Currently, resources like Texas Task Force 1 are rediverting to Florida as Hurricane Milton makes landfall. This move comes as cleanup continues in several states, including Tennessee and North Carolina. NBC 5’s Allie Spillyards spoke with some North Texans on the ground assisting as the second storm approaches.
Christine Goff couldn't turn away from the destruction when she returned to Dallas from a second home in Blowing Rock, North Carolina.
“You just get consumed, and you get obsessive about watching all that.I just woke up one morning and I said, we can do something about this. And so I put it on my Facebook group, and then I put it on Park City’s Chatter. That’s how it really got out,” said Goff.
Within hours, groups like the Dallas County Medical Society, Highland Park Methodist Church, and University Park neighbors answered a simple request for supplies like coats, medication, and work boots.
“People started dropping stuff at my door, and then it just became huge. My front yard was full. My kitchen was full. My living room, my dining room was just full of wonderful things,” she said.
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Sunday, neighbors loaded a 26-foot truck and additional trailer that was set to arrive in Blowing Rock late Tuesday. It’s just the start of the generosity that Build for Good Foundation’s Mary Allison Brinker said they’ll need to rebuild communities that are still cut off after roads are washed away.
“There are homes that are literally been removed from the foundation. There are RVs and campers wrapped around trees, not necessarily up in the canopy, but it's pretty, pretty sketchy. There are these families that are sitting in their yard alongside of all of their destroyed belongings,” said Brinker.
Two hours to the south, four more North Texans arrived in Hendersonville, North Carolina, Tuesday.
“My role will be to help provide food to those that survivors that are around,” said Bernard Tolan.
Over the next two weeks, Tolan will serve in one of the 60 mobile feeding units the Salvation Army has set up across six states.
They’ve already provided over 312,000 hot meals and are prepared to do more as Hurricane Milton now brews.
“It’s hard to even imagine the survivors as what they're feeling embracing with this new storm coming in and definitely praying for their safety,” he said.
Help from strangers is necessary for a long time to come.
“This could be us. This could be Dallas,” said Goff.
Donations can be made to the Salvation Army online or by calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY.
