Wilkes County opens emergency shelter, invites people from surrounding counties

WILKES COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — Wilkes County is stepping up after Hurricane Helene tore through the western part of North Carolina.

A shelter has been set up at West Wilkes Middle School at 1677 N. NC-16 in Wilkesboro.

Officials there opened the shelter on Sunday, offering a place to rest, enjoy a hot meal and charge your devices.

The American Red Cross told Wilkes County officials that this is normal after a disaster and that they should expect to see more people come as word spreads.

10,000 people in Wilkes County have been without power for days.

“The power issue was probably the biggest thing,” said James Marti, a Wilkes County resident.

The Marti family has been living without power for four days. James says they’ve gotten resourceful. When they ran out of water, their situation became more serious.

“We were getting it from Boone, but they’re on a boil thing, and so we thought maybe Wilkes didn’t have that so we could get some water we could use without having to boil it,” Marti said.

Organizers there say they want more people to come get what they need.

“I think the word’s kind of slow to get out. We’ve pushed it out through social media and our county websites and things,” Wilkes County Emergency Services Director Jason Reavis said.

Only a couple dozen people stopped to replenish supplies.

Wilkes County is coordinating plans to get people from Ashe County to its shelter.

“We have the capacity of 50 to 75 we can put here. And if we have more that come in, we can open another shelter,” Reavis said.

The county has also offered to help with the cleanup process.

“We’ve had a request from Watauga County. They’re having a problem with debris … so they’re going to be bringing some of it to our landfill. We’re going to handle what we can to help that county out,” Vice Chairman Wilkes County Commissioner Bill Sexton said.

County officials said between 150 to 200 homes are inaccessible because of blocked roads. For some, getting to the shelter could be impossible.

The shelter is pet-friendly. They have about 15 spots for dogs and 10 spots for cats.

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