Hospitality House Response to Hurricane Helene
Story
This story was submitted on December 18, 2025 by Hospitality House
- Title
- Hospitality House Response to Hurricane Helene
- Description
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Tina Krause (Executive Director and Northwest Continuum of Care lead for seven counties), Todd Carter (Chief Development Director), and Tom Reutler (Disaster Recovery Housing Navigator) from Hospitality House in Boone describe their experiences during Hurricane Helene. Planning intensified on Wednesday as they coordinated with agencies across seven counties to bring vulnerable people to shelter early—two van loads came from Wilkes County, and disabled clients living near water were evacuated preemptively. Thursday evening, Tina faced a difficult decision: stay on-site knowing she'd be there for days, or go to her home near the New River which she knew would flood without her there to fight the water. She drove home, barely making it across the bridge as water already lapped over it, and spent the night stacking rubber floor mats and bags to divert water from her doorways. She was trapped for three days while her road collapsed and every house along it went underwater. Meanwhile, she couldn't reach her family in Warrensville where there'd been a mudslide. Tom had severely underestimated the storm's impact and arrived at work to find trailers and cars across the street completely underwater—"a historic disaster." He could only occasionally reach Tina by walking to the top of the hill, managing to say a sentence or two before getting cut off. Todd watched from his apartment as Highway 421 became a lake, trying unsuccessfully to reach emergency personnel to block the road as people kept driving through and getting stuck—authorities had run out of barriers. Hardin Creek quadrupled in size, taking out a giant chunk of land behind his building.
Before they could even assess their main facility, they faced a terrifying crisis with disabled clients stranded in apartments around town—some woke up floating as water came into their units in the dark. One client climbed to her roof and begged Tina over a patched phone call, "I can't swim, I can't swim," taking eight hours to rescue by boat. Others with mental health issues and PTSD refused to leave, forcing the fire department to make the hard decision to abandon them there. When Tina finally reached the facility after three days, they met in the dark on wet floors (now hardwood) to assess damage and locate staff—over a third were displaced. With 150 people sheltered at the Brookhollow complex and communication down, they desperately needed a generator for this building to function. The main facility's large generator helped them manage, though they had significant damage to both buildings. An overwhelming smell of gas caused panic until their facilities specialist David identified it as coming from a giant propane tank that had separated from Republic Waste Management next door and was spewing gas into the air. With nowhere to evacuate 150 people—water on one side, debris fields on the other—they had to stay despite the danger. Firefighters brought people from flooded homes across the street by boat, many not speaking English. Restaurants brought prepared meals as they were about to lose food. Tina emphasized to HUD officials that when disaster strikes, asking "what do you need" must mean right now—they needed refrigeration, storage units, plumbing. A friend from Greensboro sent a shower truck (labeled "hazardous shower" for chemical spills) within hours. The town was under boil water advisory while serving hundreds. They dispatched supplies to Bradford trailer homes, rescued a client in a wheelchair stuck outside Coyote Kitchen under two feet of mud, and helped an Iraq/Afghanistan veteran with PTSD whose medications washed away and who was on the verge of a breakdown. Tina and Todd worked 48 straight days without a day off at this table, wearing overalls and boots for two months. They've since installed permanent generators at all facilities, diversified phone carriers, and advocated for satellite phones as eligible expenses for facilities housing this many disabled people. The fire chief told town council that if it had rained 45 more minutes, he'd be reporting a mass casualty event. - Spatial Coverage
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