Tiny Town of 800 People Was Ravaged by Helene, Then They Came Together to Start Rebuilding: 'Just Swells Your Heart'

• Marshall, N.C., was one of the towns in the Southeast left in ruin by severe flooding and landslides from Hurricane Helene
• The townsfolk say they have wasted no time in jumping to the aid of their neighbors
• "They want to take care of the people who have been taking care of them for the last number of years," says one resident

Joel Friedman watched as “apocalyptic” floods from Hurricane Helene devastated his small North Carolina town of Marshall — but now is witnessing what residents there call the "miracle" of a community coming together to set things right.

Struck by Helene as it raced northward from Florida in late September, Marshall, like other parts of Appalachia, was left in ruin by severe flooding and landslides.

While broader, government-backed recovery continues, the townsfolk have wasted no time in jumping to the aid of their neighbors.

Friedman says people came with shovels into his shop, Zuma Coffee. When they left, the mud had been mucked out and the front had been cleared of debris.

“And that was not me asking anybody. That was just showing up, whether it was employees of mine or friends or maybe even people who didn't know who I was,” Friedman, 64, tells PEOPLE. “That's what's happening everywhere in every business throughout the entire downtown Marshall. They want to take care of the people who have been taking care of them for the last number of years.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

Home to about 800 people, Marshall is a mix of old families and newcomers who saw opportunity in the postcard-worthy mountain town that sits about 2,000 feet above sea level.

Friedman says he was the first one to open a coffee shop there, in 2002, when some locals initially laughed at his high prices for a cup of coffee.

But he, and others, soon found themselves as the linchpins in the growth of the downtown tourist destination. There are still no big-box stores or major corporate presence; instead, the town has mixes artists and farmers, working people and retirees looking for a slower pace and closer ties.

“We are always in a flux of what we agree on and what we don’t agree on, but we really try to work together,” resident Mallory McCoy, 38, who owns the popular bar Mal’s, tells PEOPLE.

McCoy calls her bar “a rural Cheers,’’ where people come to listen to Appalachia music, laugh at the comics on stage and learn to play at the only public pool table in town.

McCoy, a single mom with three jobs, including working as a nurse at a nearby hospital and a local doctor’s office, came to the town 15 years ago and has a 6-year-old son. She loves the communal spirit of the town.

Now, however, McCoy — like so many others — faces the brutal reality of picking up the pieces of her future. She says she didn't have flood insurance on her business, and says the same is true of other establishments, which makes repairs a costlier burden.

She's hoping a GoFundMe to rebuild will be able to keep her bar alive. As of Saturday, Oct. 5, it has received more than $12,000 in donations.

Looking back at how quickly Helene's devastation unfolded, McCoy says that she thought she took enough precautions for the expected level of flooding: When she left work on Thursday, Sept. 26, with the hurricane soon set to make landfall in Florida, hundreds of miles away, she had stacked furniture and tucked away some items higher than usual, expecting maybe a little standing water on the floor.

Instead, after seeing how the raging French Broad River — swollen by stormwater — swept away homes, buildings and vehicles, McCoy returned to Mal's to discover almost everything she had put up was gone and big equipment had largely washed away.

She couldn’t even get in because the mud was so high and her boots kept getting stuck.

Then aid arrived: other residents, lending a hand.

“It started with a couple of helpers, just with shovels, and you could kind of see it coming together. We could get things pulled out,” McCoy says.

One of those locals, Tom Graves, brought his tractor, with only about a half-inch leeway to get the scraper in, and cleared out her bar floors.

“He backed in and out of there for at least three hours, pulling that sludge out,” McCoy says.

It’s a story being played out all over in Marshall and other small towns impacted by Helene.

The death toll is at more than 200, according to officials and news reports, and climbing — with many of the victims in western North Carolina.

Marshall lost people, too: Resident Bruce Tipton clung to a tree for hours, hoping for help that couldn't reach him, before being lost in the water, witnesses have said.

Rebuilding efforts are underway across the Southeast, but progress cannot move fast enough for residents without power, life-saving supplies or reliable internet and phone service.

The people of Marshall marvel at how they've worked together to help out, even as they acknowledge the challenges ahead.

"I haven't really seen many tears, but I think when we realize we can't see each other — [to] go get a coffee and see your buddy, or go grab a beer or even be annoyed by each other," says McCoy. "It is just really sad that my son can't play at the park. I think that that's the hardest part is all of the fixing."

"I believe in us so much, and we already do that on a daily basis anyway, helping each other and fixing things up is not foreign to us," she continues, "But I think not having the hub to come together is really foreign to us, and that's what I'm most worried about."

Friedman, the coffee shop owner, says: “Someone described it to me as being a ballet of machinery and working people. It’s like an ant colony, everybody’s picking up a shovel. They’re driving heavy equipment. They’ve moving trash. They’re getting the town together again.”

Folks have also jumped in with food, clothing and other donations.

Jessi Koontz, 44, is the executive director of Beacon of Hope in Marshall. Koontz says the group serves about 1,200 of the community’s low-income residents with food and other support, like through a thrift store and laundromat.

After the floods, Beacon of Hope opened up its pantry to everyone even though, at first, it looked as though there would not be enough.

“Then people just started coming all throughout the day with a couple of boxes, a little bucket of tomatoes and a basket of okra or dry goods," Koontz tells PEOPLE. "And that’s how we got through.”

She says she’s been dealing with calls from all over from people wanting to help. A helicopter landed on one neighbor’s lawn with provisions; another time, a couple came with a truck full of donations including bottle water and pet food. 

“All these beautiful miracles happening and it just swells your heart three sizes,” Koontz says. “We are not fancy. We’re down to earth. We take care of our own. After the [COVID-19] pandemic, we realized the supply chain could be disrupted and we need to be more self-reliant.”

In an election year when much of the country can feel riven by political and social issues, Koontz says, "It's nice that when the s--- hits the fan, we can all come together and be there for each other."

Erin Lowndes, who owns Plain with Sprinkles, a wedding and event planner specializing in the LGBTQ+ community, has also seen some positives coming from this tragedy.

“There’s a lot of young people here that are hippies or alternative young business owners that are moving in and really falling in love with the community,” Lowndes, 33, tells PEOPLE. 

“This horrible disaster is creating such a strong, beautiful community despite our differences," she says. "When our country's so divided, I’m hoping our country takes our story here to heart."

To learn more about how to help with relief, recovery and rebuilding efforts from Hurricane Helene, click here.