Nzelle Mayeba stood outside her medical business in Morganton wearing mud-covered rubber gloves while a work crew tossed office furniture on a trailer like trash.
“We lost everything,” Mayeba said. “This is just crazy.”
Flood waters from the Catawba River destroyed Faith Primary Care Plus after Hurricane Helene swept through Western North Carolina. “Look at our brand new $5,000 fax machine,” Mayeba said while staring at the damage.
Most of Helen’s deadly wrath centered on the Western North Carolina mountains around Asheville. But damage from the hurricane’s floods also impacted communities in the N.C. Foothills like Morganton, a Burke County city an hour east of Asheville.
Small business owners at the Rivers Village shopping center are feeling plenty of pain and devastation. And it’s going to take a lot of time to recover for the area sitting near the Catawba River.
After the storm, Faith Primary office manager Vicki Brown went through the damage to safeguard medical records, which are also backed up on computers.
It may take the Federal Emergency Management Agency up to three to six months to provide help with recovery, according to Brown.
Mayeba wished she had an earlier warning to remove refrigerators, freezers, computers, an X-ray machine, medication and vaccines. And she’s no stranger to storms after experiencing hurricanes in Florida and coastal North Carolina.
“The least we expect from the government is just tell us ‘there’s danger coming, get out,’ “ Mayeba said.
Now, she’s left with a lot of questions.
“Who’s going to pay for all of these damages? I’m going to do that,” Mayeba said about the setback. “Who’s going to help us? The government? The state?”
President Joe Biden granted Gov. Roy Cooper’s request for a Federal Major Disaster Declaration on Sunday for Helene providing immediate federal help for 25 North Carolina counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, according to a news release from the governor’s office.
Mayeba, an African immigrant from Cameroon, started Faith Primary Care Plus about three years ago, and it took a lot of steps for the nurse practitioner to build the business.
“You do it little by little,” she said. “You try to get your stuff together as time goes on. And all of a sudden, in one day, it’s wiped out.”
Although Faith Primary Care lost a lot, she’s optimistic about a couple of things that were spared from Helene.
The only things that survived were a flower arrangement and Mayeba’s medical book for psychiatry and mental health disorders. It was sitting on her desk and she believes it was able to stay dry after the table floated up.
“That’s just unbelievable,” she said. “I’m going to keep that book forever.”
Caught off-guard by Helene
Nearby at the shopping center, dirt stains from the Catawba River covered Flossie Amoia as she sloshed through the soaked floor of her physical therapy business called Rivers Edge.
“I had a sauna in here,” Amoia said. Helene brought about 8 feet of floodwaters to Rivers Edge, which has been open for 15 years.
After the water receded on Sunday, Amoia and helpers began working at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
She’s thankful for flood insurance, but it may only cover half of the damages. Amoia hopes she can rebuild at Rivers Village. But in the meantime, she is looking for a temporary space so her staff can continue to work. She’s seeking assistance from the U.S. Small Business Administration so she can pay and keep her employees.
“It’s been devastating,” Amoia said.
The storm also caught Rivers Village owners and brothers Carl and Jimmy Kirksey off guard. They went through a flood about 20 years ago, but it wasn’t this severe.
“We knew it was coming,” Carl said, “but we didn’t know it was going to be this intense.”
The total cost of damage to the shopping center is not known yet, but the landlords are paying for the building damages. Inspectors will examine the spaces after business owners remove everything.
“We’re just devastated for (the tenants), more than anything,” Jimmy added.
Helene brings up reminder of Hurricane Hugo
About 4 miles away, Oak Hill Methodist Church opened its door for American Red Cross to operate a shelter in Morganton.
“There’s not a better feeling,” said Heather Frazee, executive director of the American Red Cross Piedmont Triad Chapter. “To be able to give them hope and comfort at a time that’s probably the worst in their whole life — that’s why we’re here.”
“I think everybody needs to band together to help each other out right now, and it seems like people are doing that,” said volunteer Julie Cardenas.
Volunteers came from near and far to help. Pam Pickle traveled from Colorado to volunteer with the Red Cross. “Luckily, I have a supportive significant other that can stay home and take care of the house and animals,” Pickle said.
Many area residents are still without power and need the electricity to use oxygen tanks for health reasons. About 25 people stayed at the shelter overnight on Tuesday or came by to pick up water, enjoy a hot meal or to charge their phones.
Siblings Terry Davis, Ron Davis and Bonnie Johnson have lived in the region for decades and haven’t experienced anything like Helene since Hurricane Hugo struck in September 1989.
“It tore up these mountains and that water got to go somewhere,” Ron said.
They are slowly getting back services. And although water comes from their faucets, they were advised to boil it.”You can’t use the water and they said don’t drink it,” he said about being on the safe side. “It’s really hard and putting a hurting on us.”
Elementary school teacher Tracy Wright came to the shelter to charge her two laptops so she could check in with her students.
“I’m making sure these are on 100% because I know I have 1,000 emails,” she said. “I just want to know they’re OK.”
