A flooded street surrounded by mud and debris — Devastation in Asheville after Hurricane Helene Credit: Photo: Bill McMannis

In late September, in what would end up among the deadliest and costliest storms in U.S. history, Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida and quickly raged inland, leaving death and destruction in its wake. The storm claimed more than 230 lives and has done as much as $200 billion of damage to communities in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina.

Millions lost access to electricity and phone service and thousands were without drinkable water. Rural communities were hit especially hard, with hollers and other hard-to-reach areas devastated and left isolated by raging torrents of rainwater and debris funneled by the mountains and hills into low-lying areas. Thousands remained without power three weeks after the storm.

As soon as reports surfaced of the catastrophic harm wrought by Hurricane Helene, Pittsburghers were asking each other and their connections in affected areas how they could help.

“A friend of mine was watching all this unfold and really stressing out, thinking about things to do and how we can help. And then they started losing contact with people that they know down there, because everybody lost phone service,” recalled Nicky Drahnak, an organizer with Pittsburgh Disaster Solidarity, the group that sprung up to coordinate the local response.

Members of Pittsburgh’s street medic community and others involved in local mutual aid projects teamed up with an Asheville, North Carolina-based group, Appalachian Medical Solidarity, to raise money and deliver relief supplies to people in some of the hardest-hit areas of western North Carolina.

Within days, the group was able to organize a supply drive based out of Diamond Beach to send at least three large U-Haul trucks packed with food, water, medical supplies, construction supplies, PPE, fuel, diapers, and other essentials.

“I would say, within two or three days, we had already started asking for donations and collecting money and sort of built this very robust mutual aid network from scratch,” Drahnak told Pittsburgh City Paper in an interview. “It’s actually been pretty amazing to see how much stuff, and money, too, that the local community showed up for and donated.”

Although national attention has since turned to subsequent deadly hurricanes such as Milton, fall holidays, and the presidential election, thousands in western North Carolina and the Southeast still have a long road to recovery ahead and continue to need aid and support. Pittsburgh Disaster Solidarity is hoping to keep the survivors of Helene in public awareness and continue to collect money and supplies for their ongoing recovery needs.

“What we’re doing now is sort of moving to trying to keep awareness going. Because, yes, the immediate needs are sort of slowing down, but it’s bad down there, and it’s going to be bad for a long time.”

The group is collecting monetary donations and items from an Amazon wishlist, including wound-care supplies, portable heaters and generators, and sleeping bags. Information on how to plug into the relief efforts can be found at Pittsburgh Disaster Solidarity’s linktree, bit.ly/PghSolid, or on their Instagram, @pghdisastersolidarity.