Consider This from NPR - Neighbors have been helping neighbors recover from hurricane Helene

Episode Date: October 2, 2024

The effort to recover from Hurricane Helene is only beginning. But neighbors and volunteers from humanitarian organizations are pitching in to help.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

I survived Hurricane Katrina, and I am seeing the exact same conditions again. That's Misty McDaniel, a math teacher living in Asheville, North Carolina. She was living in Baton Rouge when Katrina hit in 2005, and she went to New Orleans as a volunteer to help those in need. Nearly 20 years later, she feels a sense of deja vu over Hurricane Helene. Streets and houses have washed away. Millions of people don't have power. We have very limited communication networks. Our cell phone towers and communications basically collapsed. They actually did collapse. We had no cell phone service on Friday. We had no cell phone

service on Saturday. Asheville is in the mountains, where hurricanes and flooding were not something most people worried about. The city is known for its thriving arts and music scene. Now, many residents are searching for basic essentials. I just want to state how much our worlds have shrunk to the daily survival needs of trying to find water, drinking water, toilet water, and water to wash your dishes in. It's become all-consuming trying to figure out where do you need to go, what store might be open. Consider this. The effort to recover from Hurricane Helene is only beginning. Coming up, we'll look at the road ahead.

From NPR, I'm Ari Shapiro. Stories from across the world. Knowing how to forage and to live with the land is integral to Amis culture. And down your block. From CPR News, this is Colorado Matters. And you can find all of that and more in your pocket. Download the NPR app today. It's Consider This from NPR. In the southeastern states where people are trying to recover from Hurricane Helene, you could picture layers of helpers. The top tier is the federal government effort that FEMA is coordinating. President Biden and Vice President Harris both visited the region. Here's what Biden said from the White House earlier in the week.

I want you to know the administration is going to be there, and we just talked about this until we finish the job. It's going to take a hell of a long time and a serious amount of assets. At the bottom tier, there's a grassroots recovery effort, neighbors helping neighbors, like Turbo Tederton of Asheville, North Carolina, who finally got online after days without power and started scrolling through messages on her phone. Just, hey, have you heard from this person? Hey, I haven't heard from that person. Has anybody heard from them? Are they okay? Do they have power to ship water? Are you alive? I didn't realize how bad it was.

And between the big federal government mobilization and the ad hoc neighborhood effort is a network of humanitarian organizations like Team Rubicon, a nonprofit group led by military veterans. Art De La Cruz is the CEO there. Hello. Thank you for having me. Where are you right now and what have you been up to these last several days? So I have been busy on a road trip. I'm actually on my way to Pasco County, Florida, which was impacted by Hurricane Helene. That's around Tampa, right? That's correct. And we've got team members spread across the southeast from North Carolina through Tennessee, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia. So a presence throughout the affected areas. I know the specific need depends on the specific location, but

broadly speaking, what is most urgent right now? Yeah, I think depending on the location, you know, the biggest, the top tier concern is, you know, preservation of life. I think in North Carolina in particular, trying to understand is that a previous interview had shown, understand where people are, what they need and the conditions around them. And they're recovering at various stages. And here in Pasco County, Florida, you know, we have people that are getting ready to tarp roofs and move debris, which is very, very different from some of the services that are being delivered farther north. And so what are your teams actually doing

on a daily basis? You know, we go from phase to phase. In the initial stages, we actually had route clearance teams with heavy equipment and chainsaws. They were able to clear actually enough debris on these roads across Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, to fill up a convoy of, you know, 1,050 dump trucks. These roads being cleared allows citizens to transit, emergency services to transit, and this long marathon process of restoration of services, aiding and facilitation of these services that are so critical in the beginning days, and then stepping into our primary focus, which is, you know, helping to restore people's lives. Is there a specific person or a scene that stays with you from the last few days? You know, I think one of the things that is recurring, number one, is the vastness of the storm. You know, from east to west, the size of Helene was absolutely immense. It was uncharacteristic in the speed that transited through from landfall on because it carried the windstorm forward.

And then what we are seeing to the north in places like North Carolina is very, very reminiscent of what we saw with Hurricane Harvey in 2017, where, you know, this incredible amount of rain becomes stationary and creates, you know, water issues, freshwater issues, and damage that's, you know, almost incomprehensible. So this one is absolutely immense. And in my time at Team Rubicon, this is certainly the worst that I've seen. Have you seen improvement since the weekend? We have. And one of the things that's absolutely incredible as the storm transits through is how quickly people are springing into action. Oftentimes, these are services that are planned. Pieces are pre-positioneded and then you begin the recovery. But I think it's also important to note as the headlines begin to fade from the news that, you

know, we literally have sprinted into the beginning of a marathon. This will take months to recover across this entire region. And for people who are not personally affected by the storm but want to help, who might be living in other parts of the country. Is there a need you see right now that civilians in other places might be able to help meet? You know, the reality is there's a million things more important than money in a disaster, but they all take money. That is the resource that allows, in particular, nonprofits to be able to operate and be able to bring and match the proper services with the unmet needs. You know what, I'd also encourage people to check in on, you know, relatives and

family members and make their own personal preparations for the disasters, you know, that they might face. But, you know, this is one of those times in this idea of neighbors helping neighbors where it should, you know, go from West Coast to East Coast and come together to be able to help these people impact. That is Art Delacruz, CEO of Team Rubicon, a nonprofit group led by military veterans, speaking with us from Florida. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. This episode was produced by Mark Rivers. It was edited by Jeanette Woods with additional reporting from Liz Baker and Christopher Intagliata. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigan. And one more thing before we go.

You can now enjoy the Consider This newsletter. We still help you break down a major story of the day, but you'll also get to know our producers and hosts and some moments of joy from the All Things Considered team. You can sign up at npr.org slash consider this newsletter. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Ari Shapiro.