There was no time to think. The walls buckled, and the trailer split like kindling, water rushing through the gaps. It swallowed their furniture, their photographs, the life they’d built together. Clinging to each other, George and Sherry tried to stay upright in the torrent, their feet scraping for anything solid beneath the rising current.
The noise was overwhelming: wood cracking, water roaring, Sherry gasping for breath. George didn’t see their niece’s house down the road vanish into the darkness. He didn’t see the water carry her away. All he could do was hold on. Hours later, when the helicopter came, the flood had already taken more than just their home.
For weeks afterward, George and Sherry lived in a state-provided hotel room. They tried to make sense of things there, but nothing felt real. The days were quiet and heavy, the air stale with waiting. Their home was gone. Their land was no longer safe. And the question neither of them said out loud hung in the air: What now?
Building Back with Strength
The answer didn’t come overnight. It came in pieces—slowly, steadily. With the help of Fahe Members Housing Development Alliance and the Housing Can’t Wait Coalition, George and Sherry began to rebuild. Their FEMA award, Federal Home Loan Bank Disaster Recovery Funds, and other resources came together to make a new home possible.
They bought a house in Perry County, KY out of the floodplain but close enough to stay connected to their family and the threads of the life they’d known before the storm. It wasn’t the same, and it never would be, but it was strong, solid, and safe.
Across Appalachia, floods, storms, and other crises have tested families in ways that seem impossible. For 45 years, the Fahe network has stepped in where others wouldn’t.
Standing Strong
When George and Sherry stood on the porch of their new home, it felt unfamiliar at first. The walls didn’t carry the history of years lived, the garden hadn’t yet been planted. But that night, as they sat on the steps and watched the stars, the weight began to lift.
This house would stand. And so would they.
