The first Dare County Emergency Medical Services team deployed to western North Carolina on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. Pictured from left to right are the team members: Advanced EMT Matt Cahill, Lt. Daisy Pierce, Paramedic Ben Abe and Advanced EMT Molly Greenwood. (Photo courtesy Dare County)
By Corinne Saunders
As the devastation and historic flooding of the mountains of North Carolina from the remnants of Hurricane Helene that hit Sept. 27 became clear, people across the Outer Banks who are intimately familiar with hurricanes and their effects jumped into action.
Groups of emergency responders deployed, often also carting loads of supplies across the state, and many citizens and local organizations have done the same. Fundraising efforts, donation collection opportunities and deployments remain ongoing.
Ocracoke Island
“The people from the western part of the state were there to help us out after Hurricane Dorian; I’m just going to return the favor,” Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department Chief Albert O’Neal said in a Monday phone call.
O’Neal and another Ocracoke firefighter loaded a truck with donated supplies—everything from chainsaw gas to Benadryl to cleaning supplies—from island residents and delivered those last week to Lansing Volunteer Fire Department. It’s located in the small mountain town of Lansing.
The flooding in Lansing was “pretty bad—they had like 8 feet of water in their volunteer fire department,” O’Neal said.
He’s planning to make another trip westward with donations in a week or so. He said he wanted to “return the favor because it’ll be back on us again sometime soon, I’m sure.”
Hurricane Dorian made landfall on Hatteras Island, just north of Ocracoke Island, in September 2019, bringing with it a storm surge of about 7 feet that caused major flooding and damage.
“I’m guessing that some folks like myself made donations to Samaritan’s Purse,” Randal Matthews, Hyde County’s Ocracoke commissioner, said in an email. “I will never forget the work they did on Ocracoke after Hurricane Dorian.”
Dare County
On Sept. 28, a medic unit and a Quick Response Vehicle with four Dare County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) first responders deployed to Rutherford County to assist with rescue and recovery efforts, according to an Oct. 4 Dare County news release.
The Dare County Sheriff’s Office on Sept. 29 deployed three telecommunicators and five deputies to Henderson County to assist with ongoing rescue and recovery efforts, and on Oct. 1 deployed a second team of deputies “to provide aid for those in need” in McDowell County, the release said.
On Oct. 3, Dare County EMS deployed its second team to relieve the initial team in Rutherford County. Dare County EMS Deputy Chief Thomas Francisco was also deployed to the North Carolina Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh to assist in statewide coordination efforts, the release said.
On Oct. 4, a five-person team from the Dare County Department of Health and Human Services’ Social Services Division deployed to work for four days at the state-supported shelter at the Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College Conference Center, according to the Dare County news release.
The social services team will work alongside teams from the Forsyth County Department of Social Services and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, “managing the flow of residents in and out of the shelter, maintaining the ‘snack shack,’ supporting meal distribution to the residents and connecting residents with medical and mental healthcare,” the release said. “Their greatest task will be providing support for individuals and families who may not have a home to return to.”
Other volunteer and paid first responders, as well as town and county employees “with critical skill sets, are registered and awaiting deployment orders to head to western North Carolina when they are needed,” the release noted.
Some Nags Head fire personnel recently received orders to deploy through NC Emergency Management but have requested to wait until potential impacts from Hurricane Milton are clearer, Roberta Thuman, spokesperson for the Town of Nags Head, said in a Monday email.
“As a coastal community that has faced our share of powerful storms, we understand firsthand the challenges that follow strong storms,” Thuman said. “We feel a deep connection to our neighbors and recognize that helping each other in times of need strengthens our entire state.”
Some Duck Police Department officers went to western North Carolina on Oct. 4 for recovery assistance, and they took a truck of supplies for people in need, according to the Town of Duck’s website.
Meanwhile, First Flight High School students in the HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) Club and Leo Club organized a supply drive for western North Carolinians.
Community members can put donations directly into the box truck that will be parked at the front of the school in Kill Devil Hills from Monday, Oct. 7, through Friday, Oct. 11, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to an Oct. 3 Dare County Schools press release.
Currituck County
The Currituck Fire-Emergency Medical Services’ Medical Ambulance Bus deployed Sept. 27 with a four-person crew to Mooresville, according to Randall Edwards, Currituck County spokesperson.
A second relief team and third crew overall left Oct. 4 to relieve the team that is now providing medical assistance to “Haywood County, one of the hardest-hit areas,” where the bus remains stationed, Edwards said in an email.
The team has worked as emergency room overflow at a local hospital, helped distribute food and water, supported local EMS units and conducted wellness checks in the community, Edwards said.
Additionally, a State Medical Assistance Team strike team leader from Currituck was deployed for seven days to Calvary, Edwards said. “He provided medical care at a temporary hospital that was set up to deliver emergency relief in the region.”
As of Edwards’ Friday email, Deputy Coordinator Olivia Doherty was in McDowell County helping an incident management team as the supply unit leader.
Currituck Regional Airport Director William Nelson is working with the nonprofit Operation Airdrop, and they received over 50,000 pounds of supplies—over half of which they’d flown out by airplane as of Friday, Edwards said. They collected more items from the public during Saturday’s “Planes & Plows” event at the airport, which was held in conjunction with the NC Cooperative Extension.
Currituck County Schools in an Oct. 4 Facebook post announced it chose to “adopt a fellow school district,” Avery County Schools.
From Monday, Oct. 7 through Friday, Nov. 1, all Currituck schools will accept donations of “essential items needed to create student care packs for students in Avery County Schools,” the post said.
Area-wide efforts to help
Dare County Emergency Management recommends that anyone who wishes to donate financially does so through the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund.
All of these donations go directly to nonprofit organizations working to meet the immediate needs of storm victims, such as food and water, cleaning supplies and other emergency supplies, according to the Oct. 4 Dare County news release.
“It's humbling to be a small part of the effort underway at our state Emergency Operations Center to meet the needs of disaster survivors in western North Carolina,” Dare County Emergency Management Director Drew Pearson said in the release. “I encourage everyone that wants to help to do what our state emergency management professionals ask: make a monetary donation or join a volunteer organization active in disaster. Doing so will help ensure both immediate and long-term needs can be fulfilled.”
Volunteer opportunities are available through the North Carolina Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster website.
The Outer Banks Community Foundation is advocating for donations to its counterpart in western North Carolina.
The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina and its partners at Dogwood Health Trust “were instrumental in disaster recovery fundraising efforts in the floods caused by Hurricane Fred in August 2021—they are uniquely positioned to support the entire nonprofit community in the region,” a Sept. 28 Outer Banks Community Foundation Facebook post said.
Donors can note their contributions are for “disaster relief” in the “additional notes” field on the form available at the fund’s website, the post said.
The Outer Banks Community Foundation has also posted a list of other ways to assist Western North Carolinians on its website.
The Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce organized a gift card campaign for western North Carolina residents. The campaign runs from Sept. 29 through Dec. 31, with donations accepted on the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce website.
“Our goal is to raise $5,000 worth of gift cards (Home Depot, Walmart, Food Lion, Lowe’s, etc.) to be sent to chambers of commerce in the Boone/Blowing Rock/Asheville region for distribution to those in need,” the chamber announced in a Sept. 28 Facebook post.
Matt Khouri, the founder of Outer Banks Boil Company and co-founder of Outer Banks Aviation, said he’d accepted donations at those sites and helped coordinate regional flights westward last week through Operation Airdrop.
Khouri said collective efforts across the Outer Banks and even inland to Elizabeth City totaled up to nearly 70,000 pounds of supplies, which went to locations in South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee, as Operation Airdrop directed.
He personally co-piloted three flights out of Dare County Regional Airport in Manteo, carrying 600-700 pounds of supplies on each run—one to Rutherford County, one to Ashe County and one to Pickens County, South Carolina.
On Wednesday, Oct. 2, the South Carolina drop was a night landing, and “it was very dark because the power was still out in that area,” Khouri recalled.
He said about 40 flights from the Currituck and Dare county airports took supplies out west.
“Willie [Nelson] in Currituck County was amazing—he kind of called all of his aviation friends, and so many people stepped up,” Khouri said. “My mom Denise Khouri was handling a lot of the logistics while I was in Costa Rica.”
Now as more roads have reopened, the donation focus has shifted more to ground transportation. Khouri said OBX Jeepers and many local residents have done runs by ground, and Michael Stokes of Flying Fish Screen Printing is currently collecting donations for vehicle transport.
“We’re so well versed in hurricanes and storms, like, we kind of you know what to expect,” Khouri said. “But the folks out in the mountains, I don’t think they had any idea of what this could be like.”
He added, “A lot of people have lost so much, but you know, for us in the Outer Banks—to see everyone come together, I’m so proud of the Outer Banks.”
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