Early Sunday morning, Macie Lambert kayaked to her house.
Her home, located at 2039 Lake Drive in Mount Holly, flooded after Hurricane Helene swept through the area. Until the storm, Lambert lived next to the Catawba River in a house her grandfather left to her. All around her lived her relatives, and they all lost everything.
"It's our community. Our family. My parents, uncles, cousins, brother. We have a compound down here. We all grew up here," Lambert said.
Mount Holly experienced significant flooding after Duke Energy crews opened the flood gates Friday to the Cowans Ford Dam. The water flowed downstream, and the Catawba River reached record heights.
Lambert didn't expect the flooding to be so severe.
"There's been floods here in the past, but we never thought it would be this bad. I inherited this house from my grandfather, who built it in '68. Since that, it's never affected the house," she said. "When we heard about the water coming and them opening up the dams, we just had no idea it would be this traumatic."
She said that her power was turned off because of the expected flooding, and she packed a bag for several nights and went to stay on a camper, which was located on family property, but on higher ground. She and her husband, Caleb, left with their 1-year-old daughter, Kinley Ray, Friday night around 9 p.m., around the time the water reached their front yard.
On Saturday, the water reached the threshold to their front door and began seeping in the house.
On Sunday morning at around 3:30 a.m., the house was largely underwater.
"And sadly, we're a young couple starting a family, and we just couldn't afford flood insurance. When I say we are at a total loss, we are at a total loss," Lambert said.
Sunday morning at around 8, Lambert took a kayak to her house, paddling through the floodwaters. Furniture had been moved by the floodwaters and was blocking doors, so they had to break in.
"This is all I've ever known, and I'm 30. Never in my 30 years have I ever seen anything like this," Lambert said.
Lambert, who teaches children with intellectual disabilities at Mount Holly Middle School, said people have messaged offering her clothes and toys for her daughter, but she has nowhere but her car to store what's left of her belongings. Right now, she's temporarily staying in an AirBnb, but she and her husband are now looking for a new home.
"We were in the camper the first couple nights, but that's just not feasible with a one year old. There's just no room for her to play," she said.
"Right now we're homeless," she added. "Currently we have an AirBnb, but that's just temporary. We're just looking to see where we can go next that accepts dogs. We're trying to find something that can rent probably for a little bit that accepts dogs, with a fenced in yard."
She said that right now, what they need most are monetary donations.
"We don't know where we're going next. We don't have anywhere to put anything. We have our cars for storage. Everybody is like, 'I'll bring this. I'll bring that,' but we don't have a place that's permanent yet," she said.
There is a page on the website Go Fund Me set up to help Lambert and her family.
"Mainly our next step is trying to find a permanent living situation. We're not going to be back in this house anytime soon. It'll probably be years before we get back. We're hurry up and waiting pretty much down here on the river. In the meantime, we're trying to find a permanent place to live," she said.
This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Mount Holly teacher loses everything in flood
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