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Storm sends hundreds to emergency shelters
By Rose Hooper
As Hurricane Ivan storm trooped through Jackson County last Thursday (Sept. 16), emergency shelters were set up in four locations – at Smokey Mountain Elementary School, Smoky Mountain High School, the Community Service Center and the Cashiers-Glenville Rescue Squad Building.
“I’m back,” said a dry Jimmy Bennett, smiling Friday morning (Sept. 17) after spending the night at the Community Service Center.
Bennett, who lives on Old Cullowhee Road, waited as long as he could when Frances paid a visit two weeks ago, but when he heard Ivan was approaching, he acted quickly.
Volunteer Becky Green folds blankets Friday morning at the Community Service Center. Some 50 people sought refuge from Hurricane Ivan at the emergency shelter there. – Herald photo by Nick Breedlove
“I didn’t wait for anybody to come and tell me to evacuate. I just came on in last night,” he said.
“We have a capacity of 38 cots, but we had 50 people, so some of them slept on the stage area,” said volunteer Jean Pettigrew, who came in at 6 a.m. Sept. 16 to relieve some of the night shift. Jackson County Deputy Sean Bryson also came in early that morning to help out at the shelter.
Over at the high school, county employees Randal Moss and Linda Thomas were checking people in and out of the shelter.
“We had 108 people here Thursday night (Sept. 16) coming from all parts of the county – Scotts Creek, Webster, Tuckasegee, Cullo–whee and from around the university,” said Moss.
Twenty more cots were added Friday night at SMHS, where an Hispanic translator was on hand.
Steve Patterson, who lives near the Moody Bridge in Cullowhee, met with a Federal Emergency Management Agency representative Tuesday (Sept. 21) concerning Hurricane Ivan’s damage to his property. FEMA is operating a temporary disaster recovery center at the Jackson County Justice Center from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Saturday, Sept. 25. To register, call 1-800-621-FEMA. – Herald photo by Rose Hooper
Smokey Mountain Elementary School accommodated about 30 people, according to Emergency Services Coordinator Mike Ensley.
“It was an amazing experience working in the shelters,” said former American Red Cross Director and current volunteer Becki Hinton.
“We expected to open one shelter and have maybe 25 people come in, but wound up opening three shelters and had 200 people.
“Everyone worked really well together, and people came in soaking wet and shivering from wading in deep water to get out, yet they didn’t complain. They were so grateful for the food, clothes and shelter,” she said.
Hinton, who worked throughout the night Sept. 16 at the Community Service Center, said she was surprised at the “caring people who came by bringing food and blankets.
“Susan Manning brought all the fixings for lasagna and cooked for everybody,” Hinton said.
Hinton said she was also surprised how those staying at the shelter “helped each other and came to us and asked what they could do for us, even when they knew they would have no home to go to and that they had lost everything they owned. It was one of the most heartwarming experiences I’ve ever had,” she said.
In the southern end of the county, which Ensley said sustained most of the damage, the rescue squad building was converted into an emergency shelter.
“Thursday night we opened up the squad building for folks in the area needing shelter,” said squad volunteer Jeremy Stewart. “For the next two nights – Friday and Saturday – we housed about 32 emergency volunteers working in the area.”
“I was glad to see people taking advantage of the shelters throughout the county,” said Ensley. “We didn’t have to go and rescue them, so it kept our rescue personnel out of harm’s way.”
When Jackson County residents recall the blizzard of 1993, they can tell you where they were when it happened and how they were affected. In years to come, Ensley said he believes Frances and Ivan ravaging through the county will be remembered much the same way.
“It was dark Thursday night (Sept. 16) so I couldn’t see much of anything, but I could hear a lot going on. It was so intense it sounded like a Blackhawk helicopter sitting on top of my house,” said Steve Patterson, who lives on Yonder Way off Roy Tritt Road in Cullowhee.
The next morning he discovered 250 feet of his road completely covered by a mudslide. Another mudslide stopped 10 feet from crashing into his home.
“There were power lines down everywhere,” said Patterson, whose power was finally restored Sunday (Sept. 19).
“I heard a lot of cracking noises Thursday night and I just huddled in the bed, not daring to go out in all that rain – besides, it was pitch black,” said Diane Rock of Barkers Creek.
At daylight Friday morning she surveyed the damages, which she said “looked like an earthquake. We lost the only way in and out of our house,” Rock said of her former road.
“My husband, Bernard, is disabled and it worries me that an ambulance can’t get to our house now,” Rock said.
In Tuckasegee, Ivan covered Lymon Powell’s garden with a mudslide and his yard with “what looked like a river all around my home,” he said.
“I was living in Tuckasegee 64 years ago when the big flood came and Ivan wasn’t nearly that bad,” said Powell.
“Although I think back then we made do better because being without electricity wasn’t a big deal. We didn’t get electricity where I lived until 1947– seven years after the flood.
“We had our own spring water and had canned and put up all of our food, like most folks did back then. So, having plenty of food and water wasn’t any problem in 1940,” said Powell, who said he will have to have someone bulldoze the mud from his garden after the waters recede.
Bottled water quickly cleared off the store shelves Thursday in anticipation of massive power outages. By Friday, as 75 percent of the county was without power, another commodity was in short supply – D-cell batteries.
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