Hurricane Helene (God is in this Story)

Several from the FBC Boerne Missions team were registered to attend a conference in Asheville, NC beginning Monday, September 30th. God had other plans for them though because on September 26th, Hurricane Helene hit Asheville, North Carolina and was of record-breaking size. Needless to say the conference was cancelled. As the missions team sat safely at home watching the devastation occur in the news, the Holy Spirit told Chris and Betty Campbell that God wanted them to be helping in Asheville. Immediately they sought ways to volunteer with the restoration work.

The enormous size of hurricane Helene coupled with the storm surge, winds, and rainfall, together turned Helene into an unimaginable disaster. Asheville, North Carolina, a fast-growing city of about 95,000 residents, is located in a bowl in mountainous terrain that left it and other nearby cities highly susceptible to high river runoff and extreme flooding. To make matters worse, the area was already saturated from a storm that hit just ahead of Helene. The French Broad River crested at Asheville at 24.67 feet, shattering the previous 1916 record of 22 feet, also caused by remnants of a hurricane. The full extent of this event will take years to document, not to mention, to recover from. But God is in this story.

Chris reached out to Samaritan’s Purse and then teamed up with volunteers in Asheville; a first-time experience working disaster relief with Samaritan’s Purse. There were about 500 first-timers in their particular orientation session alone. Approximately 30 people are assigned to a team leader and they are sent out in teams for the week to locations as needed. Everything is so organized, not an ounce of any precious resource is wasted. Some homeowners say that the workers are like an ant hill of orange ants. Samaritan’s Purse says we’re the hands and feet of Jesus. Working with Samaritan’s Purse on the ground in Asheville has been an indescribable blessing.

Every day is difficult seeing the heartbreak on residents faces. One day the team mudded (removed drywall, flooring etc) the home of a young couple with two young daughters. Another day they work at the home of a couple in their late 70’s whose basement was flooded and their property had so many huge trees down that they couldn’t get out. During the storm, the couple sat on their basement stairs for nine hours watching the water rise in the basement while fearing going upstairs because so many trees were crashing around them in their yard. The stairs were their safe zone but they endured hours of being trapped with no place to go. Fortunately no trees fell on their home and they were eventually rescued. Through all the cleanup, the homeowners constantly expressed gratitude for the help and kindness they so desperately needed.

Heading to the jobsite to assist in a neighborhood along a creek with many flooded homes, lots of cars are blocked everywhere. This, coupled with trees down, is an all too common site in this area. Days are spent helping people clean up debris and trying to put pieces of lives back together. Stories are shared and tears are shed. Prayers and hugs are given to people looking for signs of hope. God has a plan for this land though and His people are helping make a way. Any way you look at it, Jesus’ Name is spreading in the storm.