STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The cold December weather in much of the South is especially hard for people in the North Carolina mountains - people who lost their homes to flooding from Hurricane Helene. Gerard Albert III is with Blue Ridge Public Radio.
GERARD ALBERT III, BYLINE: Nick Hiteshew has set up three yurts for people whose homes were damaged in Barnardsville, about 30 minutes northeast of Ashville.
NICK HITESHEW: How's the tent treating you?
VAN DICKERSON: It's doing good.
HITESHEW: Keeping you warm?
V DICKERSON: Oh, yeah.
HITESHEW: Good, good.
ALBERT: Hiteshew is checking in on Van and Doris Dickerson. The rains from Helene shifted the siblings' trailer off its foundation as water rushed down the mountain, where their family has lived for generations. Now, they are staying in separate yurts. Hiteshew says these fortified round tents can be heated.
HITESHEW: You've got a small wood stove in there, a fire mat. We give them a fire extinguisher and some firewood, a cot.
ALBERT: Chopping firewood is nothing new to Doris Dickerson. She was raised in Barnardsville.
DORIS DICKERSON: But growing up out here, we kind of roughed it a little bit. And I'm thankful for that childhood because I can build a fire outside and cook outside on a fire.
(SOUNDBITE OF YURT BEING UNZIPPED)
ALBERT: She set up her yurt with about a dozen blankets and a twin-sized cot.
D DICKERSON: Kind of accumulated things 'cause I don't want to get cold. I really don't.
ALBERT: The South is experiencing a week of very low temperatures. The lows here are in the teens overnight. Several cities in the region have set up warming shelters. Mike DeSerio is with Homeward Bound, an organization that helps unhoused people in western North Carolina. Without heat, he says, there's the threat of hypothermia, and managing the cold temperatures can be tough for those not used to them.
MIKE DESERIO: So it's just extra mental stress, extra emotional stress on top of already being in survival mode. It can be really tough.
ALBERT: The low temperatures worry Van Dickerson, who is lining the floor of his yurt with Styrofoam boards for extra insulation.
V DICKERSON: Feeling a little apprehensive about the cold weather now 'cause, you know, it's supposed to be real cold starting tonight through the next couple of days.
ALBERT: The Dickersons are fixing up their mobile home and hope to move back in soon, where it will be much easier to stay warm.
For NPR News, I'm Gerard Albert III in Barnardsville, North Carolina. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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