Business

The Mountain Island Lake community of Mecklenburg County was hit hard by Helene.Homes along the Catawba River completely floated away.Many of the homes in the neighborhood have Charlotte addresses.Because the location hasn’t been declared a disaster area yet, residents are struggling to find any kind of assistance.”Everyone is just cleaning up for themselves,” said Mountain Island Lake Resident Devon Freund, whose home is now flooded. “There has been no outside help.”When the storm cleared from the Mountain Island Lake community, so, too, did people’s livelihoods. “So there are 17 homes on our street, and four of them are completely gone,” said Andrew Freund. “Like, they went into the water and floated away,” added Devon. “You go back, and there’s a hole where they used to be.”Homes were completely washed away by Helene, as floodwaters caused the Catawba River to rise.”When the floods were getting really high, my neighbor and I knocked on doors to get people out,” Andrew said. “It was six in the morning, still dark out, and then the flood came so high, we had to all evacuate and just leave whatever we had left and go up the hill– so it’s been rough.”Homes that weren’t washed away are now dealing with complete and catastrophic damage and destruction. Most homes may not even be salvageable.”It’s nonstop,” said Devon. “Other people are helping each other — and that is remarkable– but you can only do so much. At certain points, we need some help from the government or somebody.”The entire community remains without power and residents are hoping for some kind of assistance.”That’s the main thing we are trying to get,” said Devon. “We need help from FEMA.”The community is now picking up the pieces Helene left behind, as they now have no place to call home. “It’s very depressing,” said Devon. “And you feel defeated. You just see the extent of the damage and the people’s faces and their eyes are just so sad. You work your whole life to live here.””I think a lot of people are going to walk away from their homes,” added Andrew. “Because they can’t repair them and have to go somewhere else.” You can donate to the Freund family through a GoFundMe page by clicking here.A neighboring family recently had twin babies, and their home was completely washed away.You can donate to their cause by clicking here.