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GREENSBORO – Two friends will hold a benefit Thursday night to raise money for the people who lost everything in the June 3 rainstorm that flooded Wafco Mills.

Tahe Zalal and Kristi Benedict will hold “Come Help For High Water’’ from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Winstead Commons, a condo/residential complex near the corner of Lawndale Drive and Martinsville Road.

At least five residents, along with a few others who used the historic mill for storage, saw a rainstorm dump the heaviest rainfall in Guilford County ever recorded in a 24-hour period: eight inches.

And Zalal, who lived less than a block away up a hill on Fulton Street, saw the whole thing.

She and her husband, Scott, and their 4-year-old son, Archer, were fine. But from her bedroom window, Zalal saw cars floating and a courtyard flooded and heard about residents being rescued and swimming to safety.

Later, Zalal’s friend Benedict called to see if Zalal and her husband were OK. Then Benedict mentioned their friend Matt Dennis. He lived in one of the basement condominiums flooded out at Wafco Mills.

“Why don’t we do something?’’ Benedict said to Zalal.

They will.

They have arranged for two bands to play Thursday night. They’ll also ask people for donations as seven shops at Winstead Commons donate 15 percent of its sales that night to help repair the 116-year-old mill near UNCG.

Wafco Mills had never flooded. Until June 3. Residents lost furniture, appliances, books, photographs – everything.

None of the residents have flood insurance.

“I hated seeing everyone losing their belongings and memories, and that sense of loss, I knew I couldn’t stand by,’’ said Zalal, 34 , an assistant paper conservator at a local book and paper conservation company.

“I knew I could do something, and that we – Kristi and I – could make a difference.’’

Contact Jeri Rowe at 373-7374 or jeri.rowe@news-record.com