Helene Aftermath: Phoenix woman filled with worry for family in North Carolina
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Kayla Shields is a tattoo artist in Phoenix, but she grew up in Newland, North Carolina, where her family was struck by Hurricane Helene.
Fortunately, they were all safe, but it took her sister two days to reach an area with cell phone service to check in.
“Living here and not knowing how your family is doing for 48-hours plus,” she said.
It took four days for Shields to find out that her aunt was safe.
Shields was most concerned about those not as fortunate as she looked through desperate messages on social media. She read through a particularly troubling post on her device that reads, “Bodies are being pulled from creeks less than half a mile from our home. Children are displaced. There are stories of people on rooves as their homes were floating down the river.”
As an owner of an excavating business, Shields’ brother-in-law is using his equipment and vehicles to transport critical supplies through terrain that is not drivable by standard cars.
“There are areas that are set up for water and gas, and they are just running it out to families that can’t get out,” she explained.
Shields is concerned that many rural areas don’t get as much attention as the more populated cities and towns.
“There are families out there that have been washed away, and people are missing, and nobody is able to tell anybody,” she said. “We need so much there, and I don’t think that the world truly understands how bad it is.”
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