CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Rebecca Fennel moved into her new home with her family six months ago along Riverside Drive in Charlotte. They even built it on stilts because it’s near the Catawba River.
Many of her belongings are now wrapped in black trash bags and in piles that are unrecognizable.
“This is all of my Christmas decorations, bikes, kid’s toys, things we have collected, stuff from when I was a child, books, pictures. We had just moved in. We had a lot of our things that haven’t even been unpacked,” Fennel said.
Fennel said that although they do have flood insurance, it only covers the structural damage.
Fennel may get some help. Mecklenburg County recently received FEMA Disaster Declaration because of the impacts of Hurricane Helene. Helene devastated the mountain region of North Carolina, but other parts of our state are dealing with effects, including Charlotte.
All the Fennel family's belongings in the garage and first floor are now ruined from the devastating impacts of Helene, which caused the Catawba River to flood. Fennel said she never imagined water could rise high enough to intrude their home.
“Someone had taken drone footage, and it was like a gut punch. I saw the water going into our home, my brand-new home, and I hadn’t gotten anything that I needed to get. I knew it was going to be really bad, and it got worse,” Fennel said.
Because the flood water was contaminated with septic waste and chemicals from things like gasoline, nothing in the first-floor rooms can be salvaged, she said.
“It's hard to look at it, like my baby books of my children are destroyed, and I can’t get those things back. That was the only true fear I had, was those things and that fear came true,” Fennel said.
She said it’s important for her and her family to focus on what’s most important right now.
“Yes, they’re things, and we’re so grateful to be alive and our kids are safe. That’s obviously No. 1, but it’s still trauma and you need to address it and take care of you,” Fennel said.
She said she hopes her neighbors and the people around her who lost their homes are able to get to the mental health care they need during this time of grief.
Fennel and her family are staying at her parents house, and they plan to move into an Airbnb temporarily to give her kids some sense of normalcy.
“This water is really different than just rainwater. It's got chemicals, gasoline, septic. It destroyed it all, the couch. We had just bought a majority of this because we just moved in with the water. And it's supposed to be my forever home with my babies,” Fennel said.