‘Life or death’: Shelter helps victims without power in Cleveland County after tropical storm

CLEVELAND COUNTY, N.C. — There are some victims of Tropical Storm Helene in Cleveland County who say they will die if they’re forced to move.

Channel 9′s Ken Lemon went to an emergency shelter where about 20 people are staying Monday. Some told Lemon they need power to live.

“It’s a life or death situation for me,” Mark Earls told Lemon.

Earls is literally living on power. An extension cord in the shelter feeds an oxygen machine, which he can’t live without.

“I’ve got to have it every day, it’s got to be continuous,” Earls said.

He lives in Lattimore, a small community west of Shelby, which got rocked by Helene on Friday. He and scores of his neighbors lost power.

Portable oxygen tanks allowed him to stay at home for two more days, but on Sunday, he had to call 911.

“I said I’m on my last tank of oxygen, and I’m about to run out. I said I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Earls told Lemon.

He told dispatchers he was headed to the hospital, they told him all of the beds were full. Instead, they sent him to the emergency shelter. He has no doubts about where he would be without this machine and the power running to it.

“I’d probably be dead,” Earls said.

Wanda Wray went to the emergency room when she lost power on Friday. Beds were tight so they sent her to the shelter with her oxygen machine as well.

“God was on my side and found me this spot,” Wray told Lemon.

She said she’s feeling very lucky. Crews restored power to her house in Shelby, so she can now return home and rest easy.

As of Monday afternoon, 20,000 in Cleveland County were still without power. Even the shelter lost power, operating on a generator for now. Organizers say it’ll stay open as long as people have nowhere else to go.

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