VB-based Operation Blessing deploys second disaster relief team to assist families in western NC

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Three simple words: Pray for us.

That plea was delivered via Zoom teleconference from Virginia Beach-based Operation Blessing on the ground in Asheville, North Carolina, where the humanitarian organization has deployed a second disaster relief team following the destruction caused after Hurricane Helene roared ashore last week as a Category 4 storm.

More than 100 people have died and several are missing. AccuWeather predicts the damage estimate will top $150 billion.

After assessing the damage left behind by Helene, Operation Blessing’s U.S. disaster relief team set up a base of operations in Voldosta, Georgia Sunday. There, team members helped to provide food, distributed supplies and began the process of submitting work orders for free help.

The intense damage in western North Carolina, however, prompted Operation Blessing to deploy a second team in Asheville, where flooding continues to threaten the lives of residents.

The team in Asheville consists of staff from Mexico, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, El Salvador and Chile, who recently assisted with flooding in Brazil, the Ukraine war and the earthquakes in Turkey, Nepal and Morocco.

“Operation Blessing is a global humanitarian organization, so it is not at all uncommon to have multiple teams deployed to different disasters simultaneously,” Operation Blessing chief operating officer Drew Friedrich said. “But it is pretty unprecedented to have both our domestic and international teams responding to the same disaster; that is how massive Helene’s destruction is.”

Operation Blessing’s international team captured images of devastation as they arrived in Asheville. They’ve seen devastation — natural and manmade — around the globe but team leader Diego Traverso said responding to Helene on American soil just felt different.

Traverso said they have seen the devastation near the river, and many hundreds of homes destroyed.

“There are so many small communities up in the mountains and some other isolated parts of the state of North Carolina right now that haven’t received any help,” Traverso said.

The destruction is ugly and so is the finger-pointing.

Yesterday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump falsely stated the Republican governor of Georgia was not able to speak to President Joe Biden about storm damage. Operation Blessing’s international team is calling for solidarity as the region could also face a sickening sanitation problem.

“You know, … the need, is so great that we need everyone working together,” Traverno said. “There is no time for division at this point. Together we can do more, and that’s the spirit that I see from churches, partners NGOs [non-governmental organizations] and even the federal government coming together.

“There is no power, no water, and that’s going to create some other issues. If it’s not restored and is unlikely to be restored in the short-term. So we’re talking about we’re here for the long-term.”

But the top priority for Operation Blessing?

“Right now it’s food and water,” said Traverno, who has been with Operation Blessing for 13 years, but is making his first mission in the U.S. “Food and water are a top priority. We are getting truckloads to different churches, our ministries and partners on the ground delivering food and water. And in the next couple of days, we are bringing as much help as we can bring, setting up the hot meal right now for this particular community, and trying to ramp it up to start mass-producing food for their families.

Traverso told Ten on Your Side if you have a dollar, $5, or $10, just go to ob.org and help his team help the people of North Carolina and Georgia.

Those interested in more information on Operation Blessing or to donate, click here .

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