Displaced Helene victims seek refuge in emergency shelters
Dozens of residents were left trapped and several are dead after unprecedented mudslides in the wake of Hurricane Helene in Yancey County.
In Burnsville, homes appeared to be in a post-apocalyptic state nearly two weeks after remnants of the storm tore through the area.
Hundreds of people who lost everything due to flooding gathered at the Red Cross emergency shelter that's set up in Blue Ridge Elementary School.
Chris Morgan is a local pastor and lost a family member in the mudslide. He told ABC11 he's been working non-stop since the storm.
"You just have to love on people. It's tough because it's heartbreaking, we see good things -we see families reunited, and then we see families divide," said Morgan.
Burnsville native Pam Burgin is also on the front lines of the relief efforts, despite losing her mother-in-law in a landslide last week. Burgin is a supervisor with the local social services and said she's been overwhelmed but determined to push forward.
Mainly for all of these people, we just show them kindness," she said. "You show them kindness, you show them love. And right now, that's been really what they've needed."