Hurricane Helene steamrolled 500 miles of the Southeastern United States, leaving devastation in her wake. The storm made landfall late Sept. 26 as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, with up to 15 feet of storm surge. As it passed over Florida and Georgia, Helene weakened to a tropical storm over the Carolinas. But its wrath didn’t lessen.
Many small communities in Western North Carolina, unaccustomed to hurricanes, were inundated with up to 15 inches of rain. The flooding has washed away whole towns, decimated highways and bridges, wiped out infrastructure and altered river route. “I have never lived through anything like this before. We’ve had floods before, but we’ve never had anything like this,” said Elisabeth Brocket, at the United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County.
Speaking from the mountain town of Asheville, she and Dan Leroy, the United Way President and CEO, present a grim report. “We’ve had whole towns completely submerged, whole neighborhoods in the city of Asheville completely underwater,” Leroy said. “Businesses gone, houses gone, a lot of people still missing.” The hurricane has left large areas without power, limited cell service, and, most critically, no running water. “People don’t have water to flush toilets or take showers,” he explained, sharing stories of people resorting to pumping water from the river to manage basic needs. With these overwhelming challenges, the recovery effort has focused on immediate rescue operations while trying to rebuild essential infrastructure.
United Way Response
Despite these hardships, United Way has mobilized quickly, connecting communities with desperately needed resources. They’ve organized their response around three priorities: information, donations, and volunteers. “We’re collecting financial donations and coordinating in-kind donations like supplies, which are coming in rapidly, and we’re making sure those resources are directed where they’re needed most,” Leroy said. He and his staff are also assessing needs and resources, serving as a link between the people of Asheville and other partners.
The sense of urgency is palpable. Volunteers have already begun their work despite the limitations caused by impassable roads and resource shortages. “We have volunteers at a site loading trucks with supplies to distribute in public housing neighborhoods,” Dan explained, highlighting the importance of local volunteers during this period. However, due to the scarcity of resources like gasoline and food, they are careful not to bring in too many volunteers from outside the region. “At a place where resources are so limited, bringing in thousands of people is not feasible,” he noted.
United Way has also coordinated with local partners, ensuring that efforts are consistent and resources are shared effectively. Dan shared a story of high school students driving around distributing water to those in need and churches borrowing vans to distribute supplies to isolated communities. “We’re talking to each other as partners, figuring out what we’re doing, what we need, and sharing this with folks through our 211 system,” they said.
The dire circumstances have also brought out the best in the community. Elisabeth has observed how resources are shared by word of mouth. People who have found water or cell connectivity immediately spread the news to those around them. “Suddenly, there’s a village at the top of the hill, and they’re all connecting with their loved ones and passing the word on by mouth,” Bocklet said. “Normally, it would be like, ‘text your people’ or put an alert out on social, but these things don’t work in the same way.”
United in Action
United Way sees a sense of community and collaboration as its strength. “We always talk about our superpower as being our network,” Leroy said. “We’re connected to the grassroots, larger institutions, schools, the business community, and philanthropy. And we have the ability to unite our whole community through these really tough challenges in ways that are unique.”
While the road to recovery will be long, United Ways across the U.S. are committed to rebuilding and supporting their communities. The outpouring of support from the broader United Way network and beyond has been heartening. “We feel like people have our back,” Leroy reflected, noting how donations and expertise have poured in from across the globe. Through the United Way Worldwide Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund, people from across the globe are chipping in to support immediate needs.
As the community begins to rebuild, United Way’s role as a connector—linking those in need with essential services and resources—continues to be critical. It’s a daunting task, but with United Way’s well-established local network and the strength of our global community, there is hope that our communities will recover stronger than ever.