Florence is just a memory now but it left behind glaring aftereffects.
One of the cities the storm passed through on its way inland was Jacksonville, North Carolina. Home to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune—and about 30 minutes from the beach—Jacksonville was hit hard with high winds and heavy rain, triggering tornadoes and storm surges.
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Although the process to recovery may be long for the community of 70,000-plus people, it’s well on its way.
Electrical crews surrounded numerous downed power lines; the buzz of chainsaws hummed; and wet debris covered driveways. Long lines for gas flowed out into the streets.
Thirty-eight Billy Graham Rapid Response Team chaplains are now ministering across the cities of Jacksonville, New Bern, and Wilmington, North Carolina, as a result of Florence, a Category 1 hurricane when it made landfall.
“The community here is joining hands,” chaplain coordinator Leo Grabowski said, standing under a sunny sky in Jacksonville after trillions of gallons of water were dumped across the Carolinas.
“A lot of people are surprisingly saying it’s just stuff I lost in the storm. They’re looking beyond what happened with them,” he explained. “They’re looking beyond to help their neighbors. They’re looking toward heaven.”
One such community member is Tanya Frazier, children’s ministry coordinator of Port City Community Church, which is hosting Billy Graham chaplains and Samaritan’s Purse volunteers. While riding out the storm with her husband and seven children in their old farmhouse, she and her family were on edge.
“The winds were scary,” she said, thinking back to the storm. “Our small kids were very scared from the sounds and the noises. You would hear things hit the house and would see things flying through the air … and trees going down. There was absolutely no one out.”
Despite no one being outside during the storm, she recognized the One who was—and is—still watching over her.
“Our home is in one piece and our land has minimal trees down, but what I take from this situation God’s brought to us—this storm we’ve been in—is that He protected our family,” she said with a thankful heart. “I keep visualizing His hand in our farmhouse and our family right in the middle of it.
“We’re so fortunate, we feel so blessed, and now we’re ready as a family to go out and do what we need to do to help all the others in our community.”
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Yet as she’s driven through town the past few days, she’s noticed a dismal change. Much of the area remained without power or water for days; some homes were still split apart by downed trees; and many residents were just trying to make ends meet.
“There’s a sadness here in Jacksonville and a little bit of an eeriness,” she said. “You see a lot of panicked people in the area.”
Not ready to give up on the place she’s called home for three of her Marine husband’s tours, Tanya and her family plan to stay in Jacksonville after he retires in a few months, even though the city is currently facing the worst damage she’s seen in the numerous places she’s lived across the world.
“It’s sad … but I have hope,” Tanya said, referring to her hurting community. “This is an opportunity for us to all show who Christ really is because this is the church.
“If we all pull together as a community and as a church and a body of believers, then Jacksonville can come out a whole lot better than when anything started.”
Christ offers hope in any situation. Find hope now.
