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‘Apocalyptic’ Flooding Hits N.C. as Samaritan's Purse and Others Step Up to Offer Hope

Michael Foust

Millions of residents in the southeastern United States are pleading for assistance after Hurricane Helene slammed into the Florida Gulf Coast and then dumped torrential rain on western North Carolina and the surrounding states, killing close to 100 and cutting communities off from vital resources and communications. The mountainous city of Asheville, N.C., faced catastrophic flooding that killed at least 30 in the county and left citizens without electricity, water, or cell service. Interstate 40, which connects east Tennessee to western North Carolina, remains closed after part of the road collapsed. 

The North Carolina Department of Transportation posted chilling warnings all weekend about the flooding’s severity, telling travelers that “All Roads in Western North Carolina should be considered CLOSED” and that parts of I-40 and I-26 were impassable. 

“Do not travel to or in Western North Carolina,” one post said. 

On Facebook, one Asheville family posted an update for family and friends, saying they had no way to communicate and drove to a store’s parking lot to obtain Wi-Fi. Phone calls and texting, the post said, rarely worked. 

Mills Hayes, a national correspondent for NewsNation, said in a Facebook post that “most people don’t have power, water or gas” in Asheville. Residents described the scene as “apocalyptic,” she said.

“I talked with people who waited over an hour to get cash from the only ATM in downtown,” Hayes wrote. “Most businesses are closed, but if they are open, they’re only taking cash.”

Countless other cities and towns in the region are in similar circumstances. 

With dozens, if not hundreds of people unaccounted for, the death toll likely will rise. Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia also faced major flooding. More than 50 people were stranded on the roof of Unicoi County Hospital in eastern Tennessee before being rescued by helicopter as raging floods battered the building. 

“It was chaotic. We couldn’t get to them in boats, we had high winds and water rushing around the hospital. I thank God the hospital held. I was waiting for it to collapse,” Unicoi County Sheriff Mike Hensley told the Knoxville News-Sentinel. 

As of Sunday, more than 2 million homes in the region remained without power, the Associated Press reported. 

The Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse has sent aid to five areas hit by Helene: Asheville; Boone, N.C.; Valdosta, Ga.; Tampa/St. Petersburg, Fla., and Perry, Fla.

“We do all this because we want people to know that they are loved, they are not forsaken, and God has not forgotten about them,” Samaritan’s Purse chief operating officer Edward Graham said. “Pray for our volunteers as they respond.”

The mountainous communities of North Carolina, he said, have been “decimated.” 

It’s the “worst flooding I’ve seen in the 45 years of my life,” Graham said. 

Other faith-based relief organizations, including those affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, are assisting. In Georgia, Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief and the Salvation Army are operating a kitchen at Northside Baptist Church in Valdosta, according to Baptist Press and the Christian Index. Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief and the Red Cross are operating a kitchen at Fleming Baptist Church in Augusta, Ga., while Alabama Baptist Disaster Relief and the Salvation Army are running a kitchen at First Baptist Church in Alma, Ga.

Photo Credit: ©X/SamaritansPurse

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.