‘I’m not giving up’: Couple loses home to Helene years after Katrina left them homeless
By Gracie Palmer
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BARNARDSVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Most people cannot imagine losing a home to a hurricane. But one western North Carolina couple has now lived through that nightmare twice.
Rosslyn and Rick Mosteiro are living in a trailer beside what used to be their home in Barnardsville after Helene destroyed the house they had lived in for nearly 10 years.
“Right here was the porch, our bedroom was right here,” Rosslyn Mosteiro said, standing on a concrete slab.
The couple said floodwaters surrounded the house before creeping inside and causing irreversible damage.
This is not the first time the Mosteiros have lost everything to a storm. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina left them homeless in Chalmette, Louisiana, just outside New Orleans.
“We were refugees for quite a while,” Rosslyn Mosteiro said. “We stayed with family and then we lived in a FEMA trailer for a year and a half. Then we moved up here because we wanted to get away from the hurricanes.”
The Mosteiros said they cannot rebuild the Barnardsville home because it sits in a floodplain. Instead, they have applied for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Program in hopes of selling the property.
For now, they are sharing their story to remind people that many residents are still struggling more than a year and a half after Helene.
“But people need help, and we need people to come out and just don’t forget about us,” Rosslyn Mosteiro said. “I don’t want to forget about these people here.”
The couple said they are moving back to Louisiana and trying to focus on the positive.
“I’ve escaped death twice now,” Rosslyn Mosteiro said. “Instead of being like, this happened to me, it’s like, okay, I’m still here for a reason. I’m not giving up.”
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