite Disaster Service is working to clear roads near a landslide avalanche near Asheville, N.C., that was caused by torrential rains from Hurricane Helene. — Mennonite Disaster Service
Mennonite Disaster Service is working to clear roads near a landslide avalanche near Asheville, N.C., that was caused by torrential rains from Hurricane Helene. — Mennonite Disaster Service

North Carolina resident Frederick “Buck” Bucholz said it seemed the mountains south of Asheville just let go.

“Entire towns are nonexistent,” he said. “The Mennonites are helping out.”

He considers himself lucky, as his home was not completely demolished.

“I think the mountains gave way and water went different directions than it’s ever gone,” he said. “Water’s not where it used to be. It was ungodly.”

Many parts of North Carolina had already received upwards of 9 inches of rain in the week leading up to the hurricane, which dumped an additional 30 inches in some locations.

Mennonite Disaster Service executive director Kevin King, right, evaluates hurricane damage Oct. 1 in the Asheville, N.C., area. — Mennonite Disaster Service
Mennonite Disaster Service executive director Kevin King, right, evaluates hurricane damage Oct. 1 in the Asheville, N.C., area. — Mennonite Disaster Service

“The heavens opened up, and it really cut loose,” King said, pausing as a rescue helicopter passed loudly overhead. “The local fire chief said these little streams that were 2 or 3 feet wide turned into 300-foot-wide raging torrents. They’re still doing search and rescue for 15 persons missing yet in this avalanche. . . .

“Rarely have we ever been so close to search and rescue. Never in my 20 years have we been collaborating with them on clearing roads. I’ve never been asked to back off and call if you clear a space and smell something.”

None of the seven Mennonite Brethren congregations in North Carolina held worship services Sept. 29 due to power outages. Terry Hunt, pastor of The Life Center in Lenoir, told the MB magazine Christian Leader that wind damage and debris led to significant property damage but no lives lost among the MB congregations. The churches were working to distribute food, water and gas as they worked at cleanup.

Christian Aid Ministries’ Disaster Response Services, supported by Amish and conservative Mennonites, mobilized volunteers to respond to Helene across five states. Search-and-rescue teams assisted in two rescues of children and adults in New River near Wytheville, Va., and debris fields in Jonesborough, Tenn.

Christian Aid Ministries’ Loaves & Fishes mobile food kitchen serves meals in Lake Lure, N.C., following Hurricane Helene. —Christian Aid Ministries
Christian Aid Ministries’ Loaves & Fishes mobile food kitchen serves meals in Lake Lure, N.C., following Hurricane Helene. —Christian Aid Ministries

Response teams performed cleanup in Lake Lure, N.C.; Greenville, Tenn.; Damascus, Va.; Valdosta, Ga.; and Perry, Fla. Some houses CAM rebuilt a year ago in Florida following Hurricane Ian in 2022 withstood Helene, but others didn’t.

CAM’s Loaves & Fishes Food Kitchen arrived in North Carolina and began serving food Oct. 1. The mobile unit is operated by New Order Amish volunteers who sing in four-part harmony as they serve two hot meals a day. The kitchen, which began traveling around the U.S. in 2015, had served nearly a quarter million meals as of 2022.

Hurricane Milton was a Category 5 storm at its peak, spawning several tornadoes across Florida and inflicting heavy flooding in early October after causing similar damage in the Yucatan Peninsula and the Caribbean. At least 17 people died in the storm.

Christian Aid Ministries Rapid Response volunteers clean up debris in Florida following Hurricane Milton. — Christian Aid Ministries
Christian Aid Ministries Rapid Response volunteers clean up debris in Florida following Hurricane Helene. — Christian Aid Ministries

As Milton grew in strength crossing the Gulf of Mexico toward Central Florida on Oct. 7, MDS project director Rollin Ulrich and 12 other leadership volunteers evacuated their site in Port Charlotte where MDS was already working.

The group relocated to Homestead Mennonite Church near Miami before caravaning back north to Port Charlotte Oct. 10 to start clearing debris and tarping roofs. Trailers were moved inland to a church property in Immokalee to protect equipment from the storm surge.

“MDS volunteers had worked in Homestead in 1992 after a hurricane,” said MDS regional operations coordinator Larry Stoner. “We contacted the church members and they welcomed the 13 volunteers. . . . The volunteers want to help cut up trees and start mucking out houses that are flooded for the second time in two weeks.”

Mennonite Disaster Service volunteers are cleaning mud off floors and tearing out some drywall at an African Methodist Episcopal church in Punta Gorda, Fla. The sanctuary was renovated after Hurricane Ian flooded the area in 2022, and the building hosted its first meeting a week before Hurricane Milton struck in October. — Larry Stoner/MDS
Mennonite Disaster Service volunteers are cleaning mud off floors and tearing out some drywall at an African Methodist Episcopal church in Punta Gorda, Fla. The sanctuary was renovated after Hurricane Ian flooded the area in 2022, and the building hosted its first meeting a week before Hurricane Milton struck in October. — Larry Stoner/MDS

Volunteers returned to find flooding ruined drywall they had installed only two weeks earlier at a property on the cusp of being rebuilt after damage two years ago.

“What’s really sad is I’ve been in three houses where volunteers are working, and all of them had [Hurricane] Ian damage, and now they’re flooded again with Hurricane Milton,” Stoner said Oct. 17 in Port Charlotte, a day after arriving from North Carolina. “So many of the houses here in Florida are just too low. MDS is working at mitigation work in Maryland to elevate houses 5 to 6 feet so they don’t get flooded again. But that takes time, and what we are hearing is these are people’s houses and they need to live in them as quickly as possible.”

He contrasted how quickly power was restored for 4 million Floridians to the situation in North Carolina’s mountains.

“I think it is going to be months because I think they’ll have to rebuild the grid,” he said. “Some of the main power lines are just destroyed and all of that has to be rebuilt. It’s just a really different situation with power coming back so quickly here in Florida.”

Most Mennonite congregations in the Tampa and Sarasota areas avoided major damage. Covenant Mennonite Church in Sarasota lost several branches and is submitting an Everence grant to help neighbors.

Hurricane Milton tore the roof off the home of Secundino Casas-Martinez, who pastors Iglesia Evangélica Menonita Shalom in Tampa, Fla. — Mosaic Mennonite Conference
Hurricane Milton tore the roof off the home of Secundino Casas-Martinez, who pastors Iglesia Evangélica Menonita Shalom in Tampa, Fla. — Mosaic Mennonite Conference

Peace Christian Fellowship, an Evana Network congregation in North Port, is sending funds and supplies to communities hit harder on Florida’s western coast.

Another Evana congregation, Pleasant View Mennonite Church in Go­shen, Ind., is flying more than 15,000 pounds of supplies to isolated North Carolina communities impacted by the hurricane, and an MDS team from the congregation that went to Selma, Ala., added a side trip to help in Sarasota.

Supplies flown from Goshen, Ind., to North Carolina are unloaded Oct. 5. While there, the plane delivered another load of medical supplies to a small rural airport. — Keith Walatka
Supplies flown from Goshen, Ind., to North Carolina are unloaded Oct. 5. While there, the plane delivered another load of medical supplies to a small rural airport. — Keith Walatka

Tim Huber

Tim Huber is associate editor at Anabaptist World. He worked at Mennonite World Review since 2011. A graduate of Tabor College, Read More

Anabaptist World

Anabaptist World Inc. (AW) is an independent journalistic ministry serving the global Anabaptist movement. We seek to inform, inspire and Read More

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