Disaster Date:09/27/2024
West Asheville, NC
Hurricanes
What Happened
Thursday September 26, 2024 Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in the Big Bend area of Florida. The storm pushed inland into Georgia, South and North Carolina and southern Virginia. Western North Carolina appears to be especially hard hit. At least 200 people died. Rescue crews battled mudslides, flood waters, and washed out roadways. MDS is renovating a church for future volunteers and then in the fall of 2025 will begin repairing homes.
What MDS Is Doing
MDS Volunteers will work on repair and new builds.
Location
Asheville is a city in western North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. It’s known for a vibrant arts scene and historic architecture, including the dome-topped Basilica of Saint Lawrence. The vast 19th-century Biltmore estate displays artwork by masters like Renoir. The Downtown Art District is filled with galleries and museums, and in the nearby River Arts District, former factory buildings house artists' studios.
Stories from the Field
Weekly Reports
Long term Volunteers with Bridges and Traditional returned to West Ashville from 1/2/26 to 1/5/25. Weekly volunteers for the Bridge project arrived Sunday PM. What a gorgeous week weatherwise to work on bridges and to visit ongoing worksites and...
Sunday evening, December 14, we welcomed a group of thirteen men from Pennsylvania, and a college student from Virginia, to work on housing repairs. Two local men volunteered with us on Thursday. Monday, we were joined for...
Sunday evening, November 30, we welcomed a group of three men from Alberta, a man from Ohio, and a man from Pennsylvania to work on housing repairs. A long term volunteer decided to stay an extra week, and a man, John Murphy, from...
