
Co-founder Teresa Lee was putting the finishing touches on her barn conversion to her SPACE Studio when Hurricane Helene hit! Lucky for her, the house and all buildings survived the onslought. However, there was lots of mess and piles of debris everywhere. It washed out her road. After 13 days without electricity, Teresa is back. The final touches are coming together. Teresa is grateful for everyone and all the assistance. She is volunteering to get food to people still in need up in the hills. Please keep all of them in your hearts. Teresa said the most amazing help came from World Central Kitchen. Consider donating. https://donate.wck.org or contact SPACE at https://spacetowrite.org/contact/
News from the Front Lines
A recent article in the Tomahawk by Tomas Mondovics:
The rebuilding and recovery efforts seem monumental, following the path of destruction left behind by Hurricane Helene in late September.
With thousands of downed trees, homes, and bridges washed away and businesses affected by flooding, cleanup and recovery will be a long road.
In addition, Hurricane Helene’s destruction touched practically every part of the county, sparing no one of its once-in-a-lifetime wrath. Some communities must face the reality of a lengthy rebuilding process.
Trade, TN, is one such community in the South region of Johnson County. Helene’s powerful winds and rain seem to have melted mountains away like wax.
Antioch Road is the epicenter of destruction. First the devastation began with roadways washing away and then the flood took the Antioch Baptist Church. Today, only a section of the church’s roof remains.
Catastrophic
A section along SR 421 at Midway, south of Mountain City toward Trade, is suffering catastrophic damage. The remains of single-family homes ravaged by the flood waters give the area an eerie feel of destruction and helplessness never before seen in the Appalachian Mountains.
Duane Lay, 53, of Laurel Bloomery, TN, with several family members living in the badly affected region of Trade, echoed the now famous phrase, “I have never seen anything like this in my life.”
Lay confirmed that a dozen homes were lost, several within his family circle. Furthermore, several side roads are washed away in the area by the storm.
“A few of the homes affected are still livable. More importantly, they are the ones accommodating their neighbors with shelter and helping out each other,” Lay said.
Rebuilding such areas takes much more than just filling in some of the voids. Huge sections of the mountain itself are gone as if they were never there in the first place.
As with every disaster, resilience, community reliability, and the signs of daily progress are unmistakable.
Finally, Lay stated optimistically, “It will take years to rebuild, but not forever,F