Hurricane Helene

We are fine. No power, water or internet. And to add on to it. We are at an emergency vet thinking one of our dogs broke her leg.

This creek has never came out of its banks in 60+ years.
We went by our house in clyde checking on our friends and it didn't have a water line on it... because it was over the roof. This is 100× as bad as 2004. Basically every bridge in the county on secondary roads are compromised
 

Attachments

  • 20240927_084349.jpg
    20240927_084349.jpg
    191 KB · Views: 112
Hey all western folks if you have a 501c3 i can get additional funds sent to you from my company just send me a message
 
ghost said:
Wow. I know where that is. That’s a plastic pipe place I pass going to Harlan.
Click to expand...
That's the same video I posted a FB link to earlier in the thread. That's about 30 minutes from the house, the devastation there is unreal. We didn't get near the rainfall as some areas, but the runoff from the mountains is what got them. The missing persons total for that area is approaching 40. The pipe manufacturer is Impact plastics, several of the missing persons are from there. They were trying to evacuate employees on a flatbed trailer as the water rose and the truck was washed away. State Police and National Guard helicopters had to rescue 50+ people from the roof of the Hospital because the water rose so fast they couldn't all get out. If you pause the video at about 3:55 what you see to the left of the tree line is Nuclear Fuel Services. They manufacture reactor fuel for the US Naval fleet. A few more feet and things could have gone real bad.

Some context on how much water the Nolichucky river saw during this. The peak flow for Niagra Falls during tourist season is 100K CFS/700K GPS.

Nolichucky.png


My sister lives in Swannanoa east of Asheville. Thankfully they live on the south side of I-40 directly across from the Harley shop, on the hill well above the flood zone but Swannanoa as a town is about wiped out. A lot of it was under water up to the rooflines. I haven't talked to them since Friday, but they are ok. They have spotty service at best.
 
For any hams wanting to help, these repeaters are linked and are being monitored at ecomm Iredell. I spent some time yesterday helping pass traffic. We are hoping to get several folks with good setups into the communities very soon to help get info in and out!
Screenshot_20240929-091803_Facebook.jpg
 
Hokie_YJ said:
That's the same video I posted a FB link to earlier in the thread. That's about 30 minutes from the house, the devastation there is unreal. We didn't get near the rainfall as some areas, but the runoff from the mountains is what got them. The missing persons total for that area is approaching 40. The pipe manufacturer is Impact plastics, several of the missing persons are from there. They were trying to evacuate employees on a flatbed trailer as the water rose and the truck was washed away. State Police and National Guard helicopters had to rescue 50+ people from the roof of the Hospital because the water rose so fast they couldn't all get out. If you pause the video at about 3:55 what you see to the left of the tree line is Nuclear Fuel Services. They manufacture reactor fuel for the US Naval fleet. A few more feet and things could have gone real bad.

Some context on how much water the Nolichucky river saw during this. The peak flow for Niagra Falls during tourist season is 100K CFS/700K GPS.

View attachment 425304

My sister lives in Swannanoa east of Asheville. Thankfully they live on the south side of I-40 directly across from the Harley shop, on the hill well above the flood zone but Swannanoa as a town is about wiped out. A lot of it was under water up to the rooflines. I haven't talked to them since Friday, but they are ok. They have spotty service at best.
Click to expand...
Wow. That’s crazy.
 
Update: they were able to make contact and are safe. Long road ahead for everyone. Praying for everyone affected!

Anyone know how the area north east of Ashville (still Buncombe county) near Poplar Creek Dr and/or Riceville Rd may have faired?

We have a family friend with a young child in that area and they haven’t had any luck contacting them since Friday.
 
Last edited:
With entire river bottoms eroded and changed I cannot imagine how this is going to play toward the engineering or even zoning side of rebuilding.
Our little bottom blew out a few years back and was a well established dike. Mature tree growth, vegetation, and the expected from 4 decade old construction. Every repair attempt since has failed.
 
I got a friend 81 years old and his wife in their airstream. Made it from Roan Mountain to Mountain City. Trying to get back to central NC. Is 81 from Mtn City TN to 77 good?
 
Monkeynono said:
Still alive, running out of supplies rumors of power by mid October
Click to expand...
I'm willing to bring anything up that you or other people can't get. Gloves shovels, food Water, meds personal hygiene items what ever. Not sure how accessible people are but I'm willing to drive up during the week and meet one or more to get items needed up to nC4x4 peeps. Even though I personally only know a handful of you.
 
Monkeynono said:
Still alive, running out of supplies rumors of power by mid October
Click to expand...
People just can't fathom the extent of the damage around here. My heart aches for places like Burnsville, Spruce Pine and Banner Elk that should ever flood. Very little.preparedness.
Hope your crew is ok buddy
 
kaiser715 said:
I got a friend 81 years old and his wife in their airstream. Made it from Roan Mountain to Mountain City. Trying to get back to central NC. Is 81 from Mtn City TN to 77 good?
Click to expand...

I finally looked at map. I thought 81 was closer to Mtn City. They have a ways to go.

421 is closed at NC state line, right?
 
Jody Treadway said:
People just can't fathom the extent of the damage around here. My heart aches for places like Burnsville, Spruce Pine and Banner Elk that should ever flood. Very little.preparedness.
Hope your crew is ok buddy
Click to expand...
What do you know of Burnsville? Had a single text from my mom today. She’s up on the mountain above Burnsville and they can’t get down or out of their community. There’s an airstrip on top of the mountain, but I think it may be compromised. I can only imagine what happened to Burnsville.
 
Made it up today to do what we could. Will probably be going back next week. If anyone wants to pitch in. I think gas cans and propane tanks would help a lot of folks. As they will Definitely be with out power for a very long time. Houses gone, cars flipped, power lines down everywhere. Went house to house passing out cases of waters and jugs full of gas. It’s sad, and we only got to the outskirts.
IMG_0274.jpeg
IMG_0288.jpeg
IMG_0289.jpeg
IMG_0290.jpeg
IMG_0293.jpeg
IMG_0277.jpeg
IMG_0278.jpeg
IMG_0280.jpeg
IMG_7684.jpeg
IMG_7683.jpeg
IMG_7682.jpeg
IMG_7676.jpeg
IMG_7675.jpeg
 
Monkeynono said:
Still alive, running out of supplies rumors of power by mid October
Click to expand...
what do you need?? They opened the hwy up the mnt and I could probably bring you some stuff.
 
Late to the updates, but just got some info...Duke Energy is still doing assessments and expect them completed by tomorrow. They had ~160 lines down from the storm and still have ~120 lines down, ~60 wholesale delivery points (DPs) still without power and they have 200+ substations without power. This storm affected their entire area (FL, SC, NC, TN, KY, OH & IN) and they have not released expected restoration times for lots of the outages. Looks like power is slowly being restored; Shelby has 2 of 4 DPs online, Morganton has 4 of 5 DPs online, Cherryville, Drexel & Granite Falls DPs have been restored. I40W of Statesville has been closed & I26 is open, but is packed from all the other closures. Crews sent to TN had to detour through Atlanta just to get into TN.

As of last night, lots of outages in Morganton (7,500+), Gastonia, Lincolnton, Maiden, New River Power & Light/Boone (350+ but their outage system is unstable), Newton, Pineville & Shelby.
 
Burnsville is in a bad, bad way. As are other secluded mountain towns.
We ventured out today to get more fuel. Lines are 2-3 hours long. I went to the shop, drained the Ranger and siphoned from a work truck.
Shits bad around here. We lost another way out today. Only one route from home now.
We will be ok, we're tough AF. Gonna loose the generator soon (big propane tank and can't schedule a refill) but we have enough MREs, canned food and such tomlast weeks.
mbalbritton said:
What do you know of Burnsville? Had a single text from my mom today. She’s up on the mountain above Burnsville and they can’t get down or out of their community. There’s an airstrip on top of the mountain, but I think it may be compromised. I can only imagine what happened to Burnsvil
Click to expand...
 
Back
Top