North Carolina officials urge people to stay clear of the North Carolina mountains, as emergency crews continue on the long road to recovery.
25 North Carolina counties have been impacted by Hurricane Helene’s destruction, that’s a quarter of the whole state. North Carolina Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NCVOAD) President and Director of Operations for Craven County Disaster Recovery Alliance, Kristy Kulberg said Helene is one of the worst storms the state has ever experienced.
“What we experienced in Florence does not compare to what is going on in the mountains, and that is very hard for me to say as a survivor, I lost my house in Hurricane Florence. And yet still, this is a different beast, it just doesn’t compare and people need to know that. It is not simple, not cut and dry, it’s not overnight. This is going to be long.”
The long journey has started, as NCVOAD coordinates with state and local emergency management crews to face the unpredictable flooding and destruction in western North Carolina.
“There’s no just creating a new road or a new path. You’ve got cliffs on the side of a lot of these roads. The mountains aren’t stable. We’ve got areas that you couldn’t even tell there was a road there. The mountain has collapsed down across the whole thing and it’s like the mountain has been there the whole time.”
Kulberg said the response is all hands on deck from trained emergency crews across the state.
“Emergency responders, themselves, are seeing levels that are just unprecedented. And for those who have been in it for a long time, it’s been a long time since they’ve seen something like this.”
Kulberg said they are asking people to stay out of western North Carolina and donate to the authorities who have official crews and volunteers on the ground right now.
“We need people to stand down, we need people to go through the appropriate authorities before going out to western North Carolina, because it’s not safe, it’s adding to the issue. There’s not enough fuel, there’s not enough food, there’s not enough water, and volunteers are coming in out of the goodness of their hearts, wanting to help, but then they’re running out of gas and becoming part of the statistic.”
Emergency crews continue to work on restoring the power and distributing food and water, but Kulberg said there are still so many people missing.
“We need prayers. There’s a lot of deceased people unfortunately, people that didn’t survive the flood, that we can’t get to them yet.”
NCVOAD is coordinating with officials and crews from across all 100 North Carolina counties to get the people of western North Carolina the resources they need during this crucial time.
“We are doing everything that we can to get in and help the people and provide the donations and the materials and the volunteers, but right now we’re search and rescue. We’re still trying to get the people off the mountains.”
NCVOAD has posted official work sites for volunteers to sign up in North Carolina and a page on how to responsibly donate to disaster relief.