CHARLOTTE, N.C. — More than 70 people are confirmed dead and more than a hundred are missing. The small city of Mayfield, Kentucky was hit hard, with eight people killed at a candle factory there.
A woman who grew up in Mayfield now calls the Charlotte area home, and she's on a mission to provide some relief to people hurting in her hometown.
Images from above may look like any other natural disaster -- until it hits home.
"When you see these things happen on TV, you understand it's real and you have empathy for those people, but you see places and landmarks that you know and that you knew growing up gone it hits you in a different way. You're heartbroken and devastated," Racheal Clapp said.
Clapp now lives just north of Charlotte, but her heart is in her hometown after the historic long-track tornado hit western Kentucky Friday night and leveled homes and businesses.
She said her brother's new home was damaged, but thankfully he and his family are all OK.
"And there's no rhyme or reason to what was taken and what was left. It's just heartbreaking, and there's a little bit of guilt – I guess survival skills of being here and not there. It's hard not to be there to comfort in person," Clapp said.
Clapp said the best way she can help is to give back, so she reached out to two local churches on what the need is and created a post on Facebook. She said the response has been overwhelming.
"Our big concern is they are going to have a flood of help, but six weeks from now or even three weeks from now once Christmas has passed and everyone kind of resume their normal lives here, this community is still going to be hurting and there's still going to be a lot of need for weeks and months to come," Clapp said.
Clapp said they are being strategic with donations, since a lot of people are lost their homes.
"Portable food items such as energy bars, granola bars, the tuna packets, even gummy snacks for the kids," Clapp said, regarding ways to provide for people who are on the go from day to day as they prepare to rebuild.
The first shipment is scheduled to go out Wednesday with personal care items, gently used jackets, and blankets in hopes of bringing some small comfort amid massive devastation.
