Letter to Los Angeles from another disaster zone

A physician from North Carolina talks about what survivors share: layers of losses, insurance battles and a long recovery

Watching the images of fires burning in and around Los Angeles is very triggering. I'm sure it is the same for many of my neighbors in western North Carolina. It has not been that long since Hurricane Helene caused catastrophic flooding that devastated our communities, and it is not over for us.

At first, you are energized to do what is needed to be done in the moment. But, then, you are left with emptiness, exhaustion, pain, trying to regain something resembling what has been lost.