APPLE GROVE, WV (WOWK) – A man from Mason County is answering the call for help in the Southeast in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
Nick “Nils” Miller, 45, from Apple Grove drove down to the hardest-hit areas of North Carolina and Tennessee, to lend a helping hand.
As a former firefighter, Miller is no stranger to helping people in need.
“Appalachian folk always help Appalachian folk,” Miller said. “We always help each other when they call for help.”
Miller drove down a week after Hurricane Helene wiped through the region, and stayed for nine days. He returned to West Virginia briefly but returned to the Southeast last week. He went with his wife and two friends.
This is not the first time Miller has traveled far from home to lend a hand. He traveled to Haiti and Nepal after they were devastated by earthquakes in the early 2010s. But Miller says the damages left behind in North Carolina and Tennessee are the worst he’s ever seen after a natural disaster.
“It’s going to take years,” Miller said. “Those bridge spans flipped upside down from the force of water. The locals said the water was moving at 75 miles per hour when it came through their region. I’ve never seen anything like that. The destruction of the homes. It hits you in the chest.”