Samaritan's Purse responds to Hurricane Helene

The storm left a path of destruction across the Southeast, from the coast of Florida to the mountains of North Carolina.

Samaritan's Purse is operating at five locations in four states after Hurricane Helene devastated parts of the Southeast.

President Donald Trump and Franklin Graham were in Valdosta, Georgia today and saw the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. Samaritan's Purse is on duty there and President Trump said, “We've seen you in many different locations over the years and you do a fantastic job!”

Helene raced through western North Carolina, dumping extreme rainfall – more than two feet in some areas – and causing terrible flash flooding. Some parts of the region are in ruins. We provide relief in the mountains Watauga County, North Carolina– Home to Samaritan's Purse International Headquarters in the city of Boone. The city and surrounding communities were hit particularly hard by fallen trees, flooding, road damage and a lack of electricity and water. This response extends to neighboring counties in North Carolina (Ashe, Avery) and East Tennessee (Johnson), and our church base is Alliance Bible Fellowship in Boone.

Samaritan's Purse volunteers are helping in Watauga County, North Carolina.

Southwest of Boone, rivers also raged beyond their banks, causing widespread destruction Asheville, North Carolina, Area. Long stretches of the I-40 interstate will be closed after sections were washed out. Our response there is focused on Buncombe County, which includes Asheville, Black Mountain, Montreat and Swannanoa. Our base is the Billy Graham Training Center in The Cove.

Samaritan's Purse President Franklin Graham said on Facebook: “Samaritan's Purse helps with storms and crises around the world every day, but now the storm has hit our own backyard. Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina and surrounding areas, as well as Georgia and Florida. Houses have been flooded and some have even been washed away, trees have fallen and tens of thousands are still without power. We would be grateful for your prayers for everyone impacted by this storm.”

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Samaritan's Purse also responds to some of the many medical needs in Western North Carolina. We have established a 20-bed emergency field hospital designed as an emergency room triage unit at Cannon Memorial Hospital in the town of Linville (Avery County). The Appalachian Regional Health System/UNC Health System requested facility will be staffed by our Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) medical staff. Search and rescue teams are searching Avery County and are expecting an influx of injured people. We are also providing oxygen at various locations to support those who have electricity at home.

We airlifted food and water to a college in a flood-isolated community in North Carolina.

Many communities in high country North Carolina and far eastern Tennessee are cut off from traffic by damaged roads, downed trees and flooding. Samaritan's Purse coordinates aerial assistance in some of these locations, using our own helicopter and other organizations' aircraft to deliver basic necessities to people in need. We work through various local contacts, including our Operation Christmas Child partner churches, to identify those suffering and then respond as desired. We praise God that we were able to provide plenty of food, water and other assistance to those isolated by the storm.

A U.S. disaster relief truck arrives at the partner church in North Carolina.

Samaritan's Purse also has two U.S. disaster relief bases in Florida and one in Georgia. We have an answer page in Perry, Flawhere the storm made landfall along the Big Bend with winds of 140 miles per hour. Helene arrived there late on September 26 at Category 4 strength, making it the strongest storm to hit the area on record. Our base in Perry is Calvary Baptist Church. We are also responding on a larger scale Tampa, Florida, where thousands of homes were flooded. At this point we are supported by our Canadian partner office. Our base is Calvary Chapel St. Petersburg in Pinellas Park.

South Georgia also came under fire and we established a base there Valdosta at our partner church, Morningside Baptist Church.

We serve the Buncombe County region from the Billy Graham Training Center in The Cove.

U.S. disaster relief workers from Samaritan's Purse are on site at all five locations. We partner with local churches to provide on-site teams to help struggling homeowners in the name of Jesus. Volunteers are helping empty homes, clearing fallen trees, covering roofs and clearing debris to help families cope with this historic crisis.

Sign up as a volunteer

Day and overnight volunteers began at all locations on September 30th. For more details on all of our responses and how you can get involved, visit spvolunteer.org. Please prayerfully consider serving as many volunteers are needed to serve as the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to help the hurting.

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On the first day of volunteering in Valdosta, our teams helped Mariah Mitchell, 80, a retired kindergarten teacher of 37 years. She said: “I have never seen anything so bad in my entire life. Really bad.” During the storm, she prayed Psalm 91 over her house and said she was not afraid because she knew the Lord was with her. A tree has fallen on her house, and Samaritan's Purse is clearing the tree from her roof and covering the hole from both the inside and outside.

Of our volunteers, she said, “They have really blessed me. The Lord sent them because I need them. He knew I needed them.” She added, “They've come a long way to help me and I don't take that for granted.”

A Samaritan's Purse employee prays with Mariah as volunteers work on her damaged home.

The size of Hurricane Helene, one of the largest Gulf storms documented in the last century, was truly remarkable, with a wind field hundreds of kilometers across – which partly explains the geographical extent of the damage it caused.

Please pray for all communities in the path of this powerful storm as they recover and as we respond in affected areas. More than 160 storm-related deaths have been reported, with many people still missing; Please also include the affected families in your prayers. This is the second most severe storm to hit the continental United States in the last 50 years.

Note: This story was originally published on September 26 and has been continually revised. It is valid until October 2nd.

SUPPORT

US disaster relief A donation to U.S. disaster relief enables us to respond to disasters like… Hurricane Helene and other natural disasters in our country. Samaritan's Purse mobilizes and equips thousands Volunteers provide emergency assistance to survivors of floods, tornadoes, wildfires and hurricanes. Wherever we go, we bring comfort and the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ. After severe storms, we often stay behind to rebuild homes for people who can't find help anywhere else.

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