Spring Lake family forced out by Hurricane Florence finally home for the holidays

SPRING LAKE, N.C. (WTVD) -- Christmas is a big deal at the Evan's household. For the first time since Hurricane Florence, they finally have a home to deck the halls.

"Hurricane Florence came in, left five feet ten inches of water here in the house," said Regina Evans.

ABC11 first introduced you to Regina Evans back in March. The disaster recovery specialist and grandmother recently adopted her grandkids and was struggling to recover herself.

Spring Lake disaster specialist helps others after Hurricane Florence while struggling herself

"Just about everything was lost. Over a hundred thousand dollars' worth of damage," said Evans.

To make matters worse, she had no flood insurance. Despite living less than a mile from the Little River, her home wasn't in a flood plain.

"We were denied by the step program, we had contractors that weren't good people so we had to battle that."

Thanks to community help, Evan's party of six now has a place to call home. Evan's held back tears as she remembered the hardship.

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"Not being able to live here. You have to pay rent, mortgage. You're trying to get your life in order and stay grounded. It was a lot," said Evans.

These days, dozens of gifts surrounded their Christmas tree. But in true Evans fashion, many of them weren't for their own families.

The Evans adopted six other families, remembering how the community came together for them.

"Last Christmas when we were in the position we were in, people were bringing stuff to the girls left and right. It was heartwarming and it really stuck to me. No matter what we have to do, somebody else is going to have a good Christmas," said Lloyd Evans.