Asheville and Western NC, TN, and SC damage from Helene [Staff Warning]

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Pinochet
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In reply to Stat Monitor Repairman • 11:00a, 9/30/24
Stat Monitor Repairman said:
Anybody have any verified information related to airport operations?

Has there been any discussion of evacuating people by air or ground by way of non-commercial transport?

The update I have is that cell phone outages have made it tough to get info on who needs help and impossible to tell people when help will arrive. Currently asking people to come to airports when they hear airplanes.The disaster area being worked by one group is Asheville to Bristol and Boone to Ashe County airports. Incoming pilots are dropping supplies like water and food at a number of outlier airports in conspicuous places so people can find them when they make it to the airport. Then those pilots are working out of Concord and Statesville to shuttle supplies where road conditions make it impossible by ground. That's just fixed wing.

Rotor wing assets from all over are staging for both supply drops to places cut off from even the small airports and rescues of stranded people.

Oh and avgas/jet fuel supplies are an issue. Pilots are tankering fuel to get in and out. Luckily the smaller aircraft use much less fuel.
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BuddysBud
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11:53a, 9/30/24
AG
During Harvey when I went to help with rescue efforts near my home, Taskforce 1 showed up and went out but never came back with anyone. For the entire day, the Cajun Navy and other civilians with private boats had a continuous flow of people who were brought out of flooded houses. The boats unloaded passengers onto National Guard high water vehicles that took them to the community center. Many of those boats ended up with damage from hitting mailboxes or scrapping concrete streets. The boat owners didn't care about the damage as long as they could keep helping people who were in need.

Likewise, it looks like the Hillbilly Air Force is pulling the weight in NC and Tenn.

The greatness of the country is evident during these disasters when private citizens use their resources to help neighbors more efficiently than bloated government agencies.
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Pinochet
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In reply to BuddysBud • 12:13p, 9/30/24
BuddysBud said:
During Harvey when I went to help with rescue efforts near my home, Taskforce 1 showed up and went out but never came back with anyone. For the entire day, the Cajun Navy and other civilians with private boats had a continuous flow of people who were brought out of flooded houses. The boats unloaded passengers onto National Guard high water vehicles that took them to the community center. Many of those boats ended up with damage from hitting mailboxes or scrapping concrete streets. The boat owners didn't care about the damage as long as they could keep helping people who were in need.

Likewise, it looks like the Hillbilly Air Force is pulling the weight in NC and Tenn.

The greatness of the country is evident during these disasters when private citizens use their resources to help neighbors more efficiently than bloated government agencies.

It's not just the Hillbillies. Some are taking time off their normal office jobs and flying across the country to help.
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TRD-Ferguson
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12:21p, 9/30/24
AG
Received an update from my brother in law.

The neighbors are all banding together. They figured out how to get water from a stream. Filtering/boiling this water until drinking water is available. Extra buckets to flush their toilet. They are eating canned food off their pantry shelf. Trying to conserve their phone batteries.
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The Kraken
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In reply to The Fife • 12:25p, 9/30/24
AG
The Fife said:
It's a reference to 'George Bush has a weather machine' that someone claimed after Katrina.


Ah got it. Thought he actually might be one of those HAARP "the government can control the weather" conspiracy idiots.
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Jabin
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12:40p, 9/30/24
My sister just informed me that her old college roomate and lifelong friend, who lived in Burnsville, NC, was killed in a mudslide. Her roomate's husband survived.

This is beyond terrible.
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GiggEmAllDay
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In reply to YouBet • 12:41p, 9/30/24
That's an interesting proposal! Utilizing migrant labor for disaster relief efforts could expedite reconstruction. However, it raises complex issues.
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redcrayon
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In reply to The Kraken • 12:42p, 9/30/24
AG
The Kraken said:
The Fife said:
It's a reference to 'George Bush has a weather machine' that someone claimed after Katrina.


Ah got it. Thought he actually might be one of those HAARP "the government can control the weather" conspiracy idiots.
No, that's the Dems who think people can control the weather.
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redcrayon
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In reply to GiggEmAllDay • 12:43p, 9/30/24
AG
GiggEmAllDay said:
That's an interesting proposal! Utilizing migrant labor for disaster relief efforts could expedite reconstruction. However, it raises complex issues.
He didn't say migrant labor, he said illegals.
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GiggEmAllDay
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In reply to deadhead aggie • 12:45p, 9/30/24
Omg, thanks for the update from Johnson City!
Sounds like Helene really caught everyone off-guard. How's the community rallying together?
Any local relief efforts standing out?
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GiggEmAllDay
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In reply to redcrayon • 12:52p, 9/30/24
Oh yeah, but illegals like what ?
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Artorias
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In reply to deadhead aggie • 12:55p, 9/30/24
AG
deadhead aggie said:
reporting from Johnson City, TN….major interstate from the Tri-Cities TN area to Asheville is wiped-out….our access to the Carolinas took a serious blow…went to the grocery this morning and it's evident that deliveries of inventory are impacted…lots of people still missing….

i went through Ike, Harvey, Katrina, Alicia, etc. in Texas….this one caught everybody off-guard….gonna be a long recovery…
Also in the area, closer to Kingsport. The timing of Helene was especially bad as we had had a fair amount of rain in the week before, leaving the ground soaked with no room to absorb the rainfall from Helene. Catastrophic flooding all over the region with rivers overflowing, dams breaking, etc.
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aggiehawg
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12:56p, 9/30/24
AG
[There are some threads that have been created that cover more of the politics of this storm. Let's leave these types of posts on those threads, so that users wanting to read about news regarding devastation and actual news of emergency response on this thread. Also, debates about whether people were properly warned about the impact of these storms should be had on another thread. The storm happened, devastation and the response to it is happening. This thread is about the subject of the devastation of this storm in these areas and the response to it. Again, users are welcome to post their take on politics of this, which includes proper warnings, etc, just do it on a different thread. -Staff]
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FL_Ag1998
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1:20p, 9/30/24
AG
And for anybody waiting on word from Asheville peeps, I finally just heard from one of my direct reports who lives right on the river in Asheville that he has no power or water and very limited cell service, so he's working on making his way to Knoxville.
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Pinochet
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In reply to FL_Ag1998 • 1:42p, 9/30/24
FL_Ag1998 said:
And for anybody waiting on word from Asheville peeps, I finally just heard from one of my direct reports who lives right on the river in Asheville that he has no power or water and very limited cell service, so he's working on making his way to Knoxville.

Is he planning to drive or is he hitching a ride from the Asheville airport? There are definitely small planes that have room going back that direction.
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BurnetAggie99
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2:00p, 9/30/24
Biden could send the Marines from Camp Lejeune to assist with rescues & disaster relief.
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redcrayon
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In reply to BurnetAggie99 • 2:11p, 9/30/24
AG
BurnetAggie99 said:
Biden could send the Marines from Camp Lejeune to assist with rescues & disaster relief.
Ft Bragg, Ft Campbell. Why isn't the military helping??


[We will allow these to stay up. Legit questions on emergency response. Users needs to debate their take on the politics of the leaders and their various responses on other threads. This one is the developing news of the areas impacted by the storms. -Staff]
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TAMU1990
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2:23p, 9/30/24
AG


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Independence H-D
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2:23p, 9/30/24
Update from THE US&R Facebook page...

OKTF-1 wrapped up their mission yesterday around 5pm. They were notified that they are being forwarded to North Carolina. The team departed from Tampa Bay, Florida at 7am this morning. The team is reporting to Catawaba Community College in Newton, North Carolina. They have been told to prepare to be busy as the area is devastated. They will be searching structures in the hardest hit areas. The team has a long day ahead of them and are told to expect no internet connections, no infrastructure and possibly no way to give updates for some time. All OKTF-1 team members are healthy and doing well, but tired from the extensive search efforts. #oktf1helenedeployment #helenedeployment
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DBill
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2:25p, 9/30/24
AG
Live in SC near upstate. We didn't get near the brunt of this as folks as little as an hour West of us. That being said, they just restored power back to the schools in the area since Friday. The lineman and crews to restore power is amazing right now in both SC and NC.

The stories and folks toward Asheville and beyond is heart breaking. Communities are coming together to try and help in anyway they can. Food/ water drop zones where civilians are air lifting toward Asheville to help. Local communities getting together to remove trees and debris from homes and roads.
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Pinochet
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In reply to redcrayon • 2:28p, 9/30/24
redcrayon said:
BurnetAggie99 said:
Biden could send the Marines from Camp Lejeune to assist with rescues & disaster relief.
Ft Bragg, Ft Campbell. Why isn't the military helping??

Asheville just got a C-17 that supposedly has supplies from FEMA to be distributed.
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AtticusMatlock
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2:29p, 9/30/24
There is a small amount of good news today. The new forecasts of the tropical thing in the gulf are indicating it's highly unlikely to form into any sort of organized tropical depression or tropical storm. It might become a minor rain nuisance next week. Hopefully it doesn't affect North Carolina but it might a little bit.
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FL_Ag1998
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In reply to Pinochet • 2:33p, 9/30/24
AG
Pinochet said:
FL_Ag1998 said:
And for anybody waiting on word from Asheville peeps, I finally just heard from one of my direct reports who lives right on the river in Asheville that he has no power or water and very limited cell service, so he's working on making his way to Knoxville.

Is he planning to drive or is he hitching a ride from the Asheville airport? There are definitely small planes that have room going back that direction.


No idea, he barely finally got a text out to me. He is married, not sure if he has pets in tow as well.
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Rex Racer
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2:38p, 9/30/24
AG
Just heard from my brother-in-law who lives about 1 mile off the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina not far from Spruce Pine. It took him days to clear their road with his tractor and make it passable where the road buckled so he and his neighbors could get down off the mountain. Said it looked like a war zone. No power or cell service up there. He and his wife are in Johnson City, TN at the moment.
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JFABNRGR
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In reply to redcrayon • 2:44p, 9/30/24
AG
redcrayon said:
BurnetAggie99 said:
Biden could send the Marines from Camp Lejeune to assist with rescues & disaster relief.
Ft Bragg, Ft Campbell. Why isn't the military helping??
Yeah CH47s could be leap frogging supplies non-stop out of the closest C17 capable strip to the worst areas.

Palletized food, water, fuels, generators, tents, chainsaws, etc.
“You can resolve to live your life with integrity. Let your credo be this: Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.”
- Alexander Solzhenitsyn
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ttu_85
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In reply to ToddyHill • 2:53p, 9/30/24
ToddyHill said:
Most of the water from these rivers in Tennessee will eventually flow into the Tennessee River. The first dam along that river is Fort Loudon, which is just southwest of Knoxville. At the moment the TVA is sending 568,018 gallons of water per second over that dam.
Yep I live 145 yards beyond and 125 feet above the Tennessee which is probably the most "controlled" river on the planet. Its dams and locks are very impressive. Right now it looks okay but is a weird color. At some point all that water will head for the Mississippi. Its going to be interesting. I'm just outside Huntsville.
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torrid
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In reply to FL_Ag1998 • 3:01p, 9/30/24
AG
FL_Ag1998 said:
Pinochet said:
FL_Ag1998 said:
And for anybody waiting on word from Asheville peeps, I finally just heard from one of my direct reports who lives right on the river in Asheville that he has no power or water and very limited cell service, so he's working on making his way to Knoxville.

Is he planning to drive or is he hitching a ride from the Asheville airport? There are definitely small planes that have room going back that direction.


No idea, he barely finally got a text out to me. He is married, not sure if he has pets in tow as well.
I think it is possible to drive out of Asheville, mostly on I-26 headed south through Greenville/Spartanburg. I don't know how much damage there is to I-40 headed east. I do know they've shut down I-40 at Statesville to keep looky-loos out and allow relief traffic into the area.

The big issue is finding gas.
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aggiehawg
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3:12p, 9/30/24
AG
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Ogre09
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3:14p, 9/30/24
AG
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane-helene-path-florida/


CBS News has death toll at 116, with 70+ of those in North and South Carolina.
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falconace
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4:28p, 9/30/24
My aunt and uncle live in Greenville and my cousin and his family live in Asheville. I was able to get in touch with my aunt today. Cousin and family were at the beach with the in laws and are currently at the in laws in Charlotte. My aunt and uncle have a leak, no power, and are bumming an extension cord off of the neighbor's generator to keep the fridge going and charge cell phones. My grandmother's old house literally down the street has a couple of trees on it.

My aunt and uncle were able to get into Asheville through some backroads to get to my cousin's house. House is ok, they were able to empty fridge. No power, no water, said it is going to be bad for a while. No ETA on anything being repaired in Asheville or Greenville at the moment.

My great grandmother's (passed away 20 years ago) place is in Hendersonville and likely significantly damaged but no one has been able to check it out yet (no longer in the family).
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rsf0626
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4:41p, 9/30/24
Was literally in Asheville 2 weeks ago. Beautiful town and tons of great food and breweries there.

Seeing the pictures today is surreal
rsf0626
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TAMUallen
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4:55p, 9/30/24
AG
Haven't been in the loop today, has FEMA or the Feds done much of anything or are we seeing Americans taking care of Americans like the Cajun navy?
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Bayou City
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5:22p, 9/30/24
[This thread is focused on the damage and rescue efforts from the hurricane. We're not going to derail this thread with a debate on the advance warning and if people should have been prepared. Feel free to start a different thread if you want to explore that topic -- Staff]
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Independence H-D
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In reply to TAMUallen • 6:04p, 9/30/24
Both
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Pinochet
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In reply to TAMUallen • 6:08p, 9/30/24
TAMUallen said:
Haven't been in the loop today, has FEMA or the Feds done much of anything or are we seeing Americans taking care of Americans like the Cajun navy?

Apparently a C-17 with FEMA supplies landed in Asheville a few hours ago, but FEMA ****ed up the cell service, so it's hard to coordinate. FEMA is also saying nothing will be distributed from that airport so who the **** knows how long it will take to get things in the hands of those in need. GA and other private orgs have done much more but are staging at airports north of Charlotte - Concord and Statesville.
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