Hurricane Michael Relief

Last week, the remnants of Hurricane Michael tore quickly through the Outer Banks, an unexpected, overnight fury of wind and flooding. After all of our community’s wise preparations for Florence, the ferocity of fast-moving Michael took most of us by surprise. 

While many Outer Banks neighborhoods escaped relatively unscathed, many of our friends were badly flooded. In Colington, Manteo, Wanchese, Kitty Hawk Village, and sound side Kill Devil Hills, wind-driven floodwater wrecked cars and reached new heights in ground-level abodes. 

Our damage here does not compare with the devastation in Florida, but many of our Dare County neighbors here lost their housing, cars, furniture, appliances, and more. The floodwaters have made homes unsafe, unclean, and uninhabitable. 

As with other storms, it is the most vulnerable in our community who were hit hardest: people without insurance, the elderly, the disabled, and residents in mobile homes, paycheck-to-paycheck families who must rent in the most flood-prone areas — those with little or no savings or safety net.

In partnership with Dare County and Interfaith Community Outreach, the Outer Banks Community Foundation has once again activated our Disaster Relief Fund to help those in need who have suffered damage from Michael. Dare County has received no federal or state government funds to assist our local families in need; it’s up to our community to pull together and help each other.

We need your support to help those in need. 

If you are in a position to help, please assist your neighbors today with a tax-deductible gift to our Disaster Relief Fund at www.obcf.org/donate. Every penny of every donation will help people in Dare County purchase supplies, pay bills, clean up, and make their homes safe and habitable. We take no fee or cut from your contribution.