Woman Who Lost Home in Hurricane Has New Home Built by High Schoolers: 'I Was Flooded with Water, Now I'm Flooded with Angels'

North Carolina resident Sherry Housley is one of too many people who lost their homes due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in September 2024. She now credits a group of high school students who she refers to as "angels" for coming together to help her rebuild.

An artist, Housley's home was located on the outskirts of Burnsville, N.C. She told Queen City News that she had been living in a camper on the property for six months after the tropical storm swept through.

However, in May, she will be able to relocate into a new tiny home that was built for her with the assistance of Mountain Heritage High School students in Jeremy Dott's honors carpentry class. The dedicated students partnered with the nonprofit Rebuilding Hollers to make a difference.

"I was gutted. It was just a total shock. I just sat there. I remember sitting on what was left of concrete blocks of the foundation of my home and just thinking, 'I don't know where to go. I don't know how to cope with this,' " Housley told Good Morning America in a March 27 segment.

Her perspective changed dramatically after she saw the students step up. "I was flooded with water; now I'm flooded with angels," she gushed.

"We have some awfully good young people in this neighborhood. In this community. And they are really showing off right now up there," Housley added.

Dotts told GMA that his students were very interested in partnering with Rebuilding Hollers.

"When they heard that we had the opportunity to be able to build a home for people in our community that were directly affected, it was absolutely essential to the way the program just came together," he shared.

A GoFundMe organized by Rising Light Relief director Alyssa Vigneault was organized for Housley with the goal of raising $9,900.

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Hurricane Helene was a Category 4 hurricane when it made landfall in Florida on September 26, 2024. It was downgraded as it traveled across the southwestern part of the United States. However, the storm still left more than 3 million people without power.

In October 2024, USA Today noted that 81 people were still unaccounted for, citing a press conference delivered by North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper.

The Charlotte Observer reported that the storm "damaged or destroyed about 73,000 homes in North Carolina." The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reported 106 fatalities in North Carolina due to the storm.

In February 2025, The New York Times stated that Helene resulted in a death toll surpassing 200, making it "the deadliest tropical cyclone to strike the mainland United States since 2005."