Woman left with few options after tropical storm

After a tropical storm destroyed Elizabeth Combs' house and vehicle last week, Combs and her 9-year-old daughter, Elisa, were left without even a car to live in.

Since then, Combs has been staying at area motels, first Econo Lodge, and now Chester Inn.

"It's been a rough couple days. Red Cross is not helping with a hotel stay voucher or shelter or none of that. Luckily, we've been able to get just four or five days on the kindness of people who pitched in to help," Combs said.

Combs was sitting in the living room of her home on Iva Avenue with her 9-year-old daughter, Elisa, at about 7:30 a.m. Aug. 8 when she heard a crash. A tree had smashed through the roof of their rental home, destroying Elisa's room. The tree was blown over by heavy winds that were part of Tropical Storm Debby. The house is no longer livable.

Combs thought she had been paying for renters insurance through her landlord, but it turned out to be renters liability insurance, which protects her landlord, but not Combs. It doesn't cover the loss of Combs' belongings.

The tree also crashed into Combs' car, a 2006 Scion xA, smashing the windshield and the hood. Because it was an old car, she only had liability insurance.

"It's wrecked. The cost to fix it, it's probably going to be $2,000 to fix it," Combs said.

In addition, Combs' landlord, Metric Realty Company, told her that it was not responsible for finding her another place to live. Effectively, since the storm, Combs and her daughter have been homeless. While the Gaston County Department of Social Services has a program that will pay the security deposit and first month's rent if she can find a landlord who accepts the program, so far, that hasn't happened. Combs is looking for a new home, but she's not sure what she'll do in the meantime.

"If we cannot find a landlord or somebody who is willing who has an RV or camper or something that we can move into and rent, even temporarily until we can find a more permanent place … but if that doesn't happen, I just don't know. It's just me and her. We don't have any family up here," she said."I have all this fear of the unknown, what's going to happen," Combs added. "I've never been homeless before."

Combs asks anyone who wishes to donate to help her and her daughter to give to their fundraiser on the website Spotfund.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Woman left with few options after tropical storm