Greene County family in limbo after losing home

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) — Patty Kell and her husband Jack built their three-story home in the Camp Creek community by hand, but on Sept. 27, the family was forced to leave the home behind with nothing but a green duffel bag in hand.

“It’s more than just your home,” Patty Kell told News Channel 11. “We didn’t have somebody else build it. We put every nail, every board in that house did the electrical, the plumbing.”

Since the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, the couple and their dog Duke have been staying at a temporary American Red Cross-Heart of Tennessee Chapter shelter at Asbury United Methodist Church in downtown Greeneville.

The couple is among nearly eighty people across Northeast Tennessee who were forced to spend at least one night at a Red Cross shelter.

Heart of Tennessee Chapter Executive Director John Mitchell told News Channel 11 that his organization is working to find more permanent solutions on a case-by-case basis, whether it’s helping people travel to family members in another area or finding local affordable housing.

“140 Red Cross workers are stationed right here in East Tennessee,” Mitchell said. “We’ve been into this for seven or eight days and plan to be here for as long as we need. But at least the next couple of weeks, we’ll be doing feeding and sheltering as long as we need.”

Treading Water

Kell said the floodwaters began rising at around 2:00 p.m. that Friday, and that the family began packing bags.

She went out to purchase sandbags for the garage.

“I was too late,” Kell said. “The water was three feet deep in the garage already.”

The water rose quickly. By the time the rescue crew came, Kell said she, her husband, daughter and son-in-law were treading water from the second-story balcony.

“The rescue boat got there, but they were unable to crank the engine,” Kell said. “Once they got it cranked, they got over to us. By that time, we’re in water up to our noses.”

Her husband Jack lost two oxygen tanks while waiting for rescue and had to be treated in an ambulance when the family arrived on dry land.

“In that moment, I’m 77, my husband is almost 80, and we’ve had a good life. And I thought, ‘well, if this is our time to go, this is when it’s going to happen,'” Kell said. “I didn’t want to tell anybody else that I was worried that we wouldn’t make it because I didn’t. I didn’t want to show fear.”

Assessing the Damage

The couple have made the best of their temporary home, pushing together two cots in an effort to make it feel more like their mattress at home.

They haven’t personally returned to their home, but their daughter made some trips to the property to assess the damage.

“She basically said there’s this much mud on everything,” Kell said, holding her fingers about an inch away from each other.

Kell said she opted not to get flood insurance for the house when her insurance agent told her the house was outside the floodplain.

With no insurance money, Kell said finding a permanent place to stay will be complicated.

“I don’t know if we can rebuild or not,” Kell said. “Well, of course, I would like to stay there, but I don’t know if the house after being so wet, whether it’s salvageable or not.”

Despite the stress of surviving a near-death experience and the grief of losing a home, Kell said she feels optimistic.

“[I feel] lucky….and fortunate,” Kell said. Thankful. I mean, who would ever [have] thought that at our age we’d be going through this?”

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