Hurricane Helene Rebuilding Lives One Year Later
Recovery continues across western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee as Samaritan's Purse helps families rebuild after the devastating storm.
When Benny Messer watched floodwaters sweep away his Waynesville, North Carolina, home last September, he couldn't imagine starting over. He and his wife, Keeva, had lived at the same address for nearly 50 years, raising their family and serving their community.
Hurricane Helene destroyed it all in a single day.
“They tore my house down on my daughter's birthday—December 11,” Benny said months later, holding keys to a brand-new home built by Samaritan's Purse volunteers. “Today is June 2. Who would have ever thought they could build a house that quick from the ground up?”
The Messers' story shows how Samaritan’s Purse is helping. But there is so much more to be done. Countless families across the southern Appalachian region are realizing just how long recovery can take after a monster storm. The disaster remains an everyday reality for many communities in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.
Samaritan’s Purse rebuild efforts are well underway in the region and will continue for years to come.
Restoring Hope and Homes
Hurricane Helene tore a deadly path through the mountains of North Carolina and eastern Tennessee in late September 2024, dumping extreme rainfall and causing catastrophic flash flooding. Hundreds of homes and businesses were destroyed by flooding and landslides.
For weeks after the storm, we deployed tens of thousands of volunteers across the region to clean out flooded homes, tarp roofs, and cut up fallen trees. Samaritan's Purse also transported supplies by truck and conducted hundreds of relief flights using helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft to assist cut-off communities.
After our months-long initial response to the region last fall—mudding out homes, cutting up trees, and cleaning up properties—we’ve remained in communities to help rebuild lives, livelihoods, and communities.
In the hardest-hit areas, our teams are on the ground to provide mobile homes and to rebuild and repair stick-built homes—all while reminding families that God has not forgotten them.
“All this has been provided by God’s people. God has given it, and God’s given it through His people, the church. We thank God. We give Him the glory, and we give Him the praise.”
Our Long-Term Work in the Region
New & Repaired Homes
The Meadows family in Buncombe County, North Carolina, never saw their house again after Helene. It was completely destroyed in the storm. The family escaped with only “the clothes on our back,” Ginny Meadows said. After 49 years of marriage spent in a flood-prone area, Ronnie and Ginny finally have security from future storms. We provided them with a new home in an area out of the danger zone.
Mark and Mechelle Tipton lost their Marshall, North Carolina, mobile home to 24 inches of floodwater. We provided them with a replacement built with special reinforcements for withstanding strong winds.
Mechelle said she is excited to use the new home as an outreach to share the love of Christ and bless family and friends when they visit. “I just think it's the most important thing because you can reach people who don't believe,” Mechelle said, grateful for our work in Jesus’ Name. “You just gotta plant that seed.”
Every family that’s given a home through Samaritan’s Purse receives a Billy Graham Training Center Bible signed by volunteers and an invoice marked “PAID IN FULL,” reminding them of God’s forgiveness offered to them through Jesus Christ.
We are also replacing damaged infrastructure on private property, including bridges, culverts, and storm drains.
Campers & Vehicles
As winter began hitting the mountains last December, we started delivering quality campers and rental assistance to residents who’d lost everything, including the roof over their heads. Sherri Hughes watched water rise around her sister's house during Hurricane Helene, knowing her own apartment and car were already underwater. Months later, living in homeless shelters and fighting panic attacks, she felt trapped “at the bottom of a deep well.”
Today, Samaritan’s Purse has given Sherri both a camper for temporary housing and a new vehicle to replace the one destroyed by floodwaters. “I feel like I can breathe again,” she said. “Before I knew it, y’all showed up and the blessings kept flying in.”
We’ve provided reliable vehicles for families who lost cars and trucks. Zach Sparks, a Spruce Pine, North Carolina resident and an Iraq War veteran, lost his pickup in the storm—a vehicle he used for tree work and for appointments at the Veterans Affairs hospital. We gifted him with a new pickup. “This truck is a real blessing to me,” he said. “Those appointments have helped me heal from what I experienced during the war, and they’ve helped me deal with what we experienced during the storm.”
We’ve also delivered everyday household items, including furniture packages, appliances, kitchenware, and personal items to transform houses into livable homes.
Spiritual Relief
As our teams serve communities in Jesus’ Name, they also have unique opportunities to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. We praise God for more than 450 salvations over the past year across our four-state response. We continue to see people come to faith and rededicate their lives to Jesus Christ.
Renee Hensley’s Asheville home was the first to be dedicated. She said she has grown closer to God in prayer following the storm, and her faith has been strengthened by the love of believers who’ve helped her. “If we hadn't had Him and people praying for us, I don't know where I would've been,” she said. “And since the storm happened, I've rededicated my life to Christ.”
“We are in this for the long haul. We are not leaving. God brought this storm into our neighborhood and we are going to help our neighbors and minister to them in a big way.”
Samaritan's Purse teams will continue working over the long road ahead to get families back into homes, to address practical needs, and to share the true hope found only in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
