Helene Recovery Will Be Measured In Years; NC DLS Will Be There Every Step Of The Way
“… it is good to know that in the face of disaster, state agencies, volunteers and lawyers can work together to provide help under difficult circumstances.”
The statement, apropos to the ongoing recovery effort in Western North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, is actually more than three decades old. It was penned by Peter Pappas during his service as chair of the Young Lawyers Division (YLD) in 1991-92. The North Carolina Lawyer column was devoted to the North Carolina Bar Association’s response to the Hamlet chicken processing plant fire, which claimed the lives of 25 people and left dozens more injured on September 3, 1991.[1]
Generations of Young Lawyers Division members, in fact, have engaged in disaster relief on behalf of the North Carolina Bar Association and the citizens of North Carolina. Their leadership in the coordination of NC Disaster Legal Services has been steadfast and strong, highlighted by the contributions of 2009-10 YLD Chair Craig Cannon, who served ABA Disaster Legal Services national director from 2006-10 and received the 2008 ABA Pro Bono Publico Award.
Constant, too, has been the pivotal role that volunteers and donors play in their participation and support of the recovery effort. In that vein, more than $80,000 has been contributed to NC Disaster Legal Services since the tropical storm reached North Carolina in late September. More than 1,600 attorneys, paralegals and law students have registered to provide volunteer assistance, including hundreds who have accepted referrals, participated in clinics, and attended the 6.5-hour CLE for volunteers hosted by the Young Lawyers Division in November.
The work of the NCBA Young Lawyers Division is conducted in partnership with Legal Aid of North Carolina, FEMA, and the ABA Young Lawyers Division, which has engaged in disaster legal services for more than 50 years.[2] Support is provided by the North Carolina Bar Foundation, the NC Pro Bono Resource Center, and the NCBA Paralegal Division. NC Disaster Legal Services has also partnered with Pisgah Legal Services throughout its response to Tropical Storm Helene.
Elizabeth (Brooks) Savage and Brad Piland serve as co-chairs of the NCBA YLD Standing Committee on Disaster Legal Services. Their volunteer leadership mirrors experience both have obtained through careers that have been devoted to helping North Carolinians recover from disasters, previously with Legal Aid of North Carolina and currently with the State of North Carolina.[3]
Elizabeth (Brooks) Savage and Brad Piland, co-chairs of the NCBA YLD Standing Committee on Disaster Legal Services, and Brooks’ devoted companion, Bailey.
Brooks and Brad have maintained a seemingly constant presence in Western North Carolina since October, traversing the disaster area of 39 counties and one tribal nation, participating in clinics, and serving as invaluable resources at Disaster Recovery Centers (DRCs) throughout the region.
Their commitment is probably best described by Brooks’s response when asked how many clinics she had attended.
“I think I’ve lost track,” she laughed. “We show up when we’re needed, and I’m not really tracking it. We have data for sure, but day-to-day, I don’t keep that in my brain.”
What she has kept track of is the transportation situation, which has improved since the immediate aftermath of the disaster.
“Each trip, I will say, since September to our current situation as things stand now in the beginning of February, it’s been getting better. For a while there, main access roads there were just a huge access barrier on public transportation where we couldn’t even get out there in the very beginning. That’s been getting slowly but surely better for the main thoroughfares, and we’re starting to see access getting resolved for some of the side streets and side areas.
“You’ve probably seen in the public news, a large focus on private roads and bridges, and we’re seeing that on the Disaster Legal Services side too, an uptick in private road and bridge work. It’s getting better, but it’s certainly still in the very early days of recovery. I think we’re looking at a decade, at least, for long-term recovery on this one.”
Brad concurred while making reference to previous storms which paled in comparison to Helene.
“These events are measured in years,” he said “I would say in a typical recovery cycle, you’re looking at anywhere from five to six years. Every storm is different. Every storm has its challenges. Even in our state, we have people who are still trying to recover from Matthew, which was 2016. And Florence, which was just 2018. A lot of homes were impacted by both of those storms, but typically people say it takes five to six years.
“One of the things that will make a big difference is that you’ll really see more things in a construction sense start to happen once winter falls. That is typical, especially out here with the terrain and the clay. The folks who live out there will start to see more boots on the ground, but you can’t do a lot in the winter when it’s this cold. The terrain out there is just a challenge.”
As the sense of shock slowly alleviates, glimpses of gratitude and a slight uptick in morale may be present. It’s all part of a slow, painful process that began with survival.
“Most people have been really thankful,” Brad observed, “and everyone I’ve dealt with has been extremely nice. I know the thing, especially out there, this is a rare occurrence for anybody no matter where you live, even if it’s something that happens more frequently, like in the eastern part of the state. But it’s such a new experience for most people out in the western part of the state.
“One of the roles we have as volunteer attorneys is try to help people, try to assist people with the issue at hand, but also try to contextualize what this whole thing looks like, because there’s a lot of information out there, and it’s just a confusing process to wrap your head around. It still is for me at times too. So we’re trying to the extent we can give the survivors just a better overview of what this process is going to look like for them.”
Neighbors helping neighbors, Brooks added, is an essential component of the healing and recovery process, regardless of where the disaster occurs.
“That is something that I hope we continue to see,” Brooks said. “It’s really difficult, it’s hard for our western neighbors. It’s been something that many folks have never experienced before in their life. On the east coast, we’re kind of used to the rhythm of a natural disaster and hurricane recovery and things like that. Out west in the mountains, it’s new and there’s a lot of trauma and for a lot of survivors, it’s just something they’ve never experienced before and hopefully never have to go through again. But it is difficult.
“Folks doing everything they can to help their neighbors is where it starts, and hopefully, we will continue to see that. I will say on a voluntary agency level and with voluntary organizations that are active in disasters, I’m seeing a lot of outpouring. We saw it at the very beginning and we’re continuing to see it – nonprofit organizations coming in and volunteers coming in to help, at first with resources like water and those basic needs, and now stepping in to help build homes. Hopefully we continue to see it. The need is still very much present. It’s still a very urgent need, but it has been hard, and so I don’t want to diminish that, because it’s hard. It has been a difficult time for our western folks.”
Clinic participants pause for photos in Hendersonville (top) and Black Mountain.
How do you maintain your momentum?
“This one is an interesting question, and you’ll probably get the same from Brad if you talk to him because we work in this area,” Brooks said, “so it’s not our first disaster and it won’t be our last. We are used to seeing and having to experience what we call the sequence of delivery and the continuum of a disaster implementation. The thing about Helene is that it was so large both in scope and size of the impact area and the amount of damage, that recovery continuum that we’re used to seeing, it’s certainly going to be stretched out for the long haul.
“What keeps us coming back, on a personal level, I’m just so committed not just to this practice area but to the survivors that we serve. For me, at least, it’s the personal interactions I have with clients as a volunteer attorney; it’s helping folks, using those skills and those gifts that I worked on, not just as a lawyer, but as a person. Being able to be there for folks and give back in those moments, it’s what I’m here to do. So that’s what keeps me coming back to on a personal level. “
On a professional level, it’s a commitment to the practice area, because it’s the recognition that disaster law is relatively new as far as a field or practice area. You don’t hear it very often. There are not that many attorneys that do it, and so to be one of those attorneys in our state and to serve North Carolinians in this way, I don’t even see it as a choice now.”
Brad wholeheartedly agrees; serving is neither a choice nor a decision.
“I’ve mentioned this to some people,” he said, “because I have a background in this. If it’s a driver’s license restoration clinic or a family law clinic, I’m useless, so this may be the only thing that I am useful for. It’s been more tiring than rewarding, but I guess we all have things that we do better than others and this is just something that I’ve done before and I know how to do more than anything. For me, I don’t do it for that, for the reward, it’s just something I know how to do.
“Everyone’s different, but I know with me, and especially with this, you’re given the opportunity to meet people and get to know a person. They keep getting directed to a series of websites or phone numbers, and I know at some point we’re going to have to do that depending on the situation we’re dealing with, but that’s just an extremely frustrating part of the process. So even for us, even if someone is going to need some long-term help and we have to refer them to a phone number, we’re trying to put a face with the phone number. It’s a very abstracted experience, and it’s rare that you get to see the people who are trying to assist you with this stuff.”
Access everything you need to know about volunteering and donating on the Disaster Legal Services page of the NCBF website, including the latest information on upcoming DLS Free Legal Clinics.
Russell Rawlings is director of external affairs and communications for the North Carolina Bar Association.
[1] WBTV Web Staff and Steve Crump, 33 years ago: Imperial Food Products fire in North Carolina kills 25, hurts dozens more, September 3, 2024.
[2] VanSingel, Andrew Jack (2019) “The Calm After the Storm: 45 Years of the ABA Young Lawyers Division’s Disaster Legal Services Program,” Touro Law Review: Vol. 35: No. 3, Article 7.
[3] Sidney Thomas, Pro Bono Spotlight: Brooks Savage and Brad Piland, NC Disaster Legal Services, December 16, 2024.