Helene Recovery & Info

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tallheel95 said:
Here’s what I can tell you. Being a republican is a way of life for many folks. It’s an identity, often tied in with their faith. This situation is not going to change many votes to the Harris column.

Imagine if Trump, while he was president, had an effective response to Covid. Would you have changed your vote to him in 2020? Prob not. You’d say, yeah, I give him props for doing his job, but can’t wait to get rid of him in November. Same deal here — and that’s only IF people can see past the disinformation machine and give credit to Cooper and Biden.
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I get the "way of life" part. It just seems to me that if your way of life has been smashed, and there are people who are helping you while the people supposedly on your side are doing nothing but lying about it, you might reconsider.

I can't really process that counter-factual. If Trump had an effective response to Covid, he wouldn't be Trump. What I have hated about the GOP for as long as I can remember is the incompetence on all fronts. Their ideas are shit; their administrations more kleptocratic than competent; their arguments illogical and their "experts" decidedly inexpert. So if you ask me whether I would vote for a competent, honest and well-meaning Republican, I mean, why not ask me what I think unicorn meat tastes like?

I will say that if Trump had somehow stopped the pandemic in its tracks through brilliant administration, use of science, and political acumen to unify our response, then I would have considered voting for him. But again, by the same token, if a dead unicorn showed up on my door and I was hungry, I might consider grilling a unicorn steak. Same likelihood.
 
Favor to ask you guys. My sister has been working (unpaid) with the Linville Rescue Squad for a few years. It’s all volunteer. Somehow they’ve been entered into this Land Rover contest where they could win $25,000, which would be huge for them. Could you vote? (And feel free to share with others)

Search & Rescue | Defender Service Awards | Land Rover USA

Five incredible nonprofits were selected as finalists, and the public will now vote for the winner of the new Defender 130. View the finalists and vote now through October 4, 2023.
www.landroverusa.com www.landroverusa.com

ETA: disregard the small text above, the voting is through October 17th 2024
 
4thgenheel said:
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.
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I always struggle to tell people about it, because I want it to stay wild. I love the trails, the camping, etc. I hate how dusty my truck is when I get back, but so worth it. The views, the peace...it is perfection
 
superrific said:
I know you know this, but it's not a 1000 year event any more. In fact, I'd bet money that we see another 1000 year event within 30-40 years. Maybe not in the exact same place, but it's going to happen.
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That is not correct but directionally understandable.

It IS a 1000 year event, because that terminology is based on historical data and likelihood to occur in any one year. That will change based on this data, but not substantially.

And you may see a 1000 year event somewhere else, but every location is independent in the data. The storm that hit does not change the statistical storm data for Chapel Hill, for example. So the Carolina Beach example comes into play. Of course, a lot of this isn't totally independent because both of those happen from supercharged coastal waters plus that low that had been cut off for 2.5 weeks creating this non stop humid muck we have been in down here.

You can make an argument on how the 1000 year event (which is really shorthand speak for a 0.1% storm) may see more rapid change (along with other frequencies) due to climate change acceleration and that's fair. But until records change, it is still a 0.1% storm, and it is not fair to discount it. In addition, this is like a Saffir Simpson curve: the destruction range for a 100 year to a 1000 year event is not linear. It's exponential. Some of it is that civil engineering design and flood planning works usually on the lower cycles - interstates need to stay open for 100 year storms, etc. Small roads should have culvert and bridge capacity for 50 year storms, and so on. There is no planning and design that happens for anything greater than 500 year events, and even those that must meet that clearance are very, very very slim (so much that I cant think of one off hand). So a ridiculous number of structures were inundated that were way outside of the designated DFIRM data for Zone AE, because it's not even close to a regulatory floodplain at 1000 years. And I doubt many ever thought of flood insurance.
 
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Scientific Mapp said:
I'm curious as well. We've had a fairly massive staging operation spring up in the last 72 hours 1.5 miles down the road from us. We don't know if it's FEMA or another agency. All the tents and containers and stuff are set too far back from the main road to see anything identifying.
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I was in McDowell's center. It's not my job. I was asked to come in and help because "I know folks....", and they knew I'd come help if needed. Then I got tasked out to do other stuff pretty quickly after lunch on Saturday. It's a top notch, well run center. I'm gonna post some other stuff later on this evening after I get time to decompress. It's bad y'all. I just logged on to read what was being said here and thought that I should answer some stuff that I KNEW I had the correct info on.
 
Just got back from Boone/Seven Devils area. Crews have done an amazing job on US 321 to Boone and on 105 to Seven Devils, though the latter is still a work I progress. Most restaurants and stores are open on 321 in Boone and many on 105, though Boone Walmart will be closed until early 2025 apparently.

Lots of supply trucks and some national guard were going up when we did, as well as pickup trucks and rental trucks of supplies.

Power is on through Granite Falls on 321 now.

Boone’s main thoroughfares are going to be OK pretty soon but the secondary roads are pretty dicey. Amazing work filling in washouts and getting power up along 105. Flooding must have been horrible in the Watauga River by all the debris. Lots of mudslides and downed trees everywhere had been cut and bulldozed off roads. But the secondary roads and bridges still looked pretty bad.

Up in Seven Devils, lots of washed out areas and driveways and tons or downed trees. East facing areas seemed hit hardest. Lines still down in parts of the town but power on in other parts. A lot of work to shore up the washed out areas along the hairpin turns though. But amazing amount of work has been done given how widespread the damage.

App State canceled classes through Fall Break (Oct 15).
 
billybobblockhead said:
I was in McDowell's center. It's not my job. I was asked to come in and help because "I know folks....", and they knew I'd come help if needed. Then I got tasked out to do other stuff pretty quickly after lunch on Saturday. It's a top notch, well run center. I'm gonna post some other stuff later on this evening after I get time to decompress. It's bad y'all. I just logged on to read what was being said here and thought that I should answer some stuff that I KNEW I had the correct info on.
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Is McDowell's center in Nebo?

Look forward to hearing your insight later.
 
I wonder if this happening in the mountains is a reason why it ended up being so bad, since the water would just keep flowing downwards and then get stuck in the valleys like a bowl. Then you have the mud slides, which of course is also happening because it's the mountains.
 
grimes70 said:
I just got off the phone with my old closest neighbor (.8 mile down dirt rd) In Madison Co. As I figured, the folks who bought my place are screwed. The bridge over the creek on their driveway/road totally washed away leaving them stranded vehicularly. Further downstream the 2 ford crossings with a by-pass is impassable even if they could have driven there. No power of course. Lots of downed trees. They will not be a high priority for road and power repair. Are currently waiting at the neighbor's for a time when they can somehow be transported to some unknown where. My neighbor expects power soon as he is close to a paved road. They were from Oregon where all their people are.

Just one household in one holler.
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lawtig02 said:
There’s an absolute fuckton of misinformation out there right now about the (alleged lack of) government response to this disaster. It’s absurd and cynical political pandering, but I don’t have any doubt the vast majority of Pubs will accept the false narrative that the government is not doing a good job helping the people of WNC. It’s really shocking to see how far some sources will go to use a human catastrophe to score political points.
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Mother in law was in my kitchen complaining about it yesterday morning. I didn’t even bother not worth the effort. She doesn’t love Trump but she’s voting Pub no matter what.
 
I talked to my niece this evening. She said the response is well-coordinated and impressive. Their business was wiped out….10’ of water in their building, all their trucks (pickups and dump trucks) destroyed. Fortunately some of their heavy equipment was at job sites so they still have some skid steers and front end loaders, but they don’t have the trucks and trailers to move them. The community has really come together. One of their competitors brought his crew to their shop today pulling a huge water tank and his pressure washing system (they still have no water at their shop) and washed away feet of mud from their shop. She said every day people are bringing lunch to them and their employees while they work to mitigate the situation.

She said the people from Samaritan’s Purse and the other NGOs have been amazing, as have the FEMA folks and the National Guard. Anybody saying this is a half-ass effort has no idea what they are talking about. Her husband, who has always been a “all politicians are crooks” type is having his faith in government restored from this response.
 
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