Helene Aftermath

[Jay & Bobbie]

Just wanted to say; I hope all travelers got through the storm and flooding safely. The devastation in western NC is heartbreaking.
Please pray for the people affected. If anyone know of a rv'er needing help, please post.

[mlh]

Yes it’s pretty bad. I understand the Builtmore was flooded. There was no way the get to Ashville NC. Some places got 26 inches of rain in one day. In these mountains creeks fill up fast. In 2018 the water was 2 feet over the top of our private bridge. It didn’t get that high this time but we have been without power for 4 days and don’t know when it will be back on. Generators are running everywhere. I have my new Ford Powerboost hybrid truck running our home. We can run everything in the house with it but not everything at the same time.
What other members were in the storm’s path?
Lynwood

[Trevor]

Western North Carolina is our favorite place in the world. Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected.

[NCFischers]

We hitched up in the dark and pouring rain on Thursday morning and headed east out of Asheville for home in a torrential downpour right before I40 washed out in several places behind us.

[Bourbon County]

That is truly one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.

My sister and her family live about 40 miles east of Asheville. I finally got a text from her last night. They are all safe; her daughter's house flooded. No power, water, cell service and estimates are maybe a week minimum before power is restored. So many roads and bridges are washed out, they can't get equipment in to work on it.

[DutchmenSport]

I just called the folks at Pilot Mountain State Park (Pinnicle, NC, or near Mount Airy) to see how they weathered the storm. She said the park did not have to close and the campground did not close either, but there were some trees down that caused some inconveniences. She said, some of the folks who live farther up in the mountains are still without power (including her). So I'm glad Pilot Mountain State Park and the surrounding area (and the folks there) made it through pretty good. I've been a camp host at Pilot Mountain for 3 years now, the months of July and August. It's a pretty special place for me.

[mlh]

We just got the power back on at 11 this morning. A young couple brought a nice little camp on the New River now it’s all gone. All gone nothing left. The guy that repairs our CNC machines has a campground on the New River. I wonder how he is?
Lynwood

[brycesteiner]

No doubt western NC is the most beautiful part of the USA. I was on a facetime call with my brother who lives east of Brevard on Friday around 7:15 am. He said they had already had about 15 inches of rain and then the bucket was full. We got cut off and didn't hear from him until this morning. Everything down. He climbed to the top of the mountain to try and get a cell signal, which he did enough to get a text out to let us know his family was fine. Luckily, no serious damage. Their road washed out and he was able to repair that on Saturday.
He wishes now he had starlink. he works remotely and has no idea when the fiberoptic will be repaired. I offered to take to his community anything he needed. He said don't bother. There is no way in or out right now of their community.

[mlh]

So glad your family is safe. I can’t imagine 15 inches of rain. We only had between 5 and 6 inches. Here in these mountains water runs off fast and the creeks and rivers rise even faster. This isn’t Chinese water torture that takes days. The streams are in their banks then washing houses away and back in their banks in one day.
Lynwood

[KirkFess]

I live 20 minutes east of Statesville, NC. We had 4 inches of rain here and winds under 60 mph. I have made 2 trips west to help. The first hour of the trips I saw minimal damage. Then it started. Lenoir was the first place I worked. Lots of trees down on houses & yards, minimal water damage that I saw. Only 1 block in the town had power on the Sunday morning after the storm. By Sunday evening a significant amount of the town had power. My second trip was to Hendersonville - south of Asheville. One week after the storm (Friday), much of the town was without power. There was more flooding damage there. There was also more trees down. Long stretches of power lines on the ground with busted poles & trees on the lines. Many roads closed because of road damage or trees in the road. But, neither of these 2 areas were wiped out like some of the towns.

[mlh]

What do you do when everything you have is gone and no insurance to cover it. Not only every thing you own but every thing including the town you live in. Where do you get water, electricity food and winter is coming on.
I have a couple of huge trees down and that is all I can take care of but what if all on the farm was down. They have thousands down and no roads or electric poles.
I have a friend down there with Gods Pit Crew. It’s amazing the work they do. They can build a nice home and furnish it in 2 weeks.
Lynwood

[Jay & Bobbie]

Based on my observations (from afar), the outpouring of supplies and manpower has been phenomenal.
The state fire marshals office of engineering is coordinating Inspectors( code officials and Home Inspectors) across the state to help the local jurisdictions evaluate remaining structures for safe occupation, once the initial clean up is done and roads become, at least passible. I, and many others across the state, have volunteered our services for that part of the rebuilding process. It is my understanding, the initial evaluations will be to determine if homes, or businesses, can be occupied.
It may be months for that to begin.

[mlh]

Originally Posted by Jay & Bobbie

Based on my observations (from afar), the outpouring of supplies and manpower has been phenomenal.
The state fire marshals office of engineering is coordinating Inspectors( code officials and Home Inspectors) across the state to help the local jurisdictions evaluate remaining structures for safe occupation, once the initial clean up is done and roads become, at least passible. I, and many others across the state, have volunteered our services for that part of the rebuilding process. It is my understanding, the initial evaluations will be to determine if homes, or businesses, can be occupied.
It may be months for that to begin.

Don’t go now. They have all the Volunteers they can use and are turning all other away unless you are with an organization.

On another note the Blueridge Parkway is closed all of it. So if you plan to see it this fall make it next year.
Lynwood

[mlh]

We know several people who have taken relief supplies to the Asheville area. There are places that just now have people got to. There are mules taking supplies where wheeled vehicles can’t get to. What they need now is fuel kerosene, gasoline, chainsaw fuel, bar oil.
Imagine living without electricity, water, something to eat or a roof over your head. It’s getting cold in those mountains.
Lynwood

[twindman]

Originally Posted by mlh

We know several people who have taken relief supplies to the Asheville area. There are places that just now have people got to. There are mules taking supplies where wheeled vehicles can’t get to. What they need now is fuel kerosene, gasoline, chainsaw fuel, bar oil.
Imagine living without electricity, water, something to eat or a roof over your head. It’s getting cold in those mountains.
Lynwood

Lynwood - I thought you lived in Western Virginia. I assume WV got hit to a lesser degree than W. North Carolina???

[RMcNeal]

WV did not get it nearly as bad as NC did, but we had power outages and trees down for several weeks. Still some clean up to do, but everything is returning to normal where we are in southern WV.
Oddly, our home in WV got it worse than our home in NE Florida. Go figure.

[mlh]

Originally Posted by twindman

Lynwood - I thought you lived in Western Virginia. I assume WV got hit to a lesser degree than W. North Carolina???

We do live in western Virginia. It’s about 150 or 60 miles from Asheville. Is see several trailers and flatbed trailers loaded with supplies headed to Asheville. And then there is Gods Pit Crew. They show up with a convoy of tractor trailers with everything you can imagine. They have skid steers, chain saws and other large equipment. They have a hundred volunteers down there. Think about what it takes to support that many people. They haft to be fed so they have a kitchen trailer with a high quality chef. It’s like a high end restaurant. And then there is dirty clothes so they have a trailer with washing machines. You bring your dirty laundry in a basket and your clothes are washed separately then folded and put back in your basket. People haft to be able to take a shower so they have shower trailers. If someone needs to get home they are sent on an airplane either private or commercial. They have large generators to run all of this. They have enough people and equipment to duplicate all of this for two disasters at once. It’s a well organized machine all ran from donations.
Lynwood