Survival of Hurricane Florence

This is my personal story of my family's ordeal of Hurricane Florence and how humanity can restore your faith when you have nothing.

I wrote about this to a survivors page and a lady said she balled her eyes out. A local business owner had shared what I wrote to her business page. An out-pour of appreciation for my words.

I had this idea being a small-town girl from KY; I would never find compassion as I did in my 6,000 people populated small town. Where everyone knows everyone. Moved to Havelock North Carolina on the east coast. The population was near 30,000. Hurricane Florence came and we were mandatorily evacuated. My boyfriend didn't want to evacuate but it was a Cat 3 growing to Cat 4. Chandler wasn’t two yet. Natural disasters aren’t something of a joking matter. I broke down and asked my dad to come and get me and his grandson. That enraged my boyfriend and he decided to evacuate us. His work was forcing him to remain during the evacuations.

I’m glad we left. Our townhouse was flooded to the second floor. The streets under water and pictures being shared were devastating. His job demanded him to return early before we were given clearance to safely return. His job wasn’t anything to be an essential worker and the power had not been restored yet.

We had nothing to eat. Mold on the furniture. Chandler didn’t have a high chair. I went to a shelter for our son to have an air conditioned room and warm food. They wanted us to sleep on the floor because no beds were left. He didn’t want his family on the concrete floor. We slept in the car all night with ac running. It got costly. We would sleep in the house with sweat dripping. Only hot meals from the church. He was at work and Chandler was hungry. A huge city and traffic had been awful. I knew I had to be brave to do it on my own to get him fed. I typed in the church address to the GPS.

Chandler is buckled in his car seat safely. The church is a twenty minute drive out. After being on the road for five minutes, I had to pull off and try not to cry while I called the police station. I explained to the officer that someone is going to get killed. That there were no traffic lights or officers to guide traffic. I further explained the severity of the situation by telling her that people were speeding, and no caution to other drivers. That my townhouse was flooded and I have a one and half year old who is hungry; that I’m trying to get to a church to feed him. I tell her in a broken voice, that I’m scared that we would get hit if we continued in this chaotic situation.

She said, “Mam, I understand there is nothing we can do. The police are swamped and can’t be out there. Drive safely.”

I wanted to cry. My baby is hungry and this is our situation. His dad's job had to have us back in this mess. I could get us killed trying to get him food. I knew if I tried going back home it would be just as dangerous as getting to the church. I knew I couldn’t let him starve.

I collected myself and went back into this awful traffic. I needed to make a turn-off and no one would slow down to let me. I knew if I didn’t hit the gas hard enough we would have been t-boned. If an impact would to occur it would be on my son’s side of the vehicle. I had to make hard and fast decisions that weren’t safe. Once we got there someone graciously took us a safer way home. They were local and wanted to help.

When it all took place they told us they couldn’t send search and rescue. That we put ourselves at risk if we stayed. When Florence hit, I joined a group in the community to stay up to date on our community. I saw within the group page someone begging for help. That the water was coming in fast and they had small kids. They said they were trying to find something to break the ceiling. That they were nearing the attic and there was no escape. My heart broke. They said search and rescue was too dangerous. I’m out of state and I call back there to my fire department and police station begging for someone to help them. I created a post and begged for someone to help. I finally got the attention of a volunteer group of men who decided to take the risks and was able to get them. People told me to leave it alone. Don’t bother, it’s their fault. I couldn’t. My heart is too big and I know there are reasons why people can’t leave. I feel like my efforts to help others came full circle back to me.

On 9/24/18 I wrote this.

Strangers Wearing Capes.

We all have our favorite superheroes and as of today, my new superheroes are the strangers in our communities. Hurricane Florence, though she didn’t do as much damage as she could have there was still damage; flooding, lives lost, water damage, food ruined, personal items lost or ruined, business and homes demolished. Everyone is lending a hand to help with cleanup, with tree removals, hot meals, water, diapers, food, wipes, and the list goes on. So many donating and helping.

I received water damage and lost things as well. I had to go to churches and get hot meals and when they had some non-perishables, I would get some that would last for days because I knew others had it much worse. We hoped he would get paid to buy groceries to fill up our empty cupboards and refrigerator but his paycheck won’t come till the end of the month. We finally got electricity back on just days ago and man it feels good to have air conditioner again. Like a bat signal displayed in the sky calling out for help, I saw a post saying to reach out if some needs weren’t met yet. I decided to finally ask for help because I refused help from others saying others have it worse. I have a 20-month-old and I decided to ask only for food needs for him and to see about a high chair since his was ruined. I had a lady bring several bags of groceries and a gallon of milk. Amongst all this was my son's favorite grapes which I never mentioned anything of. We had food for our refrigerator finally. I had another stranger, two men who gave us some non-perishables, toiletry items, diapers, wipes, and toilet paper. He kept asking do you need more and I reassured him that what little was given was more than enough that others may need it more. I never expected this much help. I have a lady giving us a high chair sometime today. These are my favorite superheroes answering the call for help.

Being a new resident of only three months my heart is full of joy and proud to see such an amazing community coming together and showing amazing displays of kindness. It doesn’t matter what you're going through, what matters is the fact your not going through it alone.

I also wrote this sometime after on the same day of 9/24/18.

Life was normal, skies blue and all seemed right. Warnings came of Hurricane Florence and mandatory evacuations were set in motion. They did everything to help us to prepare for a disaster. Many are complaining saying it wasn’t that bad, they shouldn’t have fussed over that or it was only a CAT 1. Shouldn’t we be appreciative of all those efforts, for those warnings and be grateful we are alive and be grateful it wasn’t as bad as it could have been? Last I checked there were 37 deaths and I believe that number would have been larger if it hadn’t been for all those warnings. I’d give almost anything to have had all those warnings when a major flood hit Johnson County, KY July of 2015. Many of us barely made it, having to run from incoming water that was destroying anything in its way. We had no warning and it happened so fast.

Be grateful for what you have, grateful for the warnings and appreciate the fact that many people cared enough for our safety. My family evacuated and I don’t regret that decision and I know that there is a mockery of those who left. We were warned that the danger isn’t over that more flooding is yet to come. Many were told to remain evacuated until roads were cleared and for the flood to happen then to return once safe. Many have returned anyway including my family. I know that it felt like we didn’t have a choice that his job demanded all employees to start working Tuesday. Travis felt that he would lose his job, his only source of income and the only way to keep his child fed and sheltered if he didn’t comply. Returning meant that we will be here when the rivers crest and flood again. Our townhouse received water damage and is the only shelter we have besides the car. These companies don’t consider what people have been through or what their employees return home to.

We are without power, we are extremely low on funds, and what food we had is ruined. We have to stay in the apartment because we have dogs and only one shelter allows our dogs. The only problem with that shelter is they wanted us to sleep on the floor with our son with no pillows or blankets. We aren’t any better than anyone else but a child shouldn’t be put on a floor to sleep surrounded by strangers in a strange place. So, to keep the dogs in the shelter we would have to take shelter there as well so that eliminates that option. I will say that we did receive a call and was told they found some cots for us but Travis said it felt like we weren’t welcomed there.

My son has no idea what is going on and tried turning on the TV. I was upstairs brushing my teeth in the dark with a bottle of water. Chandler heads toward the bathtub excited because he wants a bath. He tries to climb in and flashes me with the biggest smile. All the while my heart is breaking because it will be weeks before he gets to have normalcy and a bath if not longer. At night it gets so hot that we are dripping sweat and my son is so uncomfortable he can’t sleep. So we head to the car to sleep with the air conditioner to cool him off. The dogs are always panting and so miserable because of the heat. There is no milk in the stores and no way of keeping it cold. Nothing can break you like your children just wanting something so normal like a bath or a cold sippy cup of milk. We were okay with family safely evacuated but having to return to this because of feeling like he would lose his job is wrong. The substation needs repair before the electricity comes back on and they said it would be 5-7 more days. Thankfully our friends have returned to town, they have offered us into their home and they have a generator. One normal day could turn dark and while in the dark you will realize what matters most.