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The hurricane and the strength of a community.
by
Chris Spivey
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Friends, I hope this email finds all of you safe and well. This is the first email I've written since the storm.
Wilmington is my hometown. I've always lived here. I've been through many hurricanes, but Hurricane Florence seemed different.
With previous hurricanes, I would anxiously anticipate the days of surfing before the storm. During my Paramedic years, I would prepare to go to work, not knowing the next day I would have off. Even after my Paramedic days, the typical hurricane routine would be to catch a few waves before the storm, load up on supplies expecting the power to be off for a couple days, bring everything into the garage, and expect a day or two of clean-up after the storm. But Florence felt different.
Leading up to the storm, Christy and I watched the changing forecast just like everyone else. As the storm began to build in strength, we started to casually toss around the idea of evacuating, which neither one of us had ever done. Once Florence hit category 4 with talks of possibly going to a 5 and Wilmington was the bullseye, we made the decision we were leaving to protect our children.
Our 5th ever ImpactClub® Wilmington event had been scheduled for months for Monday 9/10. There's a ton that goes into scheduling these events, so it was too late to reschedule. The storm was predicted to come in on Thursday, so I made the decision to have the event on Monday and make the best of it. Even with the approaching storm, we had another incredible event, but that story is for another time.
With all my attention devoted to the ImpactClub® event, I couldn't prepare our house and my truck for evacuation until Tuesday. I spent the entire day preparing, with the kids pitching in while Christy was busy at work at the hospital.
By 7:00pm that night, the truck was packed and we were ready to roll to Charlotte to stay with family. We decided to postpone our evacuation until 6:00am the next morning.
I don't think I can truly put into words the feelings Christy and I had as we drove away. Our main concern was keeping our children safe so we knew we were making the right decision to evacuate, but both of us shared the same feeling. The feeling that we were leaving someone behind or abandoning someone.
Both of us have always lived here and Wilmington is special to us. I can't describe it, but I just had a feeling in my gut, almost a feeling of guilt for leaving.
I knew this storm was going to be bad and we both wanted to be here to help. I guess it's just who we are. We both felt a need to stay and help people we didn't even know.
In the days to come as we watched Florence inflict destruction on our area and the people that stayed, that feeling of guilt of not being there to help only increased.
As we expected, the roads leading to Wilmington flooded. But we had no idea the flooding would be as bad as it was. We had no idea that every road, from interstates and highways to back roads would all be under water, a lot of water, turning Wilmington into an island.
I know Facebook has it's downsides, but honestly that's how we kept up with what was actually happening back home, posts from friends and strangers, sharing information.
Each day for several days we thought about trying to drive back, but would see stories where people were trapped by flooded roads trying to make it back and had to be rescued.
Finally after a week, we made the journey home when we heard, through Facebook, a route that was open.
Typically from Wilmington to Charlotte, you take Hwy 74 for about 3.5 hours and you're there. With 74 flooded, our trek home took us from Charlotte to Greensboro, Greensboro to Raleigh, Raleigh to the Newton Grove exit to Hwy 701, 701 to Hwy 421 to Wilmington.
At the time, this was the only known route into Wilmington. With thousands of people trying to make it back, our journey took us 9 hours to get home. That's right, I said 9 hours with the last 40 miles on 421 taking 3.5 to 4 hours.
As we crossed the New Hanover County line, we could see the water level just off the side of the road. The next day, that road was flooded and shut down.
Thankfully we only had minor damage to our home so quickly our minds turned to how we could help others.
The next day Christy went to work at the hospital to relieve people that had been working there for days without leaving. I tried to think how I could help the most people at one time so I posted on Facebook for anyone to contact me that needed a trusted contact for a roofer, a screen repair guy or whatever type of help they needed.
My Facebook page, messenger, texts, and email just exploded. So many people needed help, but didn't know who to contact. I spent hours going back and forth on all of those, connecting people with someone who could help and I was happy to do it.
A couple days later, while Christy was still working, the kids and I volunteered at World Kitchen. A friend from church, Steve Lambros, owns Diamond Catering. Steve opened his kitchen and facility to World Kitchen.
World Kitchen provided meals to thousands and thousands of people after the storm. People at shelters, First Responders, volunteers, anyone who needed food, World Kitchen was there to help with a meal. It was incredible to see and an honor to be a small part that day.
By this point I had been around town and seen some of the damage with downed trees, torn up roads, and even trees on houses, but the photos of the flooded areas almost seemed surreal.
This past Saturday, it became real.
Our awesome youth pastor at church, Rusty Smith, took our youth group along with a few parents out to help the community. We went to Hampstead to the Cross Creek neighborhood.
Cross Creek was one of the areas hardest hit by flooding. Several homes in the back of the neighborhood had been completely underwater.
I wasn't prepared for what we encountered.
The neighborhood looked like a disaster area. Piles of debris from homes and trees everywhere. A brown coating over everything from the flood waters. A smell so strong you had to wear a mask. A smell from mud, mold, fecal material, spoiled food, and probably other things I wasn't aware of.
We split into 3 groups and worked at 3 different houses. The house where the group I was with had been completely flooded inside. Everything inside the house was wet and covered in mud and mold.
Everything was destroyed. Our incredible group of youth and parents went to work carrying out furniture, ripping up floors, and removing everything from the house.
I had an opportunity to speak with one of the homeowners in the front yard. I listened to him describe how the water began to rise during the storm. He stayed in the house until the water got up to his knees. At that point he evacuated by walking through flood waters, wind, and rain. He, like most of his neighbors, did not have flood insurance so none of the damage was covered.
The only way I thought to respond was just to ask if I could pray for him right then and there. Afterwards, he walked away with tears in his eyes.
Even though the sight of all the destruction was overwhelming, also overwhelming was seeing the number of volunteers out there working through this neighborhood. There were hundreds of people working.
Neighbors were helping neighbors. Strangers were helping strangers. And no one was being paid to be out there.
In the midst of all that destruction, it was something special to see a community coming together to help those in need.
As I'm writing this email, I just received a text saying the owner of the home accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior today. That is so incredible to hear. About 2 weeks after his house has been destroyed, he asked God into his life. Absolutely amazing.
Let me be clear that I don't take any credit for that. I think it's from the love he received from our incredible youth group and youth pastor. In his greatest time of need, strangers showed up to offer all we could; love, sweat, and prayer.
Our area will recover from this storm. Some are already back to normal. Some will takes months. Some may take years. But make no mistake about it, we will recover.
If you need help, please let me know. I'll give you everything I've got to offer; love, sweat, and prayer.
Psalm 107:28-31 Yet when they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, the Lord brought them out of their distress. He calmed the storm and its waves quieted down. So they rejoiced that the waves became quiet, and he led them to their desired haven. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his gracious love and for his awesome deeds on behalf of mankind.
As always, I hope this helps in some way.
Chris
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impactclub.com
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Chris Spivey
Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, Aspiring Leader
910-279-1138
Co-Founder, IMPACTCLUB® WILMINGTON
RE/MAX Essential
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