And the nation is beginning to see the full scope of destruction caused by Hurricane Helene across much of the South.

The storm made landfall as a category four in Florida's Big Bend region on Thursday evening and blasted north across Georgia and the southern Appalachians and North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

The storm dropped historic amounts of rain in those areas, with record setting floods triggering landslides and mountain communities.

More than 100 people are confirmed dead.

Millions more remain without power, and many others are unaccounted for because cell service is down throughout most of the region.

The epicenter of Helen's destruction is in Asheville, North Carolina.

That's where 14 members of New Jersey's Task Force One deployed to help with search and rescue operations alongside federal and other state authorities.

But private citizens are also trying to lend a hand, including Mark Haug, a high school teacher from Ocean Gate who lost his home during Sandy and is committed to helping survivors of other storms with his charity.

Hold on, I'm coming.

Providing hot meals and supplies as quickly as possible.

Haug set up in Vidalia, Georgia and joins me from there now.

Mark, you pick up and leave on a dime and go to these natural disasters.

Take us inside where you're at right now.

And what type of destruction you've seen.

I'm in Vidalia, Georgia.

Home of the Vidalia onion.

I just found that out, yesterday, but, we actually, we didn't get to see too much of the damage because we came in at around three in the morning.

So it was really dark when we got here.

But we had a lot of trees that we had to navigate around a lot of roads that were damaged.

But the what?

The people that are coming to us, mostly what they're talking about is the infrastructure.

The power lines are down everywhere.

Trees.

We've got a lot of trees are down.

They were very ill prepared for this.

They weren't ready for a hurricane of this magnitude.

And that's really what the big problem is.

There's no electricity.

And because there's no electricity, there's not a lot of water.

So they they're running low on water.

They're running low on their food's running out because there's no refrigeration.

So they're in, they're in a pretty bad state right now.

What type of supplies did you pack in your trailer?

And do you feel like you have enough?

Just given what you've been confronted with so far?

We, I I'm a one man operation.

I mean, I'm lucky enough.

I have my friend Brian with me today.

He came down with me.

So I try to keep it simple.

I just do hot dogs.

They're really simple to to go.

I can I can keep them.

I can keep them cooking while I'm.

I'm doing other things.

We brought 700 hot dogs down.

And in four hours, we were out.

So we were able through donations, we were able to get, about 2000 more while we were down here.

We gave out, 1300 of them yesterday.

We procured another probably 6 or 800 today.

So we're looking at giving out another about another thousand today.

And then we give away potato chips and stuff like that, and just snacks, granola bars, water.

We had iced tea and Gatorade.

I had, I had 60 gallons of Gatorade.

That's gone.

I had, I had probably 80 gallons of iced tea that's gone.

So now we're just, bottled water.

We're able to purchase bottled water.

So we're giving that away, and we still have some gallons of water.

A couple of the people, the locals that have water, we're able to fill up jugs for us and bring them back.

So we had fresh water to, to hand out.

I mean, you say you keep it simple with hot dogs, but you know firsthand how something simple, like a quick meal or a drink of clean water, can make a difference when you're faced with your own mortality and the loss of everything you, you, and your family have had.

Yeah, I mean, I went through it.

I went through it.

So, you I get tired, and I get sure a lot.

We went through it, and I had a lot of people help me.

That's why I started this organization.

Because I know those first few days are really, really hard.

The big organizations aren't here yet.

I know, I know, the Salvation Army got to one church yesterday, but the Red Cross isn't here yet.

FEMA is not here yet.

They have little things, but they're not able to do much because they're so big.

It takes them a while to get rolling.

And this storm was so huge that, I wouldn't want to be involved in the logistics of trying to help, you know, basically 6 or 7 states right now.

Yeah.

So I try to find that the little town that is kind of going to be forgotten.

You know, not that we were we had a lot of people come help us right away.

But, you know, these towns need help the poor people, and they need a lot of help.

You feel it so deeply for them because you have walked in their shoes.

Exactly, exactly.

So many people came to help me, and I just.

This was my way of putting it together and and giving back.

This is why I did it.

And I'm sorry.

I'm really tired too.

We've been going for three straight days, and and it's, It's hard, but, it's worth it.

We've helped so many people.

This is the most I've ever helped in one and one sitting.

You've had to mobilize to some of the mean places that have seen just dire destruction.

How how long do you plan on staying, Mark?

I mean, both given the supplies and also emotionally.

Right, because it is, it's it's it's exhausting.

Work as rewarding as it is.

Yeah.

It is.

My plan is probably.

I'm going to have to probably leave tomorrow night.

We got down here 3 a.m., Saturday morning.

We worked all day Saturday.

All day Sunday.

We'll work all day today.

We'll work all day Tuesday.

And then we'll probably head home, Tuesday evening.

You know, as soon as we can get packed up and and and make sure everything's ready to go home.

Mark, listen.

Stay safe.

Thank you for the work that you're doing.

We know you're, you know, a one man band operation full of donations based.

But clearly, you are making a difference.

One person can make a difference.

So keep doing the great work.

Please stay safe for us.

Thank you, I appreciate it.

Thank you for your time.