Fearing a Watery Tomb

When Hurricane Dorian came ashore North Carolina’s Outer Banks and hit Ocracoke Island, Trudy and her sister weren’t prepared for what happened next.

Trudy says, “My sister and I were in the house. The water came rushing in so fast in the door that we didn’t know when it was going to stop. So I told my sister, you know, this is going to be a tomb if this keeps coming up. And so, we immediately tried to get out of the doors and couldn’t. So we broke the door, the front door, and got out. So the water was about right here to us (motions chest high). The tide was so deep going by the house that it was rushing like a river. So I knew we couldn’t cross the road. So it was a matter of just trying to get to higher ground.”

The sisters were barely able to swim to the safety of a nearby cottage that’s built on stilts. When the floodwaters receded, Trudy’s house was left with massive damage.

“So we’re just trying to assess the situation and we don’t have any flood insurance. At this point, it’s just the manpower of helping with removal and getting stuff out here. The pile by the house, it’s overwhelming at this point.”

That’s when volunteers from Operation Blessing’s U.S. Disaster Relief walked up on her property and asked Trudy if she needed a hand.

“My mom always said, ‘God works in mysterious ways,’ ... and there’s angels of every form. When you’re dealing with life and you’ve lost your job, and lost your home, and lost your car, and everything’s gone, totally gone —  just seeing you all come into the community — you all were sent, your shirts were perfect, ‘Operation Blessing.’”

Trudy is grateful for the Operation Blessing volunteers who helped her with the cleanup process.

“Take it from me, I’m experiencing first hand and never thought in my life I would need that. I was a little bit hopeless yesterday. Just a little bit. But God spoke to me before you got here. So, thank God, thank you, thank donors.”