‘Carnage everywhere’: Las Vegas volunteers recount hurricane aid work

With their North Carolina home right in the path of Hurricane Helene’s destruction, Jim and Allie Bourdy were thrown into a world of uncertainty.

Some of that anxiety would be eased when Steve Pieri, a Las Vegas local specializing in mold and water restoration, showed up on their doorstep.

Pieri was one of many Vegas residents who flew out to North Carolina and Florida to help out in the aftermath of hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Helene made landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 4 hurricane on Sept. 26, while Milton hit the state near Sarasota as a Category 3 hurricane on Oct. 9.

Helene tore through the southeastern U.S., amassing a death toll of close to 230, with about half of those deaths occurring in North Carolina, the Associated Press reported. Milton, which carved a path across Florida, was blamed for 11 deaths, according to AP.

Jim and Allie Bourdy’s home is located in Swannanoa, a suburb of Asheville, an area that was devastated by Helene. The water level rose faster than they could evacuate and flooding eventually reached rooftops, said Jim Bourdy, 38.

Water started coming in through their HVAC vents, and soon after, their home was flooded, he said.

“We were moving to a point where we could exit. We had some bags packed the night before, but there was a truck that was stalled out because it took on water in front of (a neighbor’s) driveway,” Jim Bourdy said.

At that point, he knew they couldn’t leave, he said.

Jim said he and Allie, 39, survived by swimming to a their roof and hoping the water level wouldn’t rise past their roof.

While swimming to their roof, a shed floating in the water separated them, Jim Bourdy said. He was able to swim back to the roof after the shed had passed, saying that it was a terrifying moment for him.

‘I couldn’t believe what I was seeing’ 

Pieri was watching clips of flooding and destruction on the television when he made the decision to go.

“I literally just had something ripping my heart out of my chest, telling me to go,” Pieri said. Pieri volunteered with Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical Christian humanitarian aid group.

When Pieri arrived in North Carolina, he was assigned to the hardest hit neighborhood in Swannanoa. He led a team of 20 volunteers, supervising and teaching them as they went to homes.

“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” Pieri said, “There were buildings washed away, cars in trees, houses on top of cars, just carnage everywhere.”

“There was eight inches of mud inside of our house,” Jim Bourdy said, “It looked like our house got shook up with all our possessions, and somebody just threw mud in it.”

When it comes to water and mold restoration, the first step is to shovel mud out of the homes and take out the furniture, Pieri said.

Anything that was touched by water, which contains bacteria and other debris, has to be torn down, Pieri said.

“Everything, every piece of drywall, every piece of interior wood, like, we’re going down to the basic frame and structure. Everything else is gone and non-salvageable,” Pieri said.

After homes are gutted to their basic frame and structure, the frame gets treated with an anti-microbial disinfectant, so that mold doesn’t grow. All of these services are offered for free, Pieri said.

The goal is to get homes “contract-ready,” he said. Then contractors can replace drywall, cabinets, counter tops and window trimmings.

In the two weeks that Pieri was in North Carolina, he said he worked directly on 18 homes.

Hurricane Milton makes landfall

Two other Vegas residents, Mike Carey and Lowell Smith, volunteered with the Red Cross and went out to Florida to prepare for Hurricane Milton’s landfall.

Carey helped in two Tampa shelters, one that housed 500 people and another that housed 250 people, and supervised another Tampa shelter that housed 50 people.

While supervising that shelter, Carey fondly remembered one mom the shelter helped.

“It was a mom, a single mom, with three kids,” Carey said, “She lost her job, but then she was interviewing for another job,” Carey said. The woman had an online interview, but after evacuating, she didn’t have access to a computer, Carey said, so they gave her one and she got the job.

“No one is spared,” Carey said. “A disaster strikes anybody, no matter how much money you have, or whatever race you are, what color you are, what citizenship you have.”

Lowell Smith is a retired law enforcement officer and after retiring, he got a Ph.D. in emergency management. He has been deployed with the Red Cross in tornado and hurricane disasters.

Smith ran an evacuation center at a school in northwest Orlando. At one point, the evacuation shelter lost power.

“The cafeteria was full of people, with cots and bedding and mattresses. Then we opened classrooms and had people in classrooms and even hallways,” Smith said. Smith also opened up a medical tent at the evacuation center.

“We had this one kid who got hit out in the storm, and somehow lost his shoes. His feet got cut up and got infected,” Smith said, “They brought him to us, so our medical disaster medical volunteers were working with him to treat his injuries.”

A father and his two teenage sons were in their truck when they got caught up in the storm, Smith recalled.

“We had people sleeping in the cars because their homes were destroyed and they haven’t been able to stretch out in a week,” Smith said, “They went through hell and survived it. And the fact that we could give a place to stretch their legs, we’re here to help them.”

One thing that Smith said he learned from years of volunteering in natural disasters was to be on the ground before a disaster hits. By spreading word of where shelters and evacuation centers are, residents know where to go.

The next hurricane?

Pieri, Carey, and Smith all said that they would be prepared to leave for the next hurricane.

“I’d be prepared to go within a second,” Carey said, “That’s the case with most volunteers.”

“If the Red Cross or the community needs me, I’m ready to go.” Smith said.

“It renewed my faith in humanity, just the people coming together for a common cause, just to help each other,” Pieri said.

Now, Jim and Allie Boudy are in touch with contractors. Contractors are going through permit processes and getting grants to help reconstruct their home, they said.

“We’re so grateful because we had no clue how we would do it ourselves,” Allie Bourdy said.

“It’s quite honestly indescribable and unfathomable the amount of love and support that we have received,” Jim Bourdy added.

The Bourdys have started a GoFundMe to help with re-construction costs. The Bourdys’ neighborhood, Beacon Village, also has a GoFundMe to help re-construct their homes.

Contact Annie Vong at avong@reviewjournal.com. Follow @annievwrites on X. The Associated Press contributed to this report.