Catawba County homeowners cleanup after flooding

CATAWBA COUNTY, N.C. (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) –  Flooding recovery continues in Catawba County where emergency management says more than 500 homes sustained damage last week. Tuesday volunteers from Samaritans Purse were spread out throughout the county including in the town of Newton.

Volunteers from Samaritans Purse arrived along Shannonbrooke Drive on Sunday to help a homeowner who says there is no way he could afford cleanup on his own.

“Without them I don’t know what I would do. I would be lost without them. I didn’t know where to turn,” said Les Evans.

Evans bought his home just nine days before flooding ruined his finished basement. Everything, straight down to the drywall, is ruined.

“We had to throw away 30 to 40 boxes,” said Evans.

Removing mold and bags of wet materials is tough on any homeowner, but especially for Les Evans, who is on disability and his wife is retired.

He says volunteers stepped in at the right time.

“We got one estimate and it was going to be over $9,000, and we don’t have that kind of money,” said Evans.

Samaritans Purse took care of everything, free of charge. Volunteers are spread out across the county working on hundreds of phones.

“Most homeowners are overwhelmed. They have no idea where to start. They know to get the wet furniture out and maybe some wet boxes, but our teams can go in cut the drywall and take the wet insulation out,” said Program Manager, Keeth Willingham.

Samaritans Purse has been in Catawba County for more than a week and they plan to stay for another couple of weeks as flooding recovery continues.