COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. -- Several businesses in the Tri-Cities are collecting supplies and donations to deliver to Hurricane Florence victims in North Carolina.
"People don't realize how bad it is down there, they're in trouble" said Carl Carden Jr.
The owner of a business in Prince George County and Hopewell left Virginia on Tuesday to take necessary supplies to North Carolina, specifically 1500 pounds of dry ice.
Carden said he was inspired after realizing the dire need for supplies.
"Listening to the rescue efforts by the Cajun Navy and I mean, it's just heart wrenching," he said.
Carden reached out to the Cajun Navy and was surprised by who returned his phone call.
"The Mayor of Atkinson, North Carolina called me and said I need help and I said I've got 1500 pounds of dry ice. He said 'can you get it to me?' I said if you can get me in there."
Tuesday's delivery wasn't easy.
"It looked like a war zone," said Carden.
But it didn't deter him from loading up again Thursday morning with another 1500 pounds of dry ice, several cases of water and about 30 gallons of gasoline.
In Colonial Heights, Dance's Sporting Goods began collecting supplies to deliver to a similar business in Selma, North Carolina.
"It's a bad situation right now" said Trent Lassiter, who is also collecting supplies.
"Right now they're in need of water, non-perishable foods and cleaning supplies such as mops, buckets, gloves, trash bags, etc," he said during a facetime interview.
The supplies collected at Dances leave town Friday night to meet up with Lassiter who will deliver the supplies to Carteret County.
"You need to go through something like this to see how hard it is to clean up after something like this, the water down there hasn't even crested yet," explained Marlon Dance.
Donations can be dropped off at Dance's Sporting Goods in Colonial Heights through Friday evening.
Donations can be dropped off at Landen, located at 5050 Prince George Drive in Prince George County for their next trip Friday. September 28.
At Colonial Harley Davidson, donations going to a food pantry in Carteret County are being collected to be taken down in the next couple of weeks.
