ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Several counties in western North Carolina remain cut off following the disastrous flooding from Hurricane Helene as Southern Baptists work to bring help to those who survived the historic flash flooding that inundated the region and claimed the lives of at least 160 people across the Southeast.

“From what we’ve gathered from our partners here on the ground, the destruction is much worse than most media outlets have been able to capture thus far,” said Josh Benton, Send Relief’s vice president of North American ministry, as he visited the Asheville area Wednesday (Oct. 2).

“The infrastructure has been so damaged,” Benton said, “that authorities are still tabulating the number of missing persons and identifying best pathways into some of the impacted counties. Seeing the devastation in person, the video does not do justice to what’s happened in the region.”

N.C. Baptists on Mission has now stood up nine Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) response sites in the state, three of which are preparing meals for survivors while volunteers continue venturing out into the community to help residents with cleanup.

Biltmore Church’s campus in Arden hosted one of North Carolina’s SBDR command centers. Dozens of SBDR volunteers have utilized a large mobile kitchen to cook meals that have been distributed through a drive-thru line. The church has helped collect bottled water, ice and other supplies and passed those resources out as people had need.

“I’m always proud of our church. They have responded even though they, in many ways, couldn’t get out of neighborhoods. They didn’t have stuff, but they were up here responding,” said Biltmore Church Pastor Bruce Frank.

“We talk about declaring and demonstrating the gospel all the time,” Frank said. “So, this is a great demonstration of the gospel to our community because Asheville is the epicenter, but almost all the communities within 50 miles or so have been impacted. Some towns were completely washed away.”

Many other churches throughout the region have also engaged their communities to meet immediate needs, such as Trinity of Fairview Baptist Church in Fletcher where pastor Stacey Harris has been leading his church to collect supplies and distribute them to neighbors.

Harris recalled those first days of the storm.

“As prepared as you could be, it just wasn’t enough in those moments for what happened: the roads, the inability to communicate,” Harris said. “I think for me, the hardest thing was not knowing if my people were OK, not being able to even get a text to them, ‘Are you alive? Are you well?’”

Their church has a food pantry, and members distributed all of their resources Saturday to those in need. The National Guard dropped supplies via helicopter to help replenish their stores.

“On the good side, I have seen the light in this community that I really haven’t seen in a long time, watching neighbors help neighbors,” Harris said. “People meeting needs in the moment with what they have, doing the best they can just to help people right beside them.”

Helene’s left damage in its wake throughout the Southeast, and SBDR has deployed volunteers to every impacted state: Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Virginia.

Send Relief has been distributing resources through semi-truck deliveries to all the affected areas in support of the SBDR response.

At least 16 state Baptist conventions have dispatched volunteer teams to hard-hit communities. So far since Southern Baptists’ response began mere hours after the storm, SBDR volunteers have set up at least 28 response sites across the Southeast and have worked a combined 15,443 hours, completed 207 job requests and served 115,612 meals. Teams have seen 10 people come to faith in Christ through their gospel witness.

To learn more about how to give to the overall Southern Baptist response to Hurricane Helene, visit sendrelief.org/hurricane. To donate and learn more about the N.C. Baptists on Mission response, visit baptistsonmission.org.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Brandon Elrod writes for the North American Mission Board.)