Hugo Beltran still has a hard time believing the events of last week.

“It’s rained a lot, but in eight years nothing like this happened,” he said. “In four hours it changed everybody’s life.”

On the morning of May 26, heavy rains in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, swelled the banks of a creek behind the house that Hugo shared with his wife, Odilia, and their 12-year-old son, Jim. The creek overflowed, flooding the low-lying area.

Hugo already had left for his job in Hickory, about an hour away.

“My wife called at 6 a.m.,” he said. “She said, ‘Please get back here, the water is in the house.’ I heard my son screaming, crying.”

He hurried home to find a fast-flowing stream where his front yard used to be. The local fire department had called in a rescue squad, and Hugo watched as they used boats to rescue his family and neighbors.

“It was terrible,” he said.

Wilkesboro is home to the Samaritan's Purse North American Disaster Relief headquarters. When we heard about the need in our own backyard, we sent a team to the neighborhood.

All of the residents were either uninsured or underinsured. Their houses were condemned, and they are not allowed to rebuild in the flood plain. Volunteers from nine local churches worked with our staff to remove belongings from the houses, see what could be salvaged, and help them relocate.

The volunteers included members of Boiling Springs Baptist Church in nearby Purlear.

“I saw it on the news,” Pastor Joey Moore said. “The community needed help, and we wanted to do something. We’re trying our best to follow in Christ’s footsteps, and this is exactly what Christ would be doing, reaching out to those in need.”

It was warm and humid as the volunteers worked, but Kathy Compton of First Baptist Church in Wilkesboro didn’t mind.

“The verse that keeps coming to mind is, ‘Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ I was getting a little tired, and that verse came to mind,” she said. “This is great fun. You’re doing it from Jesus. This is missions work.”

As they removed furniture, appliances, and other household belongings, the volunteers conveyed the message of Jesus’ care and compassion and ongoing concern. The message was reinforced when they presented the storm victims with a Bible they each had signed, and prayed for God’s blessings.

“There were a lot of people here,” Hugo said. “They are wonderful people. The Lord sent them here. I’ve got no words to thank every one of them.”

As one team finished helping the people in Wilkesboro, another was on its way to Volusia County on the east coast of Central Florida.

Rainfall totals of up to 27 inches over a seven-day period have caused significant flooding and damage in Volusia and surrounding counties. A Disaster Relief Unit left our Wilkesboro headquarters for Florida on Tuesday.

WAYS YOU CAN HELP

PRAY:

GIVE:

GET INVOLVED:

Samaritan's Purse , United States , DR Extranet , U.S. Disaster Relief , Comfort After the Storm