Hurricane Helene victims in western North Carolina are living in mobile homes and tents after their homes were destroyed by the storm

CLYDE, NC (WTVD) – Many were forced from their homes after Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina last month.

Some families and residents resorted to sheltering in tents and RVs while searching for new and permanent housing.

Annette Surrett, who lives in the Clyde Community in Haywood County, is living in a pop-up tent after her trailer was swept away by floodwaters during the storm.

“The water flowed from here and flowed in this direction and flowed right over Old Clyde Road,” Surrett told ABC affiliate WLOS.

SEE ALSO: Cooper recommends $3.9 billion in state funding for Helene, saying the storm is the costliest storm ever for North Carolina

Surrett said she evacuated before the worst came but was able to see her home from a nearby parking lot before it was washed away.

“It wrapped around the tree. It broke in half and the rest flowed down the river and the roof was in the bamboo bed,” she said. “I was devastated.” I screamed.

Surrett said she lost some cats, but two were able to survive by staying off the roof.

“They heard me and just started meowing,” she said.

She said a military couple helped set up a tent and others also showed up. Surrett said she recently received a pop-up RV from Crabtree Baptist Church.

“I use a generator that one of the churches donated. I used propane heaters,” she said.

Surrett is considering the possibility of getting through the winter that way and said FEMA is there, but it takes a lot of bureaucracy and time. She lives alone and said community and church volunteers are addressing immediate needs.

The community is now building insulated sheds.

RELATED: The sheriff says Buncombe County overestimated the death toll in Helene by as much as 30