Disaster Date:09/24/2024
Spartanburg, SC
Hurricanes
What Happened
Thursday September 24, 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 have died and many more are still missing in Buncombe County, NC. Rescue crews are battling mudslides, flood waters, washed out roadways and limited mobile service making search and rescue extremely difficult.
What MDS Is Doing
MDS work will focus on new builds and repairs
Location
Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. An estimated population of 1,590,636 in 2023. Spartanburg was formed in 1785, after a deal was made with the Cherokee in 1753, and was named after a local militia called the Spartan Regiment in the American Revolutionary War. It became a center of textile manufacturing in the late 19th century, with around 40 textile mills being established through the early 1900s.
Stories from the Field
Weekly Reports
Sixteen volunteers joined the existing crew leaders led by Project Director Don Lichti in Spartanburg this week. The majority of the group was a multiage contingent from Walnut Creek Mennonite Church in Ohio. In addition, from Harrisonburg VA, Marg...
This week we welcomed crew leader and cook combos, Ed & Marlene Martin and Jim & Ruthi Gochnauer. We had a productive week with a group of 12 from Diller Mennonite Church in PA and a couple from Mishawaka, IN. The week began with demolition...
What a fun week in Spartanburg! Laura Pribble came to help Emily Ropp in the kitchen and Don Lichti arrived to overlap a few days with the current Project Director. Tim Sweigart stepped up to fill some big shoes as Construction Supervisor and rose to...
