Swannanoa, North Carolina (AP) – 12-year-old Natalie Briggs visits the ruins of the house Hurricane Helenshe had to walk a tightrope across wooden beams to reach what was once her bedroom.
The knots on the wires were covered in the skeleton of the house. A few months after the storm, the light was filtered through the breakage of the tarp above the window. “All I could think of was, ‘This isn’t my home,'” said Natalie, who was staying in her grandparents’ basement.
At school, Natalie sometimes suffered panic attacks when she came to thinking about a ruined house in Suvarnagnoa.
“There were a few things I didn’t want people to talk about their homes.
Thousands of students in western North Carolina Lost their home A year ago, Helen hit some of the most vicious floods, landslides and winds ever seen in the Appalachian region of the province, once considered a “climate shelter.” Statewide, more than 2,500 students have been identified as homeless as a direct result of Helene, according to state data obtained by the Associated Press.
Natalie Briggs looks through the windows of her home damaged at Hurricane Helen in Swannanoa, North Carolina on Tuesday, December 3, 2024 (AP Photo/Stefany Scarbluff)
Most of the storm fragments have been cleaned up, but the effects of remaining displacement of children in the area. Schools resumed long before many students returned home, and their learning and happiness have not yet recovered.
The phenomenon is becoming more and more common Natural disasters It disrupts the US community more frequently and more violently.
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The Associated Press is working with Blue Ridge Public Radio, Honolulu Citizen Beat, Karmatators and Puerto Rico’s Centro Dei Prismo Survey to find out how school communities are recovering from the disruption of natural disasters.
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Recovery challenges are particularly severe in the mountains of North Carolina. After all, many families in low-income rural areas are already dealing with challenges like food insecurity and affordability, says Cassandra Davis, Chapel Hill Public Policy professor at the University of North Carolina.
“I would mostly insist that they don’t have the opportunity to recover,” Davis said.
Finding a stable home was all consumed
Bonnie Christine Goggins Jones and her two teenage grandchildren after Helen kills a rental home in Black Mountain I had to leave The back of almost all your belongings.
“They lost their beds, clothes, shoes and bags of books,” she said.
The family lives in a motel, living in a leaky camper van and another camper van before moving to a new apartment in June.
Goggins Jones, an aide for the Asheville school bus, struggled to warm up his camper during the winter. Her grandson continued to go to school, but that wasn’t the best in her heart.
The area around Asheville, the largest city in western North Carolina, still has a significant housing shortage a year after the storm.
Sanchez Chavez, 11, of America, had to split to find a home. Helen leaves the home of Suvarnananoa trailer.
America and some relatives went to stay in my grandmother’s apartment, but my brother lived in a friend’s house. Eventually, America moved with her mother to a room at the Black Mountain Hotel where she works.
America said she was still scared of rain and lightning.
“At one point, like the rain actually got pretty bad… I was scared for a while,” she said.
Helen damaged more than 73,000 homes and knocked out electricity and water for weeks, if not months. The destruction of local infrastructure has closed a large number of schools and a barrage of snowy days has made class times worse. In rural Yancey County, with around 18,000 residents, students missed schools for more than two months last year.
Evacuated students spread across North Carolina
After a natural disaster, a study from the UCLA school transformation center found that a surge in students living in unstable temporary arrangements, such as sleeping on the couch, staying in shelters, or doubling with another family member. These arrangements qualify students as homeless under federal law.
Over 6,700 students have been identified as homeless in Puerto Rico Aftermath of Hurricane Maria This survey was discovered during the 2017-2018 academic year. Hawaii has seen a 59% increase in homeless student population following 2023 Maui wildfire.
In the aftermath of Helene, student homelessness surged in several Hard Hit Counties, according to a data analysis of North Carolina’s Homeless Education Program.
Yancey County saw the highest percentage increase in the area. The number of homeless students has gone from 21 years old in the 2023-2024 grade to 112 years old in last year. All but 15 were homeless for Helen.
Some students have at least temporarily enrolled in other school systems. Others never returned.
Terry Dolan of Suwannanoa sent her two young children to stay with her parents in Charlotte before the storm. After seeing the extent of devastation, Doran was admitted to school there. They stayed for over a month before returning home.
“My job is to make money for our families and their job is to go to school,” Dolan says he always told his kids. “I felt that they needed to go to school and work just because the school wasn’t open here.”
Terry Dolan, Right, speaks to Fisher in Swannanoa, North Carolina (AP Photo/Stefannie Scarbluff) on Wednesday, December 4th, 2024, with his son Fisher discussing
Some districts receive federal money for services such as transporting homeless students to regular school buildings and providing personalised guidance under the McKinney Vento Homelessness Assistance Act. However, districts must apply in a competitive process and cannot request more money until the next application cycle right after a natural disaster. Many have completely missed out on McKinney Vento’s funds.
The students who influenced Helen accounted for at least a fifth of the homeless population in 16 counties, but only those who received McKinnievent’s money for the final funding cycle. Barbara Duffield, executive director of Schoolhouse Connection, a nonprofit advocacy for homeless students, said that only a fifth of school districts across the country receive McKinney Vent’s money.
“If a disaster occurs, the districts that don’t make any money from McKinnievent will be involved,” Duffield said.
Housing instability has a lasting effect
Gwendolyn Bord, a pre-law student at Appalachian State University, had to leave his muddy apartment after Helen. She said she couldn’t get a home on campus, she found an Airbnb where she could stay until her FEMA housing application passed, and then she moved to the hotel.
She felt like she was dead as she tried to catch up with her class and part-time job.
“I can’t tell you what I’ve learned,” Bord said. “When I went to class, I can’t even tell you because (mentally) I wasn’t there,” she discovered more stability after moving into an apartment for the spring semester.
Gwendolynboard looks at his hotel room, temporarily living in Boone, North Carolina, on Thursday, December 5, 2024, after being expelled from his damaged apartment during Hurricane Helen. (AP photo/Stefannie Carblow)
For Natalie Briggs, now 13, the sadness of losing almost everything, coupled with the tight quarters in her grandparents’ basement, sometimes reached her mother, Liz Barker. Barker said he felt like “no rules time” because there are so many things to deal with in addition to his job as a healthcare worker.
The situation has sometimes brought friction. But Barker overall said that she and Natalie together “did do pretty well.”
“Since all this happened, she’s got a little more affection,” Barker said with a smile on her daughter.
“I’ll give her a hug and something,” Natalie said. “And I tell her I love her.
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