Hurricane Helene

Posted on FB today by Edneyville Fire & Rescue. Some good points.

We feel there needs to be some clarification made about the road from Bat Cave to Chimney Rock. First, we are not trying to take away from the effort that was put in or get into any of discussions about what was or wasn’t done, but rather inform the public of the current situation.
Second, there was a temporary road put in for private or emergency use. This does not mean that Hwy 64/74 has been repaired or re-opened for public travel. The main thing this road has done is allow some residents to access their home that there was no access to before.
Understand this road is a very narrow one lane dirt path road. With spring heads making it muddy in places, the more this road is traveled, the harder it makes it for residents to get to their homes. Even without having received additional rain, this road will be hard to navigate in many vehicles without 4WD.
Keep in mind when you are hearing that Hwy 64, Hwy 74 or Hwy 9 has reopened, this really means that the roads are somewhat passible and down to a one lane dirt or gravel access in most areas. To say they are open is not a good representation for what most think of. Again, these roads are open enough for residents to access their homes and for emergency vehicles.
The recovery for these roads to be fully operational is going to take time. In many places the land where the roads were no longer exist and roads will have to be completely redesigned before any construction can begin. We have tried to explain this to say, that the roads in the afore mentioned areas will not support anyone other than the people who live there.
 
kaiser715 said:
Posted on FB today by Edneyville Fire & Rescue. Some good points.

We feel there needs to be some clarification made about the road from Bat Cave to Chimney Rock. First, we are not trying to take away from the effort that was put in or get into any of discussions about what was or wasn’t done, but rather inform the public of the current situation.
Second, there was a temporary road put in for private or emergency use. This does not mean that Hwy 64/74 has been repaired or re-opened for public travel. The main thing this road has done is allow some residents to access their home that there was no access to before.
Understand this road is a very narrow one lane dirt path road. With spring heads making it muddy in places, the more this road is traveled, the harder it makes it for residents to get to their homes. Even without having received additional rain, this road will be hard to navigate in many vehicles without 4WD.
Keep in mind when you are hearing that Hwy 64, Hwy 74 or Hwy 9 has reopened, this really means that the roads are somewhat passible and down to a one lane dirt or gravel access in most areas. To say they are open is not a good representation for what most think of. Again, these roads are open enough for residents to access their homes and for emergency vehicles.
The recovery for these roads to be fully operational is going to take time. In many places the land where the roads were no longer exist and roads will have to be completely redesigned before any construction can begin. We have tried to explain this to say, that the roads in the afore mentioned areas will not support anyone other than the people who live there.
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But the internet says people rebuilt a road quicker than dot could!
 
DSM Turbos said:
But the internet says people rebuilt a road quicker than dot could!
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They did.
A crew from WV built an emergency road that is also for locals only.
Obviously not to DOT standards or anything. But good enough for fire trucks, ambulance and similar traffic
 
Jody Treadway said:
They did.
A crew from WV built an emergency road that is also for locals only.
Obviously not to DOT standards or anything. But good enough for fire trucks, ambulance and similar traffic
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Oh I know. People make it out to be like they made an official road or something.

Gotta love though the .gov only being able to do things the "official" way, and not the lets do something to help people now way.
 
Wow.
 
ghost said:
That's wild but I'm not sure why she thinks they need to fix the forest. It will be back. Quicker then you think. Might not be all the old oaks but it will be back.
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It will fix itself but with extensive blowdown like that I would imagine "fixing" it would mean removing most of the blowdown debris so new growth can come up freely. There was a section of the mountain like that in Wyoming where I hunted in 2020 where a tornado touched down and ran across the mountain touching down in random places based on terrain. USFS had a crew surveying it during our hunt to come in and clean it up the following spring.
 
StretchASU said:
It will fix itself but with extensive blowdown like that I would imagine "fixing" it would mean removing most of the blowdown debris so new growth can come up freely. There was a section of the mountain like that in Wyoming where I hunted in 2020 where a tornado touched down and ran across the mountain touching down in random places based on terrain. USFS had a crew surveying it during our hunt to come in and clean it up the following spring.
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My guess is , she might not be from the mountains to suggest the forest needs fixing ... like @ghost said, it'll grow back just fine without any help from mankind .

Wyoming is different from NC, it's a lot higher altitude, and more arid, wood rots here much much faster than it does there, and yall know how fast trees grow here.
 
ghost said:
That's wild but I'm not sure why she thinks they need to fix the forest. It will be back. Quicker then you think. Might not be all the old oaks but it will be back.
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Well, for starters...
kaiser715 said:
Fire season will be interesting over the next 10 years.
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Also, I'm no geologist or hydrologist, but with that much uprooting, the ground will be destabilized, and have pockets to hold water, which probably will increase the likelihood of future landslides. Just look at how many trees are uprooted in this one section, then imagine a whole hillside like that:
1730307167586.png
 
jeepinmatt said:
Well, for starters...

Also, I'm no geologist or hydrologist, but with that much uprooting, the ground will be destabilized, and have pockets to hold water, which probably will increase the likelihood of future landslides. Just look at how many trees are uprooted in this one section, then imagine a whole hillside like that:
View attachment 427222
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Valid point.
 
jeepinmatt said:
Well, for starters...

Also, I'm no geologist or hydrologist, but with that much uprooting, the ground will be destabilized, and have pockets to hold water, which probably will increase the likelihood of future landslides. Just look at how many trees are uprooted in this one section, then imagine a whole hillside like that:
View attachment 427222
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I'm no geoligist either , but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night :laughing:

Seriously, the ground definitely has a lot of open wounds now, and those are spots where erosion can occur, and that could promote landslides if the terrain was steep enough and there was enough rainfall. < those last two items are the main ingrdients in any landslide recipe.

My guess is, some of the trees that are still standing will live. All the open areas where the trees are gone will get tons of sunlight in the next couple years and there'll be a massive amount of sapling growth .... great browse for deer, good hunting (as long as you can see through it ) .

If you're into geology and the factors that made this disaster so terrible, there's a geologist that's been doing some pretty interesting videos on YT : TheGeoModels
 
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I know its a pretty common thing but when we were goin to Sp once we crossed the NC line there were 100's of blow downs everywhere.
 
1980CJ7 said:
I'm no geoligist either , but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night :laughing:

Seriously, the ground definitely has a lot of open wounds now, and those are spots where erosion can occur, and that could promote landslides if the terrain was steep enough and there was enough rainfall. < those last two items are the main ingrdients in any landslide recipe.

My guess is, some of the trees that are still standing will live. All the open areas where the trees are gone will get tons of sunlight in the next couple years and there'll be a massive amount of sapling growth .... great browse for deer, good hunting (as long as you can see through it ) .

If you're into geology and the factors that made this disaster so terrible, there's a geologist that's been doing some pretty interesting videos on YT : TheGeoModels
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I'd hate to know I had to drag a deer thru that mess.
 
1980CJ7 said:
I'm no geoligist either , but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night :laughing:

Seriously, the ground definitely has a lot of open wounds now, and those are spots where erosion can occur, and that could promote landslides if the terrain was steep enough and there was enough rainfall. < those last two items are the main ingrdients in any landslide recipe.

My guess is, some of the trees that are still standing will live. All the open areas where the trees are gone will get tons of sunlight in the next couple years and there'll be a massive amount of sapling growth .... great browse for deer, good hunting (as long as you can see through it ) .

If you're into geology and the factors that made this disaster so terrible, there's a geologist that's been doing some pretty interesting videos on YT : TheGeoModels
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Youtube fed that guys vids to me and another engineer buddy of mine a week or two ago and we were discussing it. Good stuff.
 
Jeramiah said:
Loudendale, WV
Pumper to Poga / Elk Mills VFD in TN.
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Poga / Elk Mills lost their station, one of their two pumpers and most all of their equipment. Loudendale called on Monday night right after the storm hit on Friday / Saturday and were the first to say they were cleaning up a pumper to be on it's way. It pulled in on Wednesday evening being only 3 days after Poga announced they had lost their station and tanker.

As of this past weekend I can confirm where Oxford Maryland's ambulance and pumper went.

Poga / Elk Mills only had 2 pumper trucks and some equipment that were way outdated. As of this past weekend, the plans so far is to build a new station in Poga (up on a big hill - LOL) and another just a few miles south at Little Milligan (up on a big hill - LOL). And talks are for a 3rd station because they have been donated so much equipment. The trucks you see below are MUCH much better from what they had.

I called 911 once when I first bought my house in Elk Mills and it took 45 minutes for an ambulance to get there from the closest hospital in Mountain City. After the new stations are built it will probably only take 5 minutes. For any serious situations that may come up in my future... That's HUGE! Plus a station on each side of me.

The old tanker showed it's door and the rear wheels for the first time in front of my house over the weekend. I've determined by watching it within a 4 day period that although it was filled with 3,500 gallons of water, that it's floating very slowly. If it wasn't for a tree riding on top of it, more would be visible. My pics I took of it were horrible. Going back next weekend maybe it will still be up.
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Codorus, PA
Pumper to Poga / Elk Mills VFD in TN
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I saw where it just pulled in yesterday evening.

The districts of East TN have been far too stretched for way too long being mountainous countryside and hard to reach. And with only 1-2 trucks per department. Even depending on NC and VA to help during many instances a year. These fellas know no state boundaries. Plans now have evolved into re-districting to replace the old station with 3 stations and re-dividing the districts. The other 3 closest districts in TN is Stoney Creek (1 pumper), Butler (2 pumpers) and Hampton (2 pumpers) with either being 45 minutes away just drive time to Elk Mills / Poga. Beech Mtn. NC VFD, the two Fall Creek NC VFD's and Elk Park NC VFD have been saviors way too many times. One of the new stations will be about 3 miles from the NC / TN state line on the upper side of Poga for payback for how many times I've heard that NC has come to the rescue. Another will be Little Milligan splitting Hampton and Elk Mills. They are still debating where the 3rd will be. My best guess will be Roan Mountain for Elk Park NC typically beats Hampton there every time.

Currently the washout on Hwy 321 has Poga / Elk Mills split in half. And there's not even a schedule yet for the repair. Right now they saying 6 months but the bridge is closed needing repairs as well so I'd say a year. If a fire was to break out right after Helene hit it would have been up to NC to come put them out. They are accepting applications and pads are being poured. If I lived up there I'd be tempted for it's pretty heart felt to see these guys come together with their brotherly love.

And I have to add... There's been some negative feedback about how much is pouring into the region. But these donated pumpers were being retired. The stations that are donating have much newer trucks now. And little does anyone know that the pumper that got washed into the lake that Poga / Elk Mills have been depending on since new was a 1983 model. And that's on par for what the rest of the stations in the NE TN region are currently using. They are lusting over these pumpers. Most of them are only 15-20 years old. That sure beets 40.
 
Jeramiah said:
If I lived up there I'd be tempted for it's pretty heart felt to see these guys come together with their brotherly love.
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This x1000. The amount of care and love and goodness being poured out in WNC/ETN/SWVA right now is just unbelievable. If I weren't so cynical, it would probably restore my faith in humanity.
 
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