Friday morning I was delighted to see the sun come out. The fringes of Helene had blown through here with bands of windy showers. It was so good that the storm was past. Friday afternoon I was checking on livestock and erosion at the Garrett Family Farm. There were a few limbs down, and the ground was saturated. About what I expected. As I harvested some watermelons and tomatoes, it started to sprinkle again. No big deal. Then my phone alarm went off: Tornado Warning! The sprinkles got harder. I wasn't sure what to do as I climbed in my truck. My 4-wheel drive easily took me around some fields up toward the highway. But the radio repeated the civil alert announcement. A tornado warning was issued for Western Rockingham County. Doppler radar showed possible tornadic activity in Ellisboro, Madison, Mayodan, Wentworth, Intelligence. In other words, I was in the bullseye. If I left the farm, I would be going toward one of those communities.
Fortunately the alert told me what to do. "If you are in a vehicle, seek shelter in the most substantial structure available to avoid flying debris." So I pulled the truck around to my hay barn. I sat by the bales, under the shelter, singing and praying aloud. I waited out the warning while the rain rattled the tin roof. As quickly as it came, the storm moved on. I would find out later that a small tornado touched down in Stoneville, where I had been only an hour before. In 20 minutes the storm dumped 0.8" of rain on my garden. I was so glad when the storm was over.
But the storm is not over. The rain has mostly stopped, but the waters in western NC still fill many streets and still overflow river banks. As they do recede, they are revealing a new world. Towns have been washed away. Homes slid down hills. Houses that remain are filled with mud. Livestock were swept away, many dying downstream. Roads are flooded, washed away, covered with rocks and mud. A day-long enemy air strike could not have done such destruction.
So here we are. Faced with the world left by Helene. Only now are we discovering the destruction. Today, Monday morning, the death toll is nearing 100. Some people are missing and authorities don't even know they are missing. Many communities are utterly cut off from the outside world: no phones, no internet, no roads. So no one knows how bad it is yet.
It's time for some good news. Convoys of power trucks and ambulances are making their way to the disaster. Crews from far-flung states are coming here to help. Neighbors are serving meals, grilling meat from their freezers. The NC National Guard--with other Guard assets from Connecticut, Maryland, Ohio, Iowa, Florida, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania--has been rescuing people and pets. They have moved more than 34,000 pounds of cargo to help victims with food, water, and medical supplies. And they are just getting started.
In these desperate times, our people are pulling together. Neighbors are loving each other. It is such a long road to recovery. Those of us who can help, we need to step up. You will have the opportunity to give, to go cut down trees, to rake out mud, to serve meals, to wash clothes.
I know that Samaritan's Purse, NC Baptists on Mission and many other organizations have already begun operations.
Western North Carolina will never be the same. Some of my favorite places have been washed away. But we can ask God to redeem this destruction. And we can step in to bring the redemption. We can rebuild roads and structures. And right now we can build relationships through loving, compassionate, sacrificial giving.
