After two hurricanes swept through the Southeast, many are tallying up the cost of the storms. Helene and Milton will cost an estimated $50 billion each in damages. And that’s to say nothing of the loss of life. Helene took the lives of more than 230 people. The death toll for Milton is about 24.
Tens of thousands of North Carolinians are still without running water since Hurricane Helene ripped through the state three weeks ago.
Thankfully, Hurricane Milton wasn’t as catastrophic as some expected it to be. But five days after the storm made landfall, about 500,000 Floridians still had no electricity.
Residents in hard-hit areas come to terms with massive losses and next steps. Amid the suffering, the Lord is providing in some truly remarkable ways.
The federal government has pledged almost $2 billion to six states that saw damage from the two hurricanes. All kinds of nonprofits have stepped up to help victims.
Samaritan’s Purse, for example, organized hundreds of flights to drop supplies to remote areas in Western North Carolina and Tennessee. Workers brought generators, food, water, and even Starlink kits, which connect devices to an internet system that uses satellites.
A disaster response nonprofit called Team Rubicon also pitched in. Four days after Helene, Team Rubicon had already cleared more than 400 dump trucks worth of debris in Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina.
Churches from all over the nation donated supplies and sent teams of volunteers to areas hit by Helene and Milton. Locals took opportunities to show compassion. In Western North Carolina, thousands of folks still don’t have running water. Erik Iverson lives near a well owned by an urban farm in Asheville. Farm staff wanted to help after the hurricane. Iverson laid two 200-foot lengths of plastic pipe to route the well water to the road for public access.
Sam Perkins hiked 11 miles to check on his parents in their mountain home.
Mike Toberer brought a dozen of his mules to deliver food, water, and diapers to hard-to-reach mountainous areas in Western North Carolina.
In Atlanta, Georgia, a TV reporter stopped his broadcast to save a woman trapped in her car by floodwaters.
There are stories of churches becoming makeshift shelters. Neighbors share whatever they have left.
In the hardest-hit places, cleaning up the damage will take months. Rebuilding could take years. Yet our compassionate Father cares for the suffering. God equips people—both those with and without skills and resources—to show mercy to the hurting. His grace is magnified in times of our greatest weakness.
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” — 2 Corinthians 12:9
