By Stacey Eising
On the morning of Sept. 27, Hurricane Helene passed over the mountains of western North Carolina, dumping over 15 inches of water on ground already saturated with two days of rain. The result was cataclysmic: rivers and creeks overflowed their banks; water tore down mountain slopes, destroying buildings and washing out roads; trees were uprooted and blown over; mudslides took huge houses down the sides of hills and buried everything in their path. In the wake of all this, Lutherans are showing those affected the love and mercy that Christ has for them.
“In tragedy, in crisis — this is where the light of the Gospel tends to shine the brightest,” said the Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Skopak, pastor of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Asheville, N.C.
And the people of North Carolina have certainly faced tragedy and crisis. “This is Katrina come to the mountains,” said Skopak. One Emmanuel couple fled their home through knee-deep water, to learn later that a co-worker who lived next door had drowned, swept from his second-story roof. Another member’s house was hit with a 4-foot-deep mudslide. Another couple sat in their home praying, listening to trees crash down around them for hours. A preschool teacher at the school had an art studio in Asheville’s River Arts District — which was completely destroyed when the French Broad River rose 30 feet above its banks. A piece of her art was found 15 or 20 miles downstream in a tree. Another family watched the river flow through their yard — and faced trauma from the horrors they saw float past their windows as the river washed homes and people away.
In addition to destruction and death, the storm left other struggles in its wake. Running water did not return to Asheville until late October, and potable water was not restored until Nov. 18. Further, the storm came at the beginning of western North Carolina’s tourist season — a critical source of income and employment. Few people in the mountains have flood insurance. As winter sets in, many face poverty, devastation and uncertainty about what to do next.
The affected area spans miles and miles of the North Carolina mountains, including many remote communities that are difficult to access, especially now. So many roads were washed out or blocked by mudslides or trees that some towns were cut off completely.
“It is so widespread. That’s what makes it hard to comprehend,” said Sally Hiller, LCMS Southeastern District disaster response coordinator (DDRC). “There are still places they haven’t gotten into yet to do the search and rescue [as of late November].” Hiller says that this is the worst storm she has dealt with in her 37 years as a DDRC.
As of late November, many roads were still out, and Helene’s death toll had risen to 105 in North Carolina alone.
Saving a church, one bucket at a time
Fifty miles south of Asheville, in Tryon, N.C., Trinity Lutheran Church — a beautiful little church on the banks of the Pacolet River — suffered foundation damage as the river raged above its banks, running around and under the church. The water was so ferocious that it carved the bank out 10 feet closer to the church. Two Trinity members were displaced from flooded homes.
Thankfully, the water stopped at the sanctuary door, only coming in through a few floor vents. But the river mud and mire that was trapped below the church in the large crawl space posed an immediate threat. It needed to be removed as quickly as possible to prevent mold and further damage.
“It was a lot of upheaval when we first got here, not knowing if we could save the structure,” said Dana Threlfall, who has been a member of the congregation since 1997 and has been very involved in the recovery work. “That Christ is our foundation is really going through all of our hearts right now.”
Several Marines from Calvary Lutheran Church, Jacksonville, N.C., built stabilizing pillars to support the building. Then Trinity’s pastor, the Rev. Thomas Olson, along with members of the congregation and other volunteers, began hauling out mud. The Rev. Jonathan Christensen from Mount Pisgah Lutheran Church in Hendersonville, N.C., came twice to help. Other area pastors also pitched in. But after two weeks of great effort, little had been accomplished.
Then, the wife of an elder at Mount Pisgah found a company that brought a utility pump truck for two days. Three weeks after beginning the work, the floor of the crawl space became visible. “That day, we realized that we made it,” said Olson.
In the weeks since, multiple Lutheran Early Response Teams (LERT) have visited Trinity. A team from Minnesota finished carrying out the last buckets of mud, and a team from Indiana finished cleaning the crawl space and removed trees and debris — such as a refrigerator tangled around a tree. LERT volunteers also assisted a Trinity member down the river whose home took on 41 inches of water.
“The mission field can be right here in our neighborhoods,” said Robin Nipper, a LERT volunteer from Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Tell City, Ind. “A lot of times people will say, ‘I’ll send money, because I can’t go to the mission field.’ Well, yes we can — it’s right here at our back door.”
Trinity’s congregation is currently worshiping in a rented space. Next steps include securing the building’s foundations and restoring the eroded riverbank to protect the building. Grant funds from LCMS Disaster Response are helping support this work.
Rebuilding a camp, church and community
About 85 miles north of Tryon, Camp Linn Haven, an LCMS Recognized Service Organization, and Mountainside Lutheran Church, an LCMS congregation on Linn Haven’s campus, faced a torrent of water from its surrounding mountains.
Tiersa Lane, the camp’s manager and director, was sitting with her daughter in the camp’s dining hall when she saw “what looked like a tidal wave coming through the parking lot.” Then water began coming through the wall and the door.
From higher ground, the Lanes watched water pour through the camp: A propane tank floated by. Then a dumpster. Then a bunkbed and a mattress. Soon they could see only the roofs of the camp’s cabins.
The damage to Camp Linn Haven, and to Mountainside Lutheran, was severe. Water came up around 5 feet in the cabins, and around 3 feet in the church. Mountainside — the only LCMS congregation in eight counties, with members who live up to an hour and a half away — worships in the original camp chapel built by the Lutheran Laymen’s League in 1951. Its chairs, hymnals, piano and organ were all lost. The pastor’s office and all of the church’s records and papers were destroyed. The cabins, left with 5 to 6 inches of mud on the floor, had to be mucked out and gutted down to the foundations, studs and roof.
Then, the weather cleared. “God gave us a dry, good time to work, so we’ve had a lot of volunteers,” said the Rev. Bryan Chestnutt, pastor of Mountainside. Much work has already been done at the camp and church, with the support of grants from LCMS Disaster Response. Camp Linn Haven plans to reopen this summer. As of late November, Mountainside planned to reopen its fellowship hall as a makeshift sanctuary in time for Christmas Eve.
In November, Camp Linn Haven was turning its efforts toward the surrounding community. With few public systems in the mountains, many rely on wood and kerosene for heat during the winter — and the storm took out a major kerosene reservoir in the area. Some residents still do not have road access. In the coming months, the camp plans to offer its retreat center as housing for LERT volunteers to come chop firewood and carry out local service projects.
Serving others
“At the beginning, [Helene] had such an impact on [LCMS] congregations and members that people were focused there,” said Hiller. “But now, they’re past that first stage, and they’re able to turn to the community.”
Emmanuel, Asheville, is also serving its community. As donations and supplies have poured in, including multiple semi-trucks from Orphan Grain Train, Emmanuel has distributed these through local partners to people in need. One donation of generators and portable heaters was carried up a mountain by mules to a community still cut off from the road system.
For several weeks, Emmanuel handed out food and supplies from its parking lot. The church also hosted LCMS RSO Forged by Fire, which served thousands of hot meals. “People would get out of their cars and just talk,” said Skopak. “Then we got to begin to address some of those spiritual aches and hurts and needs that the people had. … It’s in these moments of loss and despair you have the opportunity to share the hope, the light, the love, the forgiveness, the joy that we have in Jesus.”
Mount Pisgah has housed LERT volunteers — sometimes upwards of 20 at a time — from across the country, supported by a grant from LCMS Disaster Response. In late November, LERT volunteers from Michigan, North Carolina and Illinois cleared fallen trees from the property of Doug Moon, outside of Hendersonville.
The Moons were in their house when the storm blew through, uprooting many trees, including one that hit their home. They were without power and water for two weeks.
“[The LERT volunteers] have done a wonderful job helping us,” said Moon. “They’ve got [the trees] gone, and that’s a big blessing to us.”
At the end of the Moons’ driveway, in the stump of a fallen tree that a LERT chainsaw team worked to clear, is carved a cross, visible to passersby.
The devastation of Hurricane Helene will be felt in the mountains of western North Carolina for years. Yet, amid this devastation, God is providing opportunities for Lutherans to care for their neighbors in the name of Christ, reminding them that, even as ground shifts and roads sink, Christ is our foundation.
Read more about Hurricane Helene.
Posted Dec. 12, 2024
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