No water, power or formula: moms struggle to feed babies after Hurricane Helene

‘It’s super unclear how and when we could possibly go back to anything close to normal,’ says Ziska Maria, a mother of a three-year-old and an infant. Photograph: damircudic/Getty Images

In the days leading up to Hurricane Helene’s arrival in North Carolina, Ziska Maria tried to stock up on her five-month-old son’s formula in nearby stores, but none had it. “We were like, ‘okay, we’ll just get it after [the storm],’” says Maria, who lives in Black Mountain with her partner, three-year-old and infant.

But after the morning of 27 September, the family quickly realized they wouldn’t be making grocery runs anytime soon. “We didn’t have water, we didn’t have power, we didn’t have cell reception, we didn’t have internet, all the roads were blocked and we couldn’t leave,” says Maria.