Helene Recovery & Info

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Icky Mettle said:
I was living in Charlotte when Hugo hit. I remember waking up in the early morning hours to the sound of a very loudly howling wind. It was like nothing I’d ever heard before.

The whole family went downstairs and sat as close as possible to the center of the house. My dad opened the front door to look out (it was hard to see anything through the windows), and the howling wind was significantly louder. You could essentially see the wind blowing as it carried debris with it. I remember seeing so much debris fly by right in front of us.

Once the storm passed, the amount of destruction was shocking. Huge trees down everywhere. Cars crushed by the trees. Amazingly, our property, which had a quite a few big trees on it, was spared. Somehow we didn’t lose a single tree. Just limbs here and there.

We were without power for two weeks. We got a little tease and got power back a couple days after the storm. But about two days after that, we were told we were not supposed to have power, and apparently a line worker was injured working on a line near us because they were unaware people on our block had power. So they shut it back off for about another 10 days.

I remember lighting lots of candles at night, finding anything that could entertain us. We played lots of games. I do think it was easier to find ways to entertain yourself without electricity 35 years ago. We are much more dependent on technology now than we were back then. And today’s kids have a much harder time without technology, and have a harder time dealing with boredom and finding ways not to be bored.
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That's wild. I was a student at Clemson. I remember waking up, looking outside and thinking, "Wow. It wasn't as bad as we thought." Then I turned on the TV and thought, "Holy shit!" We were just far enough west. I've heard stories about Hugo in Hickory. Damn, don't F with nature; it will do whatever the hell it wants
 
donbosco said:
I’m in Fairview - 15 minutes east of AVL. We seem to be in a lull at the moment (10:57). No rain or wind. Just took the dogs out. Neighbor out with his dog too. Folks farther up the mountain are trapped by a fallen tree. House below me the same. Not sure whether I could exit.

The map below seems to suggest we might dodge more rain (Blue dot is AVL).

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Not sure about wind. There’s a holler behind me and I can look out over it from the deck. Several trees there have gone down this morning.
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@donbosco, you ok?
 
tallheel95 said:
Chances are good that he has no internet, power or cell service right now… 😬
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Based on my experience trying to call or text my sister or brother-in-law's cellphones in the Asheville area, I'd say that very few people up there right now have cellphone or internet or even landline service, and may not have them for awhile.
 
I keep searching various town names on Twitter and pics all involve massive flooding and damaged roads, or mayhem like this, which I think is Pisgah forest near Brevard on 64.
 
I have a place on Lake Hickory. I was able to get there today to check things out, but had to take a different route because the 16 bridge by the dam is still closed. The electronic signs on the highway say I40 is closed west of I77 except for emergencies but there was nothing stopping me from going past Statesville. My phone did blow up with warnings as soon as I passed I77.

There are trees and power lines down all over by the lake. I had no power and no cell service the entire time I was there. I was fortunate overall, my neighbor had two 80 foot trees down, one of which is in my front yard, but they didn’t damage any houses. Otherwise just a lot of branches down. The lake is higher than I’ve ever seen it. I have a sea wall and it’s over top of that up into my backyard. Apparently there were a bunch of docks with boats attached that were torn loose and floated down the lake. One hit a huge dock at one of the marinas and knocked that loose so there was a ten boat flotilla going down the lake from the marina. My dock was intact, but I’m in a cove which I’m sure helped. I had a little bit of water in my basement but nothing too bad. I feel terrible for the people in WNC and what they are dealing with.
 
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When we crossed Lake Hickory on 321 yesterday (for extraction mission to Happy Valley to get my mom, I was astonished how high the water was. I’ve lived in the area pretty much my whole life and never seen it up that high. Looked like every dock usually visible from that bridge had been pretty much destroyed.

I was in Chapel Hill when Hugo hit the Western part of the state in ‘89, though, so maybe then? My mom didn’t think the water got that high then but the downed trees etc were maybe worse in that area then.
 
nycfan said:
When we crossed Lake Hickory on 321 yesterday (for extraction mission to Happy Valley to get my mom, I was astonished how high the water was. I’ve lived in the area pretty much my whole life and never seen it up that high. Looked like every dock usually visible from that bridge had been pretty much destroyed.

I was in Chapel Hill when Hugo hit the Western part of the state in ‘89, though, so maybe then? My mom didn’t think the water got that high then but the downed trees etc were maybe worse in that area then.
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Yeah I don't recall as much water with Hugo

Just the crazy wind
 
Talked to SO's sister in Arden last night. No power but had water. Misc. trees down in the area with a few roads blocked but getting cleared some by locals with chain saws. 191 a mess yesterday evidently.
 
I have family that live on the Watauga River in Sugar Grove and they have a business closer to Vilas. They were at the coast last week when this occurred and were able to get back to Boone Saturday. Their business was flooded and basically wiped out. Their house is on a riverfront lot, but is uphill across the road, having been moved away from the river after a flood in the 40’s. The part of their property across the road on the river had a shipping container on a foundation with a nice deck and party area. Inside the container they stored a restored 1970’s VW Beetle convertible which used to belong to his father. That container and its contents is now gone and did not get caught up on the bridge just downstream from them.

Since they are so remote they don’t expect to have power restored for several weeks. They are very concerned for their employees since their business no longer exists. They were on vacation in a big truck to haul all their kayaks, etc. They left all that vacation gear with an acquaintance in Beaufort and went to the Lowe’s in Morehead City and bought all the generators and chain saws they could haul back to the mountains for their friends, neighbors, and employees. Their house is OK, they have a generator to run their well, but face a huge start over in their business.
 
aGDevil2k said:
Yeah I don't recall as much water with Hugo

Just the crazy wind
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I think Helene has definitely dumped far more rain into the mountains than Hugo did - if I recall it was moving very fast, even faster than Helene. The damage from Hugo was nearly all due to the high winds, which from Charlotte into the northwestern NC mountains and foothills was strong enough to snap trees or blow them over and seriously damage buildings.
 


“… The counties in the declaration are Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey Counties as well as the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

As response operations and eligible damages dictate, North Carolina may be able to add additional counties or programs as assessments move forward. This declaration will also provide Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding for future efforts to mitigate the impacts of future events. …”
 
May have already been posted but Boone made the cover of the weekend edition:

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Anyone successfully gotten in touch with anyone from Asheville? Been trying to check in on my friend and his family there.
 
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