HAMBLEN COUNTY, Tenn. (WVLT) – Farmers in Hamblen County are now having to lean on each other after devastating flooding from Helene wiped out much of what they’ve worked generations for.
Connie Holdway said her husband has lived along Enka Highway for 77 years.
“I said ‘Well, we have to leave our properties, so what do you want to take?’ He said ‘Well, nothing. Everything will be safe; nobody will bother it. We will be back in the morning.’ So, I said okay and grabbed a few things,’” Connie said.
Water from the Nolichucky River never touched their home until flood waters from Helene ravaged East Tennessee.
Connie said when they returned, not only were their homes flooded but their lives were too.
“We had cows floating down the river because we assumed they would be fine with the houses. We were trying to call our cows out of the river, and we were fortunate to get a few of them to come to us, but it was so pitiful,” Connie said. “I know that cows are not the most important thing because I know we lost lives during this flood all along the Nolichucky, so I have to praise God that we’re alive.”
Other farmers living along the Nolichucky in the Lowland community lost their homes and farms as well, including Eddie Gilbert.
“At 69 years, I am ready to retire, but I don’t want to go down and sit down. But this makes you want to go home and sit down. I got a lot of neighbors that feel the same way, but I am not a quitter. The good Lord will see me through.”
Gilbert said generations of hard work at Gilbert Farms is now completely destroyed. He said his dad started farming on the land in 1948.
“Crops wise, we’ve lost close to half a million dollars between the hay, the corn and the soybeans. The grass, we’re having to feed the cattle hay now because it is so muddy they can’t eat it,” Gilbert said. “It’s going to take another generation. At my age, I will never see it recover completely. It will take another generation for it to recover.”
“You know people are so gracious and kind, and how could you not love the world that we live in when we have people like that?” Holdway said.
Story courtesy of WVLT
