ELIZABETHTON — It’s been more than a month since Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc in northeast Tennessee but Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers are still on the job.
The TBDR incident command post that was previously at First Baptist Church in Dandridge transitioned two weeks ago to Grace Baptist Church, Elizabethton.
The command post, led by John and Kaye Thomas, takes over cleanup efforts previously coordinated by Texas Baptists in Johnson City. The Texas incident command team closed operations Oct. 21 though some Texas volunteers have remained to help.
“It has been our privilege and joy to house the disaster relief teams at Grace Baptist,” said pastor Travis Tyler. “I believe any church that has the privilege to house the vounteers that are doing the work that’s desperately needed in our community receive a special blessing,” Tyler said.
“It has been amazing to see God work in the midst of this trial through our teams and our members,’ he said.
Since arriving in Elizabethton, Tennessee volunteers have completed 94 of 155 jobs, Thomas said.
The team is covering Erwin, Roan Mountain, Hampton, Mountain City, Johnson City and Elizabethton, she continued. “We are still getting a lot of calls daily.”
She noted that they are getting a lot of calls for mold remediation. In many cases, neighbors helped neighbors mud out homes. Spraying Chlorox is not enough to keep mold from returning, she stressed.
Thomas said Tennessee teams spray Shockwave. “Without it, the mold will continue to grow,” she said.
In addition, they continue to get calls for mud out and chain saw teams. The chain saw teams are needed farther north in places like Mountain City which received more wind than flooding, she added.
Four of the job requests were in Poga, a small community in the northeast. Teams had to get there with ATVs or otherwise it would take three hours to get there, she said. Three of those were completed last week.
Last week, a chain saw team traveled to Mountain City to clear downed trees to open up a road that had been reduced to one lane for local traffic since the hurricane.
One issue teams are dealing with is the distance to some of the locations, Thomas noted. “It takes 50 minutes to drive to Mountain City so that adds almost two hours to a job.”
Temporary housing also is a major need, she continued. People are still in hotels or staying with families.
She said teams are working with one man who has stayed in his home though it has been condemned. “We also have heard stories of 10 people living in a two-bedroom house.”
As a result, some people have considered donating campers. That will be needed to be coordinated through local associations, she said.
Thomas said there is still a need for DR volunteers. Teams interested in serving can call the incident command post in Elizabethton at 615-969-0410.
Donations are being accepted for relief efforts at tndisasterrelief.org by clicking on “Contributions” and choosing East Tennessee Hurricane/Flooding Fund. B&R
