By Gabrielle Williams | September 14, 2020 at 3:15 PM EDT – Updated September 14 at 7:46 PM
PENDER COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) – Two years ago, Hurricane Florence made landfall in Wrightsville Beach leaving devastation across the Carolinas.
Since the storm, Wilmington Area Rebuilding Ministry, Inc. (WARM) has helped 193 families with home repairs. But there are still more than 60 families who need help.
“It’s going to get better,” said Loretta Gore. “Sometimes you just have to wait… wait on the lord.”
Vernon and Loretta Gore’s home of 47 years was flooded during Florence. The couple and their foster child evacuated to Raleigh for a week and when they returned, they were devastated to find their home has nearly been destroyed.
They stayed with family in Pender County for a month after the storm. The storm had damaged their roof which in result, caused water damaged to the floors and windows. Mold had grown on their bedroom furniture. Loretta developed asthma because of the condition her home was in.
She then applied to WARM to receive some help. Since then, her roof and ceiling have been repaired, but she is still waiting to get the floors, windows, and some pipework done on the house.
“It’s just a lot of little things I got gone, but still some more than needs to be done because up underneath the floors didn’t hold up,” said Loretta. “I need my floors, I need my windows… it’s just a lot of work that I need to get done.”
JC Lyle, the Exective Director of WARM says a lot of people that have needed repairs need similar ones.
“A lot of roof damage; a lot of exterior damage,” said Lyle. “And what that means is interior damage from water intrusion. At this point, most folks have been gutted if they need to be gutted, they’ve had tarps on probably for two years or replaced the tarps at this point with lots of storms that have some through. So what we really need to do is finish up some of the roofs, go inside and make sure the water damage is out of there and make sure the mold doesn’t impact their health.”
Lyle says they need volunteers to help get these families off the waiting list. If you’re interested in volunteering, you can sign up on their website.
Despite going through so much in the past few years, the Gores are grateful for the help they’ve received.
WARM is hosting a fundraiser to help the Gores with the much-needed repairs. The fundraiser ends Monday, Sept. 21.
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