‘It’s a smaller Katrina’: Resident teams up with Tractor Food and Farm for makeshift grocery story

By Chris Petersen

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    SPRUCE PINE, North Carolina (WXII) — As roads clear, folks are able to make their way out of the small mountain communities that surround this area and come here to pick up food, water, baby needs and other essential items.

Charles Atkins said, “It’s a smaller Katrina. That’s what it is.”

Charles Atkins shared what he’s seen while driving around the mountain communities surrounding Spruce Pine. Homes completely gone, washed down the mountain.

“And you can’t tell where it came from or what it is, because at that point it’s being crushed, smashed and tumbled, and all you see people’s lives laying here, people’s lives laying there,” he said

Atkins teamed up with Tractor Food and Farm to set up this makeshift grocery store. People can come here and pick up fresh produce and other grocery needs. They’re also providing medical care.

Atkins said, “I’ve been out in every small area that you can get into. And every hollow you see is washed out. Yeah. People having to walk out and get a ride out to get in here. They’re cut off. They don’t have no water. They don’t have no power, no cell, nothing.”

Atkins shared with a story of a farmer who lost everything.

“Elderly man, close to 80 years old. It washed his cows away, washed all of his farm equipment away. And he had five foot of water in his house. And he was like, what do I do now?” he said.

Atkins had a message for the Triad.

“What if it was me? What if it was my children? What if it was my home? What if it was my car is gone. You know, that’s the thing. It could happen anywhere,” Atkins said.

Atkins wants people to know that this isn’t going to last a week or two, and then it’ll be over. People will be in need here for months.

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