“I just can’t believe this many people care.”
A year after Hurricane Helene ravaged Western North Carolina, all Ronald really wants is to go home.
This Army veteran has lived most of his life on this land. His grandparents once owned 500 acres where the family farmed corn. “Then I-40 came, and they took everything,” says Ronald.
Today his mobile home sits on only two acres, uninhabitable after being flooded. Floors are warped and buckled, and there is mold and stormwater damage.
The insurance company is fighting his claim even though Ronald was one of the rare people in WNC who was actually covered. “I HAD flooding insurance,” says Ronald. “That’s what gets me.”
Pisgah Legal Attorney Max Gibbons and a team of pro bono attorneys are working Ronald’s case. “You shouldn’t need a lawyer in a situation like Ronald’s,” Max says. “But that’s not the way it works.”
- Watch a video about Ronald and Pisgah Legal’s work to assist him and others in WNC who are still recovering from Hurricane Helene.
The next step is a mediation hearing with Ronald’s insurance company. In the meantime, Ronald has been living with his daughter and grandchildren.
We visited Ronald at his home this summer – two staff attorneys, two pro bono attorneys, a social worker and a professional photographer who volunteered his time to document the condition of Ronald’s house. He said, “I just can’t believe this many people care.”