Brett Kavanagh and his neighbors in Greenville, South Carolina, thought the warnings about Hurricane Helene were simply “weatherman fodder.” 

But when the deadliest mainland storm since Hurricane Katrina rocked the historically unaffected area around 5 a.m. on September 27, it was a rude awakening.

“It ended up wrecking our area,” says Kavanagh, customer guide at Louisville, Kentucky-based distributor Goodson Clothing & Supply Co.

  • Hurricane Helene caused deadly flooding along Florida’s west coast and in cities of neighboring states such as Asheville, North Carolina (just an hour north of Kavanagh’s home), leaving at least 230 people dead across the South, The Associated Press reported.


The damage left his community without power for 10 days, and as of last Wednesday, he still didn’t have internet at his office. A fallen tree remains on his house, and he’s met with four different companies to get quotes for removal. Therefore, he’s had no choice but to bounce around local coffee shops to stay in contact with his customers.

“I’m a commission-based sales rep, so I’m doing the best I can to keep the lights on while they’re not on,” Kavanagh says. “I’ve let my clients know that I’m operating on limited resources, and I’ve put my ‘out of office’ message up because my response time has slowed down.”

Despite the hardship, Kavanagh still delivered for his customers. In fact, Hyland Insurance in Lyndon, Kentucky, took to LinkedIn to commend him for going above and beyond while navigating the aftermath of Helene. After being notified that an order of a few dozen coffee mugs arrived with one broken, Kavanagh – equipped with only one bar of cellphone service – managed to have a replacement ordered, shipped and delivered within two business days.

“Even when things get hard, I still need to show up for my clients and provide for my family,” Kavanagh says. “My relationship with my client was there before the hurricane, and it’s going to hopefully be there after. I could’ve written it off, but that’s not my character or the company’s values, so I just took one more step to make sure they were taken care of.”

Mayhem From Milton

Just two weeks after Hurricane Helene struck Florida, residents endured yet another natural disaster as Hurricane Milton ravaged the state with massive flooding and deadly tornadoes, killing at least 23 people, CBS News reported.

  • Nearly half-a-million Floridians were still without power on Monday morning, days after the Category 3 hurricane made landfall with 120 mph winds, USA Today reported.


Despite being in an evacuation zone, Stephen Bloom, president of Sarasota, Florida-based supplier Tattoo Factory, chose to ride out the storm at home. His wife Colleen and their youngest daughter Madeline left early Wednesday morning to seek shelter with friends.

It was good timing because later that afternoon, the house lost power. “You could hear the wind howling like a jet engine and the rain pounding, but you couldn’t see anything because it was so dark,” Bloom says. “I just sat with a candle and texted and talked with Colleen and my kids until I went to bed.”

The next morning, he walked outside to survey the damage: debris and downed trees in every direction. He estimates 20% of his roof was gone, with torn tiles denting cars and even busting Madeline’s back window. After firing up the generator, Bloom learned that Colleen was rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night during the storm.

“They all thought she was having a heart attack, but she just fainted on the way to the bathroom that night,” Bloom says.

Since returning from the hospital Thursday afternoon, the family has been at home recovering from the ordeal. On Monday morning, the power, phone service and internet all came back.

“We’re all ok, just trying to get back to normal and get our roof and cars fixed starting tomorrow,” Bloom says.

Report From The Tampa Area

It’s rare that you hear a house’s interior described as its “guts.” But then again, you usually go a lifetime without seeing those pieces of a home outside on the street, so you’ll likely forgive Cat Gagliardo, of Branded By Cat Powered By HALO, for the way she described what she’s seen near where she lives in Palm Harbor, Florida, just north of Clearwater and about 40 minutes from Tampa.

“As you go closer to the coast, every single house has its guts on the side of the road – each one was completely gutted,” Gagliardo says. “They’re saying it will take a year at least to get all that debris picked up.”

Her neighborhood was split between mandatory evacuation zones and non-evacuation zones, and with her family’s home falling in the latter, Gagliardo decided to stay through Hurricane Milton – she wanted to be able to help in the aftermath, and her family had installed new hurricane windows in 2020. What she has seen in the days since has been harrowing.

Gagliardo’s home avoided major damage (they lost power for a few days), but houses minutes away received three feet of flooding due to their proximity to a creek. Gas stations in the area still had lines as of Monday morning. Gagliardo has friends who feared running out of gas on the stretch of “Alligator Alley” on the way to Miami. She knows of one member of HALO who lost their home in Sarasota.

“I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count how many people I know who lost everything,” Gagliardo says of the damage from both Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.

Perhaps the most practical information of Gagliardo’s on-the-ground reporting is the basic needs that are in short supply.

  • Boxes: Sadly, many people trying to salvage their few undamaged possessions have nowhere to put them or any way to carry them. The UPS Store was selling boxes for $12 each, if they hadn’t sold out.
  • Gloves: The cleanup process for citizens in the area requires PPE because so many possessions have mold or so much of the water is potentially contaminated.
  • Pet supplies: Many shelters have had to take in pets that were either left behind during evacuations or were in shelters that were in flood zones.


Thinking on her feet, Gagliardo leveraged her account with Uline, a distributor of shipping and packing materials, by placing a bulk order for moving boxes, tape and protective gloves.

“A pallet showed up at my home the next day,” Gagliardo says. “By the following day, everything had been distributed.”

With many suppliers having access to such materials or distributors who have relationships with such vendors, Gagliardo urges the industry to connect with areas affected by the hurricanes to coordinate bulk delivery of such practical items.

Additionally, for anyone looking for more specific organizations than the American Red Cross to donate financially, Gagliardo has noted local Tampa-area non-profits that are doing what they can to provide immediate relief:

Individuals looking for advice on relief in the area or who would like to help coordinate future efforts are welcome to contact Gagliardo at cat@brandedbycat.com.