Mennonite Disaster Service volunteers have been working in unprecedented ways on the ground since Sept. 30 in North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which made landfall on Sept. 27.

The hurricane delivered high winds and torrential rains to nine states in the southeastern United States. The death toll topped 200 as of Oct. 3. More than half of the deaths are in North Carolina, where entire communities were wiped out by several feet of rushing water.

Speaking from his cellphone Oct. 3 on a mountain he had to climb to reach a signal, MDS 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. “… There are 41 counties with disasters declared in six states. Katrina was only 30 counties and parishes.”

Volunteers from Ohio, Virginia and Pennsylvania have worked since Oct. 1 with chainsaws and skid steer loaders to clear fallen trees from miles of rural gravel roads in mountainous hollers so that emergency responders can reach homes.

MDS set up an initial base camp in Fairview, a small community near Asheville, at the home of MDS North Carolina unit chair Phil Troyer. He and his wife, Bonnie, were members of Asheville Mennonite Church until it disbanded about a year ago.

“The landslide avalanche is four miles east of us,” King said. “It’s one of many, but it’s a pretty large one. The avalanche is about 300 yards wide and 4 or 5 miles long.”

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.

“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.”

MDS has been coordinating a crew of about 30 volunteers along with Amish volunteers with Storm Aid. Some volunteers were dispatched to the Lenoir area, about an hour to the east, where several Mennonite Brethren congregations are clustered.

None of the seven MB 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 are working to distribute food, water and gas as they work at cleanup.

The MDS office in Lititz, Pa., is compiling a list of hundreds of volunteers so that it can coordinate its response over the coming months. King said there’s plenty of work to do in North Carolina, but also 10 to 12 other longer-term storm recovery projects in Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Texas, Vermont and elsewhere.