Hurricane Florence made landfall on the North Carolina coast on September 14 as a category 1 storm. The storm moved slowly across the Carolinas dumping a deluge of heavy rain. Swansboro, North Carolina, received 34 inches of rain, breaking the all-time record for North Carolina.
Before Hurricane Florence hit the coast, CAM team members headed to North Carolina and South Carolina. They were prepared to take action as soon as possible after the storm. Florence quickly downgraded to a tropical storm and thankfully did not bring as much devastation as predicted. However, the storm left many needs in its path.
CAM’s response immediately after the disaster
As rivers swelled following Florence’s landfall, our Search & Rescue teams took stranded people to safe locations. One of their rescues involved taking more than forty elderly people from a housing complex to higher ground to escape rapidly rising floodwaters.
Our Loaves & Fishes food kitchen set up in Lumberton, North Carolina, and is serving hot meals to evacuees. Following disasters, people often have no way to cook and can’t buy groceries. Having home-cooked meals prepared for them is a tremendous blessing. Our chaplain ministry workers are working alongside the kitchen crew, ministering to the spiritual needs of the distressed.
Rapid Response teams wait for water to subside
The floodwaters are still rising at the time of this writing. Our Rapid Response cleanup teams are waiting for the waters to subside so they can begin research and start cleaning out homes damaged by the floodwaters.
The flooding spanned North Carolina and South Carolina. This will no doubt be a large-scale cleanup project. If needed, we will also rebuild homes for flood survivors in the months to come.
If you wish to help respond to our “neighbors” affected by Hurricane Florence, your contribution will be a blessing. If more funds are received than needed for this project, they will be used in other disaster projects in the USA.
Loaves & Fishes food kitchen volunteers serve hot meals to evacuees in Lumberton, North Carolina.
North Carolina home flooded by Hurricane Florence.
