Catholic Charities of East Tennessee gives update on emergency-relief efforts

Catholic Charities of East Tennessee (CCETN) continues to lead emergency-response efforts to assist individuals and communities impacted by Hurricane Helene.

Deacon David Duhamel, CCETN executive director, provided an update on Oct. 1 on the areas of upper East Tennessee that are dealing with devastation from record flooding as Helene swept over the region Sept. 27-28 and the nonprofit agency’s “life-saving supply-chain efforts.”

The hurricane dumped record amounts of rainfall in the mountains of western North Carolina, which caused the French Broad, Pigeon, and Nolichucky rivers to overflow their banks in historic fashion and overrun Unicoi, Cocke, and Greene counties in East Tennessee. The rain turned these normally serene mountain tributaries into raging rapids that washed away most everything in their path, including part of Interstate 40 between Newport and Asheville, N.C. Interstate 26 between Johnson City and Asheville also was forced to close.

The resulting floods have caused deaths, the loss of homes, and the loss of livelihoods as businesses and services were affected.

The Diocese of Knoxville has established several donation centers where people can drop off needed supplies that will go directly to the flooded communities. The Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is accepting donations on its campus on Wednesday, Oct. 2, from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Other diocesan parishes and schools are also coordinating donation drives, including the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Chattanooga.

The cathedral, Good Shepherd Church in Newport, and St. Mary Church in Johnson City are central collection centers for donated items in addition to participating parishes.

People can find the disaster-relief donation page on the Catholic Charities of East Tennessee website or the Diocese of Knoxville website or at ccetn.org/donate/.

Catholic Extension Society announced on Oct. 1 it is donating $10,000 for East Tennessee relief efforts.

“We are seeing people who want to help, like those at Catholic Extension, and we have grant applications that we are working on with Catholic Charities USA and St. Vincent de Paul Society. If the state or federal governments issue disaster grants, we will be applying for those to help make sure we are serving all the people we need to,” Deacon Duhamel said.

In briefing Bishop Mark Beckman, Deacon Duhamel said Catholic Charities of East Tennessee is bringing in national disaster-relief resources to assist in the area, including Catholic Charities USA and St. Vincent de Paul Society, as well as Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Nashville.

“We’re trying to leverage everybody else’s disaster-response experience to our advantage. Hopefully, this will help us in the long term,” Deacon Duhamel said.

The deacon said that since Saturday, Catholic Charities has been coordinating truckloads of donations to upper East Tennessee, where communities have been without power and water and some areas are cut off because roads and bridges have been washed away.

Deacon Duhamel said six fatalities have been confirmed in the impacted areas as of Tuesday morning, Oct. 1, a number that is expected to rise.

“We believe that number is absolutely going to increase. Notifications to family members are now going out. Authorities are being very diligent in tracking that. They are only announcing positive identifications,” Deacon Duhamel said.

He shared that dozens of people are still reported as missing, noting that a number of those are individuals who have not been able to contact family members because communications have been disrupted.

Deacon Duhamel pointed out that electricity is being restored to more areas where floodwaters took out power lines.

“More and more houses are having their electricity restored. The number without power was 18,000 Sunday into Monday. That number now is down to about 9,000,” he said. “So, infrastructure is being restored.”

The impacted area has seen an influx in power crews from within the flooded communities and from outside the area.

Deacon Duhamel said the affected counties of Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Hawkins, Johnson, Unicoi, and Washington have been declared major disaster areas that are eligible for government-funding assistance.

“The wastewater facilities are the most urgent need in these communities because of the water situation. There are five wastewater facilities that are down and seven water districts that are requiring boiled water,” he added.

Deacon Duhamel noted that all diocesan churches in upper East Tennessee can be accessed, and he added that the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster already have responded to East Tennessee.

And working with Catholic Charities of East Tennessee in responding to the flood victims, in addition to Catholic Charities USA and St. Vincent de Paul Society, are the Knights of Columbus, the Ladies of Charity, and the St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic, which is scheduled to be in the area on Friday, Oct. 11, treating people in need of medical care at no cost.

Deacon Duhamel shared that St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Erwin is reporting the deaths of several parishioners in the flood.

“They are dealing with the loss of lives and livelihood because three main employers in that area were wiped out and destroyed. Homes in the low-lying area also were affected and some destroyed,” he said. “St. Michael also has become a formal distribution point for the community.”

Father Tom Charters, GHM, associate pastor of St. Michael, has been ministering to parishioners and the Erwin community since the floodwaters devastated part of the community and assisting in relief efforts.

Floodwaters have receded from Newport, where two families that belong to Good Shepherd Parish there were displaced and forced into temporary housing, according to Deacon Duhamel.

He said truckloads of water have been dispatched to Newport, where Good Shepherd is a distribution point for emergency-relief supplies.

Father Pontian Kiyimba, AJ, pastor of Good Shepherd Parish, has been ministering to his community during the disaster and helping to coordinate relief efforts there.

In Greene County, where the water-distribution system and roadways took the biggest hit from the storm, truckloads of water from Catholic Charities have arrived to help alleviate the water shortage.

Father Joseph Kuzhupil, MSFS, pastor of Notre Dame Parish in Greeneville, has been ministering to his community.

Much of Johnson County was without cell service until Sunday afternoon, so communication with St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Mountain City was unavailable.

Deacon Duhamel said Johnson County emergency-response officials notified him on Sunday that the county had no water and was in dire need. The deacon said Catholic Charities USA was able to deliver two truckloads of water to Mountain City on Monday.

Catholic Charities of East Tennessee purchased a truckload of water from Food City that was to be delivered to Mountain City on Oct. 1. Two additional truckloads of water from Amazon coordinated by Catholic Charities also are being delivered to Mountain City.

Father Jesús Guerrero, pastor of St. Anthony of Padua as well as St. Elizabeth in Elizabethton, and Deacon Joe Herman of St. Anthony of Padua have been leading ministerial and emergency-assistance efforts in Mountain City. Deacon Herman, who operates a trucking company, has made his trucks available to deliver needed supplies to the stricken areas.

Deacon Duhamel explained that Catholic Charities USA is sending a truckload of supplies for babies and personal-hygiene items to St. Mary Church in Johnson City for distribution.

According to Father David Boettner, rector of the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Father Guerrero is reporting that Hampton, Tenn., a town in Carter County near Elizabethton, also was hard hit by the flooding.

Deacon Duhamel said that in about a week, Catholic Charities will shift to assisting people with long-term housing needs because their residences were destroyed by floodwaters.

As people in the Diocese of Knoxville look for ways to donate to help with emergency assistance, Catholic Charities said among the most-needed supplies are monetary donations, water, baby items, including diapers and wipes, and personal-hygiene items.

Photo of water distribution at a donation center at St. Dominic Church In Kingsport. Photo courtesy of Deacon Humberto Collazo.