Rangers outfielder Evan Carter, rehabbing from a back injury that cost him most of the season, plans to stay in Dallas this offseason. Then again, the aftermath of Hurricane Helene didn’t leave him much choice.
The home Carter has rented the last two winters near his hometown of Elizabethton, Tenn., was washed away in the flooding that followed Hurricane Helene’s track through eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. Carter said his immediate family and that of his wife, Kaylen, only lost power and water service for a “couple of days,” but they were among the most fortunate in the area.
The communities of Erwin and Unicoi, both about 30 minutes south of Elizabethton, were decimated. The floodwaters swept away 11 people working at a plastics factory in Erwin; only five of them were rescued, according to The Associated Press. At least two were confirmed dead. In Unicoi County, where Unicoi is located, 54 people were rescued from the roof of a hospital. As of Friday afternoon, 11 people had been confirmed dead in Tennessee due to flooding and 27 were still missing.
“People lost everything,” Carter said Friday. “I was talking with my grandparents, in their 70s, and nobody has seen anything like this there. You hear about hurricanes and the damage they do, but when something like this hits your hometown, where you are from, it just hits a little harder. Where people had homes, they can’t even find the homes because the side of a mountain landslided out.”
Carter is planning to make a trip back to his home next week and has been helping to raise money for the community, also the hometown of former Cowboys tight end and current Argyle Liberty Christian football coach Jason Witten. Proceeds from the sale of Carter’s popular “Jesus Won” T-shirts are going to the community for the next month. The shirts can be purchased through his church, Central Christian Community Church, though Carter said cash is not the immediate need. Carter said donations could also be made to the Red Cross.
“People don’t need money right now, they need essentials,” he said. “They need diapers, baby food, water. They are stuck. They can’t go anywhere.”
In addition to Carter, Rangers reliever David Robertson is also trying to aid families affected by the flooding. Robertson is from Tuscaloosa, Ala., and began his own charitable foundation after his hometown was hit by a tornado in 2011.
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