CORE’s Hurricane Helene Response in Georgia

Journeys Towards Rebuilding

CORE’s Hurricane Helene Response in Georgia

Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida’s Gulf Coast as a powerful Category 3 storm on September 26, 2024, before tearing its way inland through southwest Georgia. It left behind a devastating path of destruction that stretched on for hundreds of miles, but that was only the beginning.

In the hours and days that followed, the world saw the true scope of Helene’s impact in Georgia. The storm killed at least 33 people, destroyed and damaged thousands of homes, and left 2 million people without power. Helene was the third powerful storm to hit the state in the past 13 months, something unheard of in this part of Georgia, and residents were still dealing with the residual damage.

CORE immediately deployed a team to Valdosta, Georgia, where we’d previously responded to Hurricane Idalia just a year ago. On the ground, CORE’s team assessed the damage and coordinated with emergency management agencies to open vital points of distribution (PODS) to quickly disperse essential goods to residents in need. These supplies included food, water, and sanitation kits. CORE distributed these necessary goods to 50,000 people, providing a much-needed lifeline.

As those immediate needs were met, other members of CORE’s team went out into the community to conduct home damage assessments. They then got to work helping clear debris, mucking and gutting, and affixing tarps on impacted homes to start the rebuilding process.

Read below to learn more about CORE’s Hurricane Helene Response in Georgia – and see why this is just the beginning of a long recovery process for the region.

Arnold McCoggle

Reverend Arnold McCoggle should have died in the storm. At least, that’s how the 73-year-old tells it. During the storm, a tree crashed into his home, smashing through his bedroom, and crushing the exact spot where he and his wife, Caroline, slept every night.

Fortunately, the day before the storm, Arnold’s son called and urged his parents to spend the night with him. The couple listened and rode out the storm with their son, thankful to have survived the battering winds and deluge unscathed.

When the first light broke and the couple returned home, they found the massive tree practically cutting their trailer in half. They were devastated. Caroline is chronically ill, and between her care, rent, and daily expenses, the couple couldn’t afford homeowners insurance. They were left with nowhere to turn.

They moved everything they needed into the front room, where they were forced to live, with the large tree in the middle of their home and the open sky showing through the now-destroyed roof. Added to that, the power was out, they had no running water, and the temperature was rising; things were dire.

Then, CORE arrived. A team of volunteers and staff joined Arnold on the property, ready to help clean up the mess and address some damage. Chainsaws roared as branches fell and debris began clearing away. Crews removed large sections of the tree outside the house and helped dispose of the rubble and insulation inside. CORE’s staff then helped place a tarp over the roof that would last for months.

There’s still plenty of work to be done, but CORE’s team helped Arnold and his wife take that crucial recovery step. Now, Arnold hopes that CORE’s work and documentation will help him secure funding from FEMA to fully rebuild his home.

Even among all the trials and pain of the previous few weeks, Arnold felt pride in his community as they all banded together to help each other.

“I’m so thankful for Valdosta coming together, you know? Coming together as a whole to help one another in a time like this. We need to help one another and consider that it could happen to you,” he said.

Arnold also appreciated the work CORE did to help him and the rest of the community during their time of need.

“I’m so satisfied for CORE, helping me and the people [who] need that…That encouragement or that, that all the work that they come in and do and clean up for you because sometimes you can’t do it,” he added.

Vicki Lawrence

For Vicki, the storm took her back to her childhood when she lived in poverty. The hurricane damaged her roof and left her without running water or electricity. And in the days after Helene blasted through, temperatures soared.

She had family to help her, but there was much to deal with. Her grandchildren ran down to the river each day to fetch water that she could use to keep cool or flush the toilet. And with no AC, she spent much of her time on the porch with her dog, trying to keep from overheating.

To make things worse, rent was due, and it did not matter that she didn’t have power or that her place was now a mess. On top of that, her storm-damaged roof exposed her home to the elements, and with fall and winter approaching, things would only get worse unless someone came to help.

Enter CORE’s team members in Valdosta who connected with Vicki. While it was out of their hands to get electricity back on or get potable water flowing, they could provide a fix for Vicki’s roof.

CORE tarped Vicki’s roof, ensuring that any rain in the future stayed outside and that Vicki found a bit of safety and comfort in her home. CORE distributed 15,700 tarps to households in the area and provided tarping work to 51 residents.

Joellen Cooper

For those in Southwestern Georgia, Hurricane Helene almost didn’t feel real. This wasn’t Florida, and they weren’t used to getting hit with these powerful systems again and again.

For Joellen Cooper, Hurricane Helene was just another gut punch. After the previous storms left her home damaged and susceptible to leaks and mold, Helene ferociously shook her home before tearing off part of the roof. The wind whipped inside and wreaked further havoc. Worse still, some of Joellen’s beloved cats escaped in the chaos.

The storm caused damage throughout Joellen’s neighborhood, further hurting those who had already suffered so much. Like many other people in Valdosta, she barely scrapes by, surviving paycheck to paycheck, and can’t afford homeowners insurance. Fixing her roof and the damage inside was out of the question, at least on her own.

Thankfully, CORE’s team came to assist. Team members cleaned out debris, tarped her roof, and even helped locate some of her cats.

It’s a small step but a necessary one. As the effects of climate change continue to be seen, hurricane season continues to lengthen, and storms grow in intensity. More communities like Valdosta, which usually don’t experience such events, will find themselves at risk.

CORE is doing all that it can to help not only those recovering from disaster but also to help prepare communities to become more resilient in the face of the climate crisis.

If you’d like to learn more about CORE’s Hurricane Helene Response in Georgia, please visit our response page. Or, if you are interested in CORE’s climate work, please visit our corresponding page.