DeWitt County Sheriff Carl Bowen spent last week in Mitchell County, North Carolina helping the residents of Bakersville recover from Hurricane Helene. He went as part of the Incident Support Taskforce that deploys during catastrophic events through the National Incident Management System. Bowen said recovery personnel from all over the country were there.
“I saw an urban search and rescue team from California and a water recovery team from New York as well as responders from South Carolina, Louisiana and Georgia.”
On September 26, Hurricane Helene stormed across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, sweeping away homes, flooding towns, destroying roads and bridges. At least 230 people lost their lives.
Bowen assisted citizens in restoring electricity, water, law enforcement and emergency services.
“It’s one of the worst disasters I’ve ever seen,” he said. “They received 3 feet of rain – in one day.” He said the water started at the top of the mountains and wound up in the bottom areas, washing some places off the face of Earth.
“There’s a lot of grief and a lot of shock,” he said.
Mitchell County and DeWitt County have similar rural populations.
“Much like ours, the people here are pulling together and pooling resources. But they have got several years ahead of them (to recover).”
Bowen said he could identify with the Bakersville residents through his experiences with the 1998 flood and Hurricane Harvey.
“We know what it’s like to be without a home, and we know what it’s like to be without utilities.”
Bowen's team was there to do anything they could to jump start the recovery. He said the sheriff’s office has been relocated, and there are “A LOT of food, water and monetary donations.”
Bowen warned those wanting to send donations to do it through reputable organizations because there are scammers taking advantage of people’s good intentions.
“Churches are well set up for these types of assistance,” Bowen said, “and the organizations listed on the Facebook page (Mitchell County, NC Government).”
“It’s quite a mess up here,” he said. “We’re making progress toward getting the electricity back online, but believe it or not - it’s cold here. I left town without a jacket, and it took some time to find a place here to buy one.”
Bowan came home on Saturday with his new jacket and more experience in disaster recovery.
