North Carolina residents may face winter without heat

Some residents of North Carolina’s Avery and Mitchell counties are at risk of facing winter without the ability to heat their homes, because hurricane helen Destroyed the only kerosene station in the area.

Rhonda Jean Kovald and her nonprofit, Western Carolina Emergency Network, stepped up to help deliver heating fuel to local firehouses in the area to distribute to those in need, but supplies are already running out.

According to Kowald, volunteers are now working hard to supply emergency fuel before winter sets in, which will pose an even greater threat to vulnerable residents.

“They’re going to be in really bad shape,” Kovald said.

They started with over $271,000 in donations.

As of Wednesday, Kowald said, they have $50,000 left, which will only cover a week and a half of fuel.

“Donations have dried up as most news cycles have moved on,” he said.

Paul Buchanan, Avery County emergency management director, said the destroyed Quickmart station, served by Exxon, supplied kerosene to local gas stations in the area. It also did home delivery.

Fox Business has contacted Exxon for comment.

Buchanan said other companies have been able to deliver fuel to homes, but some areas are still too damaged to reach.

Senator Ted Alexander, R-N.C., told Fox Business that “the importance of helping provide heating fuels, including kerosene and home heating oil, during this time cannot be ignored or overstated “

Alexander said fuel for heat is just as important as helping people rebuild their lives.

In early October, Kovald and several volunteers drove more than 4,000 gallons of gasoline from Asheboro to areas of western North Carolina that were hard hit by Helene.

Kovald said they started filling up generators along with cars stuck on the side of the road before building a fueling station.

He “learned about the fuel heat crisis in the area” while setting up one of his gasoline stations in Avery, Kovald said.

Shortly thereafter, he began setting up heating fuel stations in many fire departments throughout the region, so that the supply would not be misused.

“It is winter time in the mountains and people should not try to dig their homes out of the mud during the cold as they have no way to properly heat their homes through kerosene or generators,” he said.

Gas stations have begun receiving kerosene deliveries, Buchanan said.

However, Kowald said their efforts are still essential, adding that they have distributed 3,000 gallons of heating fuel this week alone.

“There are still a lot of needs that we haven’t met yet,” he said.

“We are being flooded with messages from people asking for help and delivery because they are either elderly or cannot go out.”

Kovald is particularly concerned about elderly people and those who are in hospice care or are disabled, as well as those who have lost their car and cannot drive to get fuel.