Tennessee Baptist Convention president Jay Hardwick witnessed the devastation Hurricane Helene caused throughout East Tennessee, first through news and social media channels, and then up close and personal.
“The videos and pictures don’t do it justice,” he said. “Helene ripped through Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and here in East Tennessee, leaving a path of destruction we have never seen in our lifetimes, but Tennessee Baptists are on the ground serving and meeting needs.”
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Hardwick recently spent the day traveling through heavily impacted areas in and around Newport, visiting Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers and homeowners whose houses were being gutted due to water damage caused by the flooding of the Pigeon River.
The river far exceeded its banks when Helene dumped unprecedented amounts of rain on the Southern Appalachian region. Rising water ripped through neighborhoods and flooded downtown Newport at a level locals say they’ve never seen before.
“We’ve been walking up and down the street these last several hours,” Hardwick said, “seeing the great work our DR teams are doing in these homes. They are clearing the drywall all the way down to the studs. It’s all got to come out because of the flood damage and because of the mold.”
The water level rose to six feet in houses along this street, meaning houses needed to be gutted to enable them to dry before DR teams can treat them with an anti-microbial spray to kill mold and other potential bacteria. The work is laborious, but as Hardwick noted, it helps to have committed volunteers.
“I’m so encouraged to see how many different people from different churches and different associations are all here now on this street collaborating together,” he said. “On this street, we have Tennessee DR volunteers from Memphis all the way over to Knoxville, and all parts in between.”
Rallying to serve
In addition to disaster relief teams, local churches along the disaster zone from the Newport area north to the area around Mountain City have rallied to serve their communities and churches that were damaged or lost.
“So many of these churches are busy bringing in resources, hosting DR teams, working with and supporting the disaster relief. They’re sending folks out themselves to serve their communities. It is exciting to see the church being the church in serving hurting people.”
One observation Hardwick made was that it wasn’t just DR teams and churches meeting physical needs, but being aware of and intentionally looking to meet spiritual needs as well.
Several salvations have also been recorded during the challenges people are facing.
“(Disaster Relief volunteers) walk into a house they know needs physical relief,” Hardwick said. “But they also know there’s a spiritual story there as well. There’s a family, there’s an individual, there’s a couple that lived in that house, that’s their home. They’ve lost everything and they’re asking deep questions. A DR team is there to do a job, but they’re also there to share the hope of Christ. And they’re doing it and doing it well.”
Still calculating impact
It is too soon to calculate the impact of Helene in the Appalachian region, but it is certain to be in the multiple billions of dollars with dozens of bridges washed out, cities gutted, a significant amount of infrastructure destroyed, and extensive damage to personal property. That doesn’t include the human toll of more than 230 lives lost and many still missing. The aftermath of Helene is a disaster of epic proportion.
‘God stories’ amid tragedy
“The news cycle moves along very quickly, and there’s always something else that happens,” Hardwick said. “However, this recovery effort in Tennessee is not going to go away anytime soon. It’s going to take a long time to recover, so this is a great opportunity for churches across our state to be thinking about how they can financially contribute to the relief effort, and how they can work together with their local associations to get people trained and mobilized to go.
“There are already so many God stories coming out of this tragedy. Let’s keep praying for East Tennessee and for the volunteers helping the people here.”
For more information about how to be involved or to financially contribute to the Hurricane Helene flood relief effort, visit TNDisasterRelief.org.
Ways to help
For more information on how you can help, check with your church, association or state Baptist convention to find out how they are contributing to this and other ongoing relief efforts in neighboring states, your state and beyond.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written and originally published by Baptist and Reflector.
