North Carolina mom drives 900 miles with 3 kids to Massachusetts to escape Hurricane Helene
PLYMOUTH - Ellen Vaughn can't get out of a car fast enough. The Asheville, North Carolina mother arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts on Wednesday. She drove her three children 900 miles to flee her neighborhood that was hit hard by Hurricane Helene. As she arrives, more supplies are being sent from Massachusetts to North Carolina.
"I think I had 100 miles to empty in our minivan. We had limited information," said Vaughn, who says they had to get updates by the radio in her car every morning at 10 a.m. "I am sitting there like, 'I can leave, but if I run out of gas on the side of the road with three children in my car, which one is better?"
Vaughn says some people who fled North Carolina didn't find an open gas station until they got two states away. Her sister was able to get her gas at a Sam's Club.
Even as her family passed the devastation, she says her children remained children and were oblivious to the chaos in view.
"We walked to the bridge, and got to the far side, and my son was like, 'can we go out for lunch?'" Vaughn told WBZ-TV.
Looking for a home
Now she is looking for temporary housing in Massachusetts while living with friends and family. Vaughn has friends checking on her home back in Asheville. They are shutting off her circuit breakers. She says homes have been catching fire as power is restored to the area.
An hour-and-a-half away from Ellen's home, Robby Luven has no home to go back to.
"We live here. We got over two feet of water inside. Everything is gone," Luven said, holding back tears.
He is staying with his parents in Pineola, but their campground is devastated.
"Most of the 100 plus units in this campground took water, and many floated, and two that floated away," said Julie Luven, Robby's sister.
She says the storm sounded like a freight train as it came through. As the water rose, they began evacuating elderly residents from the grounds.
Massachusetts firefighters help
The Townsend Fire Department is collecting donations to send to their area. Kirsten McDonough and Jane Detwiler came from Natick to drop off goods.
"Donating a couple bags of something then translates to a truck full and more trucks full," said Detweiler.
"Today it's looking to load a 53-foot trailer like you'd see going down the road. That will hold 28 pallets loaded in shrink wrap," said Townsend Assistant Fire Chief James Kirk.
The shipment should arrive by Friday if the drivers can navigate the debris and roadblocks.