Anniversary of Historic Floods in 2015

As the first anniversary of the historical flooding comes up next week, Catholic Charites Pee Dee continues to work tirelessly to help restore families to their new normal through their disaster case management program.  At this time there are over 2,500 cases that are still open in Horry, Georgetown, Williamsburg and Florence counties alone.  Catholic Charities Pee Dee sits on the board of the Long Term Recovery Groups for each of these counties and has been working with community partners such as United Way, American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, County Emergency Management, NC Baptist Men and Women, Mennonite Disaster Services, UMCOR, and countless others to help bring families back to safe, sanitary, and secure housing.  A recent example of the power of disaster case management was seen when Catholic Charities, United Way and the Winyah Bay Long Term Recovery Group were able to provide a Catholic Charities disaster case management family in Georgetown County with a Tiny Home for temporary housing.
 
John Jr. and Georgiann Haselden have called Hemingway, SC their home for the last 25 years.  John Haselden Jr., an Army veteran, helped pay off the now damaged property to assist his elderly mother before she passed away. In October of 2015 their home was severely impacted by the flooding throughout the state.  Their home sits on property that is about a quarter of mile from the Pee Dee River and sits lowest to the ground from the surrounding homes on the street.  During the severe flooding from DR4241 their property quickly became the natural drainage for the nearby properties, due to the lower ground levels on the Haselden property.   Due to the drenched ground that was so common in our area for months after the flood, the Haselden’s property was quickly soaked from both the ground up and water entering the home from the roof, due to water sitting under their home for months and the heavy rains that followed.  This in turn ignited a number of additional issues throughout the property including: holes in the floor, black mold, and roof leaks throughout the home.  At one point the floor was so unstable and soft, from all of the extra moisture under the home that both their stove and bathtub fell through the property.   Due to the generosity of Brighton Builders and the Bluffton community this family was able to sleep in a safe, sanitary and secure house this week for the first time in 11 months and 3 weeks.
 
Catholic Charities Pee Dee has been asked by the Governor’s State Disaster Recovery Office and Emergency Management Division to provide case management services to additional families throughout their coverage area because of their record of success; as well as recent recognition at both the state level and national level as a best practice in disaster case management.  Catholic Charities is eager to secure funding to hire additional case managers to process and manage impacted families throughout the area.  As the one year anniversary of the flood approaches, please consider making a donation to the disaster case management program at Catholic Charities.
 
If you or anyone you may know is still in need of assistance after the October floods, please call 211 from a landline or 866.892.9211 from a cell phone to reach the statewide hotline to begin the case management intake process.