When Claudia Lima – a captain with the White Cross Volunteer Fire Department in rural Orange County – was searching for a new home earlier this year, she knew exactly where to look. Wanting to be closer to the fire station rather than making the drive from her Carrboro apartment, she started renting a small house off Old Greensboro Road.
“And I was super excited,” Lima told Chapelboro. “It was perfect – it’s three minutes from the fire station, it was a two-bedroom, it was great for me and my dog [Mollie]. And so we moved, officially, the 15th of April.”
When she left her home and dog Mollie the night of July 6 — as Tropical Depression Chantal dropped its historic rainfall onto the region — it was to help cover the fire station after other volunteers responded to water in the road across the district. But as she arrived around 7 p.m., the calls from Chapel Hill came in for help conducting water rescues around Camelot Village because of the flash flooding triggered by Chantal’s intense rain.
Lima had done one other water rescue in her 10 years of firefighting – along the Haw River to help swimmers in the dark – but the floods of Chantal were a different type of threat. As the first responders began to arrive, she saw there was no chance of rescuing people on foot.
“I was a little bit terrified – yes, I run into burning buildings, but water scares me a little bit,” said Lima. “We took our big [military-grade] truck out there and when we got to the place where we started water rescues, it was like a river had taken over the road. You couldn’t see the road, you couldn’t see the sidewalk, it was all running water.”
Lima started helping with the rescues, hopping onto a boat that went back and forth from Camelot Village to safety and helping first-floor residents evacuate. She said the crews would encounter many people in the neighborhood asking for help, but they prioritized getting out the people on the first floor compared to those who could climb away from the water on the second floor.
At one point during the night, Lima ran into her station chief, J. Phillip Nasseri, who she’d asked to keep an eye on her place amid the storm. He told her he’d seen water from the road reach up to her house – but said not to worry and assured the fire captain Mollie would be okay. Still, when returning home at 5 a.m. with rescues finished and the water receded, Lima was unprepared. She said her heart stopped when she opened the door and saw her first floor.
“The floors were wrecked, the house smelled horrible, everything was wet,” Lima said. “The poor dog was on the couch, looking at me like, ‘Mom, what just happened?’ Everything in my house has a specific place, I’m very organized – and it was just like something came by and threw stuff everywhere.”
In total, Lima estimates the water reached 13 inches overnight in her home – and left her not only scrambling to find a place to live, but to replace all of her personal belongings. Chief Nasseri organized a GoFundMe to help her, praising Lima’s tireless work helping flood victims while also being one herself. The fundraiser was circulated to Lima’s peers of local first responders and healthcare workers, quickly surpassing its initial $4,000 goal and eventually reaching more than $13,000.
Since then, Lima has asked for people to put their money – and time – toward other relief efforts in the aftermath, adding that the support she has gotten has been invaluable. She and Mollie are staying with a friend and many others have helped in ways to provide some short-term stability.
“I’m truly, truly grateful for the outpouring of love and support I’ve gotten from the community,” the fire captain said. “It’s been a humbling experience and I really, really appreciate that everything both the fire department and UNC [Hospitals] – and people I don’t know – have done for me. Thank you.”
And when it’s time to look for another home, Lima said she still plans to be in White Cross, just a few minutes away from the fire station so she can be nearby to respond to future emergencies.
“Yeah, I lost stuff – but my dog’s okay, I’m okay, [and] stuff can be replaced,” she said. “So, I’ve been trying to keep it in perspective and remind myself I was doing a good deed. Even though something bad happened, I was able to help people out and that’s what matters.”
Featured photos via Claudia Lima.
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