The recent hurricane to pass through Moore County affected all of the local residents here to some extent from dealing with heavy rains and high winds to spending days without power. For most of us once the rain and wind passed and the power company was able to get the electricity turned back on the storm was “over”, however for a number of people in areas across Moore County the storms devastations has only just begun.

We spent Thursday afternoon in one of the hardest hit areas of Moore County, the Lobelia/Crains Creek area. According to Crains Creek Fire Chief Kenny Macky his department with the assistance of specialized water rescue teams evacuated 43 people, 28 dogs, 5 cats, and 1 chicken from low lying areas during the storm.

Chief Macky stated that although his department has been busy this week, the community has been very supportive of the firefighters and their ongoing efforts.

The fire department is providing packaged MRE meals and bottled water at the fire department for any resident in need. Officials are currently working to establish a way to provide hot meals for residents in the area.

The NC Department of Transportation was out in full force this afternoon working to repair severely damaged roads and had already completed several of the most important repairs to allow residents to safely re-access their homes.

While in the area we stopped and spoke with people living along the area of Riverview Drive, such as the residents of the home pictured here Michelle Gagnon and Robert Goodhart. The water had receded from their home and yard as of this afternoon and left behind a large mess with a watermark 17 inches above the floor inside of the home.

Many of these residents feel frustrated, abandoned, and do not know where to turn. One local man has made it his personal mission to reach out and organize assistance for some of the hardest hit people living in this area.

Jon Rachels is organizing both boots on the ground efforts as well as financial fundraising efforts to begin the steps back towards recovery for some of the people that were the hardest hit. These efforts have already begun with an online fund-raising campaign that can be Reached Here.

Your help is wanted. For those willing to get your hands dirty and are willing to help, work is beginning tomorrow for volunteers to assist homeowners removing damaged items and building materials from their homes. In order to help bring gloves, personal safety equipment and hand tools. Everyone is meeting at Jon’s house located at 2151 Vass-Carthage Road before leaving to go to the Crains Creek area. For more information you can contact Jon at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

There are several other ways people can help the many in need across our community, even if you cannot provide physical efforts. One way is donating nonperishable food items and monetary donations made to the Sandhills/Moore Coalition for Human Care. This is one way you can be sure your donations are going straight to the folks who need help right here in Moore County. You can reach them online at https://sandhillscoalition.org/  

Over the coming days and weeks ahead we will continue to cover the many recovery efforts underway across our area and share updates.

(Pictured above is 122 Riverview Drive and the damage left behind following the storm)

(Correction: The article initially stated that the homes visted were on Riverbend Drive – this was a typo the actual road the homes were located on were Riverview Drive.)