Join Us in Restoring Hope After the Storm

Hi, I’m Terra’s sister Melissa, and I’m launching this GoFundMe to support of my sisters family who lost almost everything after tropical storm Helene decimated their home, and farm - their livelihood. When I faced my worst nightmare, Terra dropped EVERYTHING and came to San Diego to support me, and help be my peace. Although I can’t go there, I want to help as much as I can so they can begin to rebuild their lives and farm.

Below are Terra’s words:

“Hello loved ones.

Friday September 27th Tropical Storm Helene hit North Carolina. It was catastrophic. The last time something like this happened was 1916. We heard that the family living in our house evacuated and moved to higher ground. I dont think anyone thought this would happen again. We received the typical flash flood warnings on our phone but this is common in our region. The Broad river we live on surrounded our house around 11am and we barely made it out (it happened VERY fast). All of us, our animals and chickens are safe. We are currently staying in our landlords new home that has a powerful generator and large propane tank. For this we are extremely grateful and fortunate. Running the generator constantly gives us 17 days of power so we turn it off during the day, we should have enough power to hopefully last us a month. There are four different roads that head out of the area we are in but are blocked from fallen trees, mudslides and areas where the road is entirely taken out. We heard that the road just past the continental divide towards black mountain is entirely gone. Power lines and cell towers are down. I'm only able to get this message out because our neighbors ex husband Adam flew in yesterday via helicopter and the pilot has Starlink (they left with him). The driveway to our home can only be walked (trees down, mudslide and silt covering it). Yesterday the 28th Odie, papa and I walked out of our driveway and over the bridge (half of it has a massive sycamore sliced through it) to our neighbors. The situation is dire for many. Several people are on their last day of water and food. The helicopter is supposed to return if weather conditions permit. It is a small helicopter so they can only bring so many supplies but Adam said he would be trying to coordinate with FEMA or someone else to bring supplies. This morning I plan to make extra food to bring and water to share. Two different families we met on the road are an elderly couple and the other whose girlfriend is pregnant. Our neighbor on the other side lost his home and swam away and survived, he hiked out and no one has seen him since. Another gal that lives down the road barely escaped as well, got trapped in her van from a mudslide but somehow got out and ran for help. We also almost lost our van. Ty had moved it to the entrance of our driveway but after we fled our home we realized it probably wasnt safe. In borrowed sandals and socks he tromped through knee high mud for a half hour trek on what we call the ridge trail the Gabriel's had made. It connects one end of the property to another side. When he got to the van, the dumpster next to it was being taken away by the river. He said he moved some logs out of the way and barely got the van out of there to higher ground.

Ty has been working hard at clearing the silt mud out of our home. I've been bagging up clothing. Yesterday we finally moved all of our perishables. This was challening to do because the truck got stuck and the tractors are trapped. Ty was able to get the Gabriel's four wheeler out for hauling our belongings. The shop next to our house is still flooded and full of mud. Gas spilled out, the fridge and freezer fell over, a lot of things were taken by the river. The greenhouse and low tunnels are gone, my apiary is gone, the thousands of new strawberries we just purchased are gone, all the perennials I planted are gone, including all of Tys other farm equipment like a barrel of bone meal, row cover, plastic tarps, ets. Fortunately he was able to save his implements. The Gabriels chickens were almost wiped out by a mudslide, our chickens almost washed away or could have drowned but the water receded just in time for them to be spared.

Some of you havent heard yet, and I didnt want it to be announced this way but I am currently 17 weeks pregnant. As you can imagine, this has been extremely overwhelming and stressful at times. I am trying my best to take it slow, not over exert myself (hard to not do) and take care of myself. I could not do any of this without Ty, he goes above and beyond to care for our family and neighbors. Today hes bringing a generator for one of our neighbors who has a freezer full of meat.

The next steps are to continue cleaning out the house, hook up a generator in it to run dehumidifiers and fans, pump out water underneath both houses, and continue supporting our neighbors the best we can.

Odie is doing well, he had a difficult moment on the second day. We both cried seeing how our house is but otherwise have tried to stay in good spirits.

We have no idea when one of the roads will be cleared, we are anticipating being here a month at least without electricity fixed. We heard that the surrounding cities and towns are also in dire conditions. Please pray for us and everyone here. I am sure that many homes and lives have been lost. We thank God we are alive, that we have provisions and community.”