Local community rallies to assist with Hurricane Helene recovery

VILLAGE OF ST. JOHNSVILLE, N.Y. (NEWS10) – The widespread destruction caused by Hurricane Helene was not lost on the people in the Village of St. Johnsville. Two nurses tell NEWS10’s Carina Dominguez they were able to make a trip down to assist thanks to the community.

The village Mayor and a member on the Board of Trustees are both registered nurses.

Trustee Julie Eisele has a sister in Swannanoa, North Carolina who told her about a child she watches at a daycare who lost his mother.

“It was a very traumatic story. The dad had been hit by a mudslide. he thought he was going to die. he heard his wife screaming, so he made his way back over to his wife. he grabbed his eight-year-old son and when he turned back around, she had washed away in the river,” said Eisele. 

And that galvanized her into action because she has a nine year old herself. So, she looked into ways to help.

“There was some momentum building, people were offering supplies and then it seemed like if I was getting supplies then I was going to have to go myself because Red Cross wasn’t going to bring the supplies. And then Dawn reached out and said she would like to go and then I put it out to the community,” said Eisele.

Thanks to the generosity of the people in the village they loaded up the supplies in Eisele’s garage, into a 14-foot truck, and the pair headed down to North Carolina. They were there from October 16 - 22. 

They arrived four weeks after the hurricane hit but Mayor Dawn White said it looked like it had just happened. She said it left her with one question.

“It made me think about as mayor, what is our policy?,” said White. She said they have a flood mitigation plan, but they need more. “What about train derailments with toxic fumes? What about tornadoes? Where is our command center? What do we do?”

Now, she’s in communication with the county to hammer out a more comprehensive plan.

According to the North Carolina Center for Missing Persons, they have more than 12,000 open missing persons cases. And with temperatures dropping there’s an urgent need for assistance. 

People are in need of materials to rebuild houses and still need things like baby formula. But they also need help with recovery efforts and are looking for skid steers and cadaver dogs.

If you want to donate they recommend West Marion Inc.