Shortly after flash flooding from the Ocoee River devastated businesses and neighborhoods in McCaysville, Georgia, and Copperhill, Tennessee, on Nov. 5, disaster relief teams flocked to the area.
Part of the affected area falls in the same United Methodist Church regional district as Hamilton County, and local churches rallied to collect supplies, said the Rev. Nathan Malone, district superintendent for the Scenic South District in the Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church.
The conference first responded with flood buckets, hygiene kits and water to help with initial cleanup, Malone said. Then, he heard of the area’s need for food.
There is a food access crisis because the area lost its only grocery store and the Dollar General, said the Rev. Buddy Butler, pastor at First United Methodist Church in Copperhill.
“All the businesses are gone,” Butler said by phone. “The whole downtown area, I think there’s two businesses operating right now.”