VA: Local group steps up to aide neighbors during tropical storm

SAXIS, Va. – If you ask residents in Saxis what its like to live in such a quaint and tiny town, you’re bound to hear something like this:

“I look at Saxis as more of a family, a town everybody’s connected to one way or another,” said resident Katie Morrision.

And that statement couldn’t be more true for these neighbors who, along with others, created a resilience adaption team. Making it their mission to get to know and check on every single resident in the town who decided not to evacuate before Hurricane Florence made its debut.

“We thought we really should try and find out who is staying, and try to get those that might be at risk to evacuate and we’ll even offer to take them to one of the shelters,” said resilience team member Donna Croucshore.

One of the teams’ main concerns was a causeway that leads right to the town. With a combination of high tide and heavy rainfall, it can cause extreme flooding on the road which means no one can get in, and no one can get out.

“I’m afraid for our sick or elderly that they may not be able to get off the island if they have a medical emergency,” said Donna.

Recently the group decided to go door to door knocking on their neighbors homes and putting up social media posts looking to see who was staying and who was going, they say that almost half of the towns residents that were elderly or lived alone decided to leave.

“All of those that we thought might be at risk had already had plans with their families to be taken off the island and living somewhere else temporarily so it wasn’t necessary for us to actually transport anyone but we wanted to make sure the offer was there,” said Donna.

For those who did decide to stay and ride out the weather, members say they’ll still be on call ready to help anyone who’s in need.

“I have an SUV so it would be great to throw a wheelchair in the back or whatever crutches and take somebody to the hospital and get off the island,” said another team member Richard Croucshore.

And they add being able to help take care of such a tight knit community, means the world to them.

“Do I get emotional yes I do to see that kind of love and care. And you see it in certain people, but when you see it in a town, who ask can we do anything for you this that the other thing it’s amazing,” said Croucshore.

And for a list of numbers to call the resilience team click here.