re: Helene - Recovery Begins...Devastating Flash Flooding in Western NC and Eastern TN

A different radio station, listening to this is heartbreaking but this really probably the best way to get an idea of what is going on.

LINK

Currently live in asheville.

Quite frankly, surprised I have cell service.

The only thing I can compare this too is Katrina. I've never seen anything of this magnitude. Luckily we came out unscathed but I'm curious to hear about the final numbers death wise.

We moved to Asheville on Tuesday in a long term rental while we wait for our house in Cashiers to be finished ( was told they would be done sometimes in October).

Due to how far inland we are we really didn’t prepare for the storm that well. We do have water and some food to sustain us for a few days.

Friday mornin when Helene reached us I was awaken by a huge wind gust and then two flashes of light that I thought was lightning. We lost power immediately after the apparent lightning.

After the winds calmed down, I took my dog out for a walk and found some huge trees down and every telephone pole snapped (some were snapped in two or three places). I figured then that a tornado had done the damage I saw and the linemen that arrived Friday night confirmed this.

We had cell service and water until two pm on Friday. I listened to a broadcast from the Buncome County officials and things are looking dire, the dude called the devastation biblical.

I think the major things we have to deal with is the lack of water and the associated health risks of poor sanitation. I think the water and sewer services are in the areas that were heavily flooded and they won’t be able to assess how bad it is until the floods recede. ( this has a definite Katrina vibe )
Everyone we have met have been super friendly and we have all been pitching in to help each other. I did see a potential skirmish when someone tried to cut a very slow moving gas line, a Karen Lady got out of her car and offered throw hands with the cutter if they didn’t get out of line.

I have heard reports of looting,but haven’t seen it. Our rental is a short walk to downtown and I assume looting would be more common in the city, so maybe the reports are simply rumours.

As you can tell, the cellular service is now up, a notification woke me up and after texting family to let them know we are safe, I jumped on TD to see how the tigers have fared.

One nice thing is that the climate is much more pleasant than south La to endure a lack of utilities.

A really troubling thing is that most are trapped as all of the interstates are closed due to mud slides and bridges being damaged by the flood waters. I26 south has been cleared of a mud slide and it is possible to go south into SC and I have heard people have been able to get to Charlotte Airport to fly home (tons of tourists here)

Water and sanitation are going to be the big problem going forward and we will stay as long as possible. The power will be on for our street sometimes today if that lineman I spoke with is correct. I am unable to express my gratitude for the work these men put in to get the power back on.

We are off new leicester, by Patton.

Luckily we are high enough to where we didn't sustain any real damage.

I was real curious about Merrimon because I work at that Whole foods.

Nice breakdown, that's basically our experience

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Can we keep the low IQ politics out of this thread please.

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I don't consider the post I'm about to make political but I'm sorry, it's relevant and it needs to be discussed. What the actual F is with the little to no coverage of this nationally? And where is the Federal response?

Again not to make it political, but this just once again proves to me that the Coastal Liberal elites (which to clarify, can include both Democrats and Republicans) really don't care that much about flyover country. If it doesn't impact the East Coast, West Coast, Florida or a major U.S. city, they don't care.

Can you imagine if this had happened closer to the coast in NYC or DC? It's all the media would be showing and covering. The Federal Government would have already had the National Guard from multiple states in to get distribution centers up and running for critical resources (water, food, charging station for families to let others know they are safe, etc.) and already helping with infrastructure. Heck the Army would be there in support if needed.

The national media, Fox included, seem to still be focusing on the election as well as the strikes against Hezbollah and the death of their leaders. To me this is far more important, at least until all people possible are rescued and safe.

Maybe some of it is just because they literally can't get to Asheville, but I have been shocked the lack of national coverage regarding this. This is literally another Hurricane Katrina. This is Asheville and WNC's Katrina. When New Orleans had Katrina it was all the news channels covered for days. And yet, here, almost nothing.

If it wasn't for being on here and checking Facebook, YouTube, Reddit and other sources online, I wouldn't know anything was happening.

I don't watch cable news, so I don't know about that. Helene is prominently featured on the NYT, WaPo, CNN and MSNBC websites. Not on Fox. Make of that what you will.

I think there's some truth in all of it. They would cover it more in a coastal city and/or if it involved minorities. But it's also true that none of these outfits are working with the budgets they used to have, and they do a lot less live in the field coverage of all kinds. Especially on weekends, when they usually run with a skeleton crew.

Nowadays all these networks cover the political horse race to the exclusion of nearly everything else because 1: it's cheaper and 2: it gets the attention of what few viewers they still have.

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The national media, Fox included, seem to still be focusing on the election as well as the strikes against Hezbollah and the death of their leaders. To me this is far more important, at least until all people possible are rescued and safe.

Maybe some of it is just because they literally can't get to Asheville, but I have been shocked the lack of national coverage regarding this. This is literally another Hurricane Katrina. This is Asheville and WNC's Katrina. When New Orleans had Katrina it was all the news channels covered for days. And yet, here, almost nothing.

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I think in the last decade, new coverage has shifted from using satellite trucks and local microwave relays to now portable cellular units for news coverage. Unfortunately, those only work where there is adequate cellular service and power. Right now none of that is working in many of those areas. Now some of those portable units are starting to also work with Starlink giving you that emergency satellite backup but they do cost a little more and take a little longer to setup.

I just realized yesterday that I knew someone that moved up to the Asheville area that was tired of dealing with hurricanes in SELA. I texted him, and didn’t get a response until hours later. He said it was bad, no water, no gas, no power, and no way out.

I used to live off of Kimberly near Grove Park and still have our house there. You would think they would have learned from 2004 when the other named storms came through. The same thing happened to the water and sewage. We did not have drinkable water for all most a month in downtown or in the city limits.