Helene Recovery & Info

  • Thread starter Thread starter TullyHeel
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies: 1K
  • Views: 30K
  • Off-Topic 
Peppers49 said:
Man, I’m getting major nostalgia reading these posts about Wilson Creek. That was a go-to area for backpacking trips for my Boy Scout troop back in the day. Done the drive up brown mountain beach road on to either Linville or Blowing Rock via Globe Rd several times over the years and it’s one of my favorite areas in the world. Makes my stomach turn thinking about what probably happened to all of those hiking areas and especially the little villages (Mortimer, Globe) along that stretch.

Even more sobering when you realize that’s a relatively small area in the grand scheme of WNC, and there are countless other valleys/hollers that are affected.
Click to expand...
Yeah we have to have a separate thread (soon) on that area. The hiking and camping is the best. Linville gorge is also good, but I love going in the Lost Cove/Harper Creek Wilderness and you see NOBODY all day
 
Got power back at 4 PM yesterday (near Columbia, SC). My business is still out after some "assessing" work by Dominion Power. Plenty of power lines and POLES are down in the area. It's the worst wind destruction I've seen in 27 years here. Good there's nothing to that climate change hoax, huh?
 
Centerpiece said:
IMG_2403.jpegI’m a retired teacher and coach and work PT for our local Rec dept. I’m still without power at my house (as of Tuesday 3pm).
I took a load of clothes to the Rec to wash this a.m. (the Rec in town has power and water). While there, 4 loads of dirty clothes were dropped off with a note: “Please wash, dry and fold. These belong to linemen working to restore power in WNC.” I was honored to stay and help wash the clothes. These “linemen” came to us from Greenville, NC. These clothes belong to a young lineman named Oscar M.
Much love to you Oscar, and thanks for all you are doing for the citizens of WNC.
Click to expand...
Definitely much love to Oscar M and all his brethen. I'd happily wash, dry, and fold for him too. If he wants ironing as well, we can talk about it, but he's got some work to do in my part of town first.
 
I strongly recommend yesterday's podcast of "The Daily" for 1) the explanation of how weather factors came together to create the situation in Appalachia, and 2) some on the ground reporting from Buncombe and especially a story from the small Madison County town of Marshall.

Hurricane Helene’s 600 Miles of Destruction

BTW, there should be a transcript just below the podcast button later today if you'd rather read.
 
donbosco said:
I left out from Fairview this morning around 8 am - had to wait for enough light to do some things around the house. Headed down I-26 South but decided against the Shelby/hwy 74 route, instead going further south to the vicinity of Spartanburg.

Turned out I had less than a 1/2 tank and more like 1/3. Figured I could go 80-100 miles. Saw the first open station near Hendersonville - turned around backtracking only to find the line for the pumps at least a half mile long and hardly moving. I kept going.

About 20 more miles down the road I saw another open station (price sign lit up). I caught that exit and didn’t have to turn around and when I pulled up it was weirdly normal. Every pump was in use but no line. I pulled in behind a guy in a big truck (I drive a 2008 Toyota! It’s straight drive and I love it). Guy looks at me and says, “that doesn’t look like a diesel car. That’s all they’re selling here.” I took off.

Then past Inman, SC I saw another lit sign and hit the exit. Place was full but nothing like a half mile. My gas light was flickering. Pretty much had to do this stop. Not enough gas to carry on. After about 20 minuted I was at the pump. And it took cards. I pumped around 9.7 gallons into my 11 capacity tank. It was a damn good feeling. Me and the dogs weren’t gonna get stuck on the side of the road. Young woman with two kids had a ten dollar bill. Maybe they took cash, I don’t know. Didn’t care. I moved my car and she pulled forward and to celebrate I bought her a tank of gas. I asked her to pay it forward.

Never ever felt so good buying gas.

I’m in Strasburg, VA now. I’ll go the rest of the way to nyc tomorrow.

Leaving pretty much had to happen today or never. Staying longer would have resulted in my using more gas to keep devices charged and reducing my range dramatically. Everything was going downhill. I was even growing short on peanut butter. And dog food. Eventually the tub would be empty and I wouldn’t be able to flush.

Just said to myself, “Don’t be an old man” and hit the road.
Click to expand...


Pulled together a Timeline of how things went down up to this point...

Just for posterity's sake, here is a timeline that I pulled together of how Helene was playing on my specific situation.

Timeline

Returned to Asheville from NYC, arrived 3:30 pm Wednesday. Taught class, 5:30-7:10

UNCA email informs that classes will go remote for Thursday and Friday: 7:41 am Thursday

UNCA (50 minutes later) changes policy and suspends classes Thursday & Friday. 8:31 am Thursday

Drove out and met the Burkes in WVL 11:15 am Thursday (This couple was visiting from Raleigh and had rented an AirBnB. We talked about the weather and I urged them to head on down the mountain and skip their 'vacation.' Instead they stayed and were trapped until Tuesday when their son had to drive in from Nashville with gas for them to make it back to Raleigh. They had lost all communication with the outside world save for a brief connection that a similarly trapped neighbor had provided. Folks did take care of them).

Rode out Helene at house Thursday afternoon and night - wind was mainly over by sundown

Lost power 4:18 am Friday morning

Lost cell mid-day Friday

Lost water Friday afternoon

Road in to my house blocked by downed trees and an over wash at the bottom on Friday

Trees chain sawed and over wash receded by Saturday morning - road out cleared

Water blocking highway 74 (Old Charlotte Highway) receded - Saturday morning

Drove to campus, 11:30 am Saturday

Prepped to evacuate attempted I-40 heading east. Blocked. 1:30 pm

Returned home

UNCA sends out message that it will be closed until 10/9. Saturday, 4:49 pm

Cell signal returned, Saturday 10:26 pm

Monday morning, 8:00 am, hit the road. Still no power or water. Took I-26 South toward Spartanburg.
 
tallheel95 said:
Both of these posts are just heartbreaking:



Click to expand...

Holy shit - when I said 1000 year event earlier I was swagging. Seeing it? That's something I have never seen before in my entire life in any location (maybe it happened and I missed it so this is a first).
 
lawtig02 said:
Are there really people who live along Gragg Prong? That’s about as remote as it gets.
Click to expand...
it really is....if you look at any old map of NC, the wilson creek wilderness area roughly between morganton to the south, blowing rock to the north and lenoir to the east is right up there with a couple of other areas as the least developed in the entire state. the area with waynesville to the north, cashiers to the south and brevard to the east is up there, too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top