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Hundreds of thousands of people living in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains have had a tough week dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. In Eastern Tennessee, search and rescue efforts are winding down. Jacqui Sieber of member station WUOT reports.
JACQUI SIEBER, BYLINE: Dozens of national guardsmen load fallen tree branches and rubble into military trucks in the small mountain town of Hampton, Tenn. The smell of burning wood fills the air.
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SIEBER: A block away, Joy Lambert sits in a folding chair in the parking lot of the Hampton Church of God. She was also in this parking lot when the floodwaters from the nearby Doe River swept away her trailer home. All she could do was watch.
JOY LAMBERT: I was here when it went down, when it lost its foundation. And by grace of the Lord, I'm going to be here when they tear it down.
SIEBER: Her trailer home crashed into nearby trees. She lost a lot of family mementos that were collected over the years.
LAMBERT: You know how your mother keeps all that stuff, and then when you get married and have kids, all that, they bring all that stuff out and...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: I know.
LAMBERT: ...Embarrass you to death?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: I know.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: I know.
LAMBERT: And that - so I had to throw a lot of stuff. But it's all right.
SIEBER: Hundreds of thousands of people lost power, clean running water or phone service for days, and many are still without them. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee assessed the damage this week.
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BILL LEE: It's evident that something historically horrific has happened here.
SIEBER: There is a conservation order in place to save water. About an hour south of Hampton, residents in Greene County are slowly getting their water back after a local utilities pumping station was destroyed from the floods. Josephine Roberts arrives early at a gas station near the Nolichucky River that's become a water pickup site.
JOSEPHINE ROBERTS: We're managing. We're managing 'cause there's people a lot worse than we are.
SIEBER: Back in Hampton, Black Hawk helicopters with their whirling propellers carry supplies to unreachable neighborhoods. Ivan Sanders is a spokesperson for Carter County.
IVAN SANDERS: We actually had about seven or eight on the weekend that were flying supplies, including generators, water, nonperishable food.
SIEBER: Despite the anxiety surrounding the aftermath of the storm, Sanders says the community has banded together.
SANDERS: This has really been a blessing in disguise if there is such a thing because I think it has pulled folks together that normally wouldn't have worked together in the past.
SIEBER: As for Joy Lambert, she's hopeful she'll find a new home soon.
LAMBERT: We'll get a home back. We'll get a home back.
SIEBER: Officials say the recovery phase from Helene's flooding has only just begun, and it's not clear how long it will last. For NPR News, I'm Jacqui Sieber in Hampton, Tenn. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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