Walter and Margie Lewis never imagined such a storm or so much help could come to their mountain community. God is still at work through Samaritan’s Purse in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
Walter Lewis barely missed one great flood in Boone, North Carolina. That was 85 years ago—about five years before he was born. He did not escape a second great storm, Hurricane Helene, which hit late last year.
Walter Lewis is back in his workshop after Hurricane Helene.
More than eight decades ago, the 1940 flood triggered more than 2,000 landslides and caused 16 deaths. It’s memorialized by a historical marker downtown. It didn’t seem there could ever again be such a tragedy in the region.
Telephone service was interrupted, all main roads into the county were closed, and Boone was cut off from the outside world for days.
It reshaped the Watauga County landscape. Though he’d heard many stories, he thought nothing like that could hit again. On September 27, 2024, Walter found out he was wrong.
“It got worse. With Hurricane Helene, the water rose six feet higher than the 1940 flood,” Walter said.
Few people expected more than showers from the hurricane, by then downgraded to a tropical storm. So there was very little preparation.
“It was raining that morning,” Walter said. “After lunch, Margie slept. I read. It was pouring rain by then. I looked up from my book and out the window. The house was surrounded by water and I knew we were in trouble.”
In Walter’s crook in the mountains, heavy debris churned down Howard’s Creek. The narrow channel became a torrent of water, rushing through the small valley his family purchased decades ago near an area called Meat Camp. Large trees narrowly dodged the Lewis’ home.
The accomplished woodworker has crafted many items out of timber, including many wooden birds.
Walter told Margie they would have to hold on and trust God. Now in the late stages of dementia, requiring around-the-clock care, Margie is not able to communicate much anymore. But Walter still can tell when she’s afraid.
For hours Walter watched the water and debris for hours as he and Margie sheltered in the part of the house furthest from the swollen creek. When the storm cleared, he stepped out to see the damage. Everything around his property and around the neighbors was in shambles. He was grateful to God to be alive.
His garage had been flooded. A tree had passed clean through it. Their shed, with Christmas lights, decorations, and Margie’s winter clothes, had splintered violently against a nearby bridge. And his workshop flooded. The torrent ripped through his decades-old collection of woodworking implements. His machines were destroyed: the saws he’d used to fashion grandfather clocks, rifle stocks, countless wooden birds, and other pieces for loved ones were all ruined.
“Last year was our first year without Christmas decorations,” Walter said. “It could have been much, much worse. Many people lost much more than that. People upstream from here lost their lives.”
Help in the Wake of the Storm
Despite damages all around us, Samaritan’s Purse began responding immediately to the devastation of Hurricane Helene, working from our international headquarters in Boone. And we continue with rebuilding and other efforts in multiple counties. Years of work lies ahead of us.
Samaritan’s Purse helped Walter replace two machines, a mitre saw, and a number of tools.
We met Walter and Margie soon after the storm. Tens of thousands of volunteers from all over the region and country started cleaning up properties and ministering to residents in Jesus’ Name.
As we cleaned out his garage and workshop, we learned of his wife’s declining health and of the other losses the couple experienced. He walked our team through his workshop, describing his many creations there over the years. He’d been working at it since he was a young teenager.
“When we weren’t working on the farm in the summer over in Meat Camp, dad would take us to work,” Walter said. “That’s where we learned carpentry and where I built my first set of cabinets.”
Of course Walter’s woodworking came to a standstill after the storm. He’d been teaching his grandchildren the craft of generations of woodworkers that his father had passed onto him. Without tools and machines, though, the apprenticeships had ceased.
Before the storm, he found the odd hour or so to step out back and churn out a piece here or there, even with his days filled with the routines of caring for his wife around the clock.
“You take vows to God; you gotta keep them vows. And when you promise that you’re going to take care of somebody in sickness and in health, that’s a serious thing,” he said. “And so I take care of her.
“She made the best biscuits that anybody ever sunk a tooth in. Margie could make chicken and dumplings that’ll tear a taste bud slap outta your mouth. She’s been a wonderful wife, especially for putting up with me.”
Walter’s family settled around here more than 200 years ago. Daniel Boone and others had established hunting camps in the area, which once supported migrating bison and elk, among other native game. Walter’s clan started there working with timber. They logged the hickory, chestnut, and oak of the region. Timber and woodwork are in his blood.
Their journey with Jesus Christ goes a long ways back, too. They were a churchgoing, God-fearing family. Walter says this shaped his life and how he’d finally live it.
“Mom and Dad were strict about going to church every Sunday. They had a good youth program at Meat Camp Baptist Church,” he said. “It was a good thing. That’s where I became a Christian. It was on a Wednesday night in June of 1957. I was 12 years old.”
Restoring More Than Tools
Walter had known about Samaritan’s Purse for years and thanks God for the work in North American and around the world. After Helene, he says, he loved watching volunteers serving in his own backyard, cleaning out parts of his property that were flooded (his actual home was spared). He never expected he would benefit from that work.
The storm and aftermath have been difficult for the couple. Walter provides around-the-clock care for his wife Margie, who suffers from dimentia.
“It’s unbelievable. Just look at what Samaritan’s Purse has done for us and for this whole community and region.”
Recently, a Samaritan’s Purse team made its way to visit the Lewis home with some very good news. A new freestanding shed was on its way to replace the one that’d been swept away. And we were also going to put his woodworking shop back into action—with new tools and new machines.
“I’m very thankful, very thankful for that,” he said. “Even with the damage we got, Samaritan’s Purse came in here and done all this stuff for us, and I just couldn’t believe it. I’ve never seen an organization as efficient as Samaritan’s Purse.”
He quickly got the new machines up and running. As he spoke to the team, he took a piece of old timber and carved up a symbol from one our team’s hats. It was a cross in the eye of the storm: the logo belonging to Samaritan’s Purse.
