Two days after Tropical Storm Chantal drenched parts of central North Carolina counties in more than 10 inches of rain, communities are taking stock of the damage. In Durham, Orange, and Chatham Counties, hundreds were displaced from their homes by the catastrophic flooding, tens of thousands more lost power, and local authorities have confirmed five deaths as of Wednesday morning.
Among the people and organizations coordinating local relief efforts is Triangle Mutual Aid (TMA), an all-volunteer group that began fielding requests for support soon after the storm passed through.
Devin Ceartas, a founder and organizer at TMA, spent Tuesday triaging aid requests from his home in Carrboro. When reached by phone that day, he began reciting some of the most recent ones he’d collected via a Google Form.
“‘Homeless neighbor had his laptop damaged, looking for replacement laptop,’” Ceartas read from a long list. “‘Thirty units impacted in a neighborhood, need trucks to help haul away stuff before tomorrow’ …. Another neighborhood needs help with bulk trash …. ‘Ceiling is caving in’ …. ‘Trees from neighboring lot came down on my wood shop,’ so there are places where chainsaw crews are needed …. Several vehicles got flooded, and people are asking for loaner vehicles or help going to the grocery store or help getting back and forth between hotels.”
As new requests rolled in every hour, Ceartas assessed which ones TMA could respond to and dispatched volunteers as needed. He said about 350 people had signed up to help as of Tuesday. He’d sent some of them out to canvass impacted areas door to door. Another set of volunteers were mucking and gutting flooded homes—tearing out waterlogged drywall before it could grow black mold that would make the dwellings uninhabitable.
TMA is also collecting donations via online payment apps. Ceartas said the money is going toward purchasing protective clothing and gear, dehumidifiers, respirators, generators, buckets, and tarps to support cleanup efforts.
The group also needs volunteers with trucks (to collect trash) and medical expertise (to help canvassers assess medical needs).
Ceartas said that while the scale of the devastation from Chantal is overwhelming, people’s individual needs are not so different from those in other housing crises TMA encounters on a regular basis.
“This is what I was dealing with last week,” Ceartas says. “Lots of people were already homeless. Lots of people were already living in substandard housing where there was mold or things didn’t drain properly or the air conditioning wasn’t working. When you get a new batch of displaced people on top of that, it stresses all the existing systems. The food bank systems, the aid systems, all of that gets inundated, those systems that were already trying to deal with the disaster of day-to-day capitalism.”
“We need to realize that the people who are homeless are not separate from us,” he says. “They haven’t sinned in some way. They’re just people that are having a hard time dealing with catastrophic situations in their life.”
In the days and months to come, the types of support affected communities need will evolve, Ceartas says.
“I’ve spoken to people in the last day who are relatively well, but they lost their life’s work. They lost all the artwork that they had in their basement. They lost all their photos. There are things that are irreplaceable, that have psychological impacts on people,” he says. “We need to just hold our neighbors.”
Here are some immediate ways to help your neighbors affected by Tropical Storm Chantal. For ongoing information, Triangle Mutual Aid is regularly posting needs and volunteer opportunities here and on social media.
Places to donate
- Triangle Mutual Aid is collecting donations via Venmo (@TriangleMutualAid) and CashApp ($TriangleMutualAid).
- Raleigh United Mutual Aid Hub is accepting donations at multiple locations and lists personal protective equipment, nonperishable foods, and cleaning supplies among the most urgent needs.
- Cup22 in Saxapahaw is collecting donations of AAA batteries and plastic bins.
- Day One Relief is accepting donations at its warehouse in Durham.
- The Burrow/La Madriguera is collecting donations on Church Street in Durham.
- SAFE Alamance is collecting donations in Graham.
- Vessel in Durham is collecting donations through Saturday.
How to volunteer
- Fill out this form from Triangle Mutual Aid and join their Signal (link in form) to help with cleanup efforts.
- Volunteers are needed all week to help with cleanup in Saxapahaw.
- Day One Relief needs volunteers to receive and pack donations at its Durham warehouse and drive supplies to people in need.
- The Orange County Arts Commission needs volunteers today (July 9) to help with cleanup.
Chloe Courtney Bohl is a Report for America corps member. Follow her on Bluesky or reach her at [email protected]. Comment on this story at [email protected].
Daneen Khan contributed to this story.