Helene

[Shmee]

One of my friends in SC said he has been without power for about 4 days now, and trees have been falling all around, even branches on the house.

 

[BoomerD]

Heart goes out to those of you impacted. Death toll will keep rising, many are still missing, and there are areas cutoff/ isolated with no communications.

I don't know what they are going to do about I-40. It's completely washed away in at least one area. They would have to make it a bridge now?

The swath of destruction is nightmarish. So many states affected.

Asheville, NC is virtually isolated because of road closures.

Western North Carolina roads closed, travel nearly impossible after Helene

Hundreds of roads are closed in Western North Carolina following severe flooding in wake of Hurricane Helene.

www.citizen-times.com

DriveNC.gov | North Carolina Traffic, Road Closures & Travel Information

Official real-time traffic and travel information for North Carolina. We provide details about road closures, accidents, congestion, and work zones. Additional map data includes traffic cameras, North Carolina rest areas, and charging stations for electronic vehicles.

drivenc.gov

 

[NuclearNed]

Heart goes out to those of you impacted. Death toll will keep rising, many are still missing, and there are areas cutoff/ isolated with no communications.

I don't know what they are going to do about I-40. It's completely washed away in at least one area. They would have to make it a bridge now?

The swath of destruction is nightmarish. So many states affected.

In Erwin, the missing count is now 70+, and the search teams are starting to find bodies... word of mouth is that they are having trouble ID-ing the dead because what they are actually finding are body parts. A raging river full of debris is a powerful force.

The facility where I work was about 25% flooded, but my understanding is that we weathered it relatively well with little damage and no environmental concerns. The facility has no power, water, sewer, or wastewater discharge. They are hoping to have power restored by Thursday. No word yet on water or sewer. The big problem is the city's wastewater processing plant; it's buried under a massive amount of silt and other debris and the public statement is that it may never be functional again. FEMA/TEMA is trying to get a mobile wastewater solution put in place, if that's even possible. Accordingly, no plant in Erwin, including the one where I work, can discharge any water at the moment - which means that we're shut down, possibly for a very long time.

So in addition to all the devastation and loss of lives, people aren't able to work & earn money. My facility (and prob all the others in town, I don't know) is shut down. We temporarily laid off our entire hourly workforce (except for essential personnel required for recovery efforts). Salaried folks like myself are "working from home" with pay - for however long that lasts; the company won't be able to afford to do that forever. We're in bad shape.

And we're only one town of many in the region which suffered similar damage.

So, as a man of faith, I'm asking for prayers for the families that are being affected by this. Also, and I might be violating ATOT rules here but I'll risk it anyway, please consider donating to relief organizations like the American Red Cross. There is a lot of desperate need at the moment.

Thanks,
Dean (NuclearNed)

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Man that's tragic, never experienced that kind of storm like in the Erwin, TN footage. Thought Harvey in 2017 was going to be like that for us based on the forecasts but got super lucky and right as the first squall lines came into my area it turned right back around and went back into the gulf.

 

[JM Aggie08]

It's shaping up to be a brutal end to hurricane season.

 

[allisolm]

Sadly, several news sources are putting the death toll over 100120 and hundreds more are missing

 

[Brainonska511]

Heart goes out to those of you impacted. Death toll will keep rising, many are still missing, and there are areas cutoff/ isolated with no communications.

I don't know what they are going to do about I-40. It's completely washed away in at least one area. They would have to make it a bridge now?

The swath of destruction is nightmarish. So many states affected.

Something similar happened out in Wyoming a few weeks ago on a vital connector road between Idaho and Jackson, WY (a landslide wiped away a chunk of road): they fixed it pretty quickly. I imagine they can similarly muster resources to get something temporary and include a longer term fix later.

 

[iRONic]

Hopefully they can pull something together really quick like they did in the Baltimore Harbor incident.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Something similar happened out in Wyoming a few weeks ago on a vital connector road between Idaho and Jackson, WY (a landslide wiped away a chunk of road): they fixed it pretty quickly. I imagine they can similarly muster resources to get something temporary and include a longer term fix later.

I hope you are right. It's ugly though -

 

[sandorski]

I hope you are right. It's ugly though -

Just like how the highways around Vancouver were cutoff a couple years back. Recovering from weather events is going to bankrupt nations. Maybe even ours. Our infrastructure certainly needs to be better designed to deal with it.

 

[herm0016]

Reminds me of 2013 flood here, over a much larger area though. not just 3 or 4 towns.

not much else to say.

 

[highland145]

I had a couple of friends who lived in the hills of Tennessee 20+ years ago. They got hit by the remnants of a hurricane…wiped their farm out. They lost all their livestock to the flooding.

I'll reach out to Mike.

 

[MtnMan]

Asheville, NC is virtually isolated because of road closures.

View attachment 108460

Western North Carolina roads closed, travel nearly impossible after Helene

Hundreds of roads are closed in Western North Carolina following severe flooding in wake of Hurricane Helene.

www.citizen-times.com

DriveNC.gov | North Carolina Traffic, Road Closures & Travel Information

Official real-time traffic and travel information for North Carolina. We provide details about road closures, accidents, congestion, and work zones. Additional map data includes traffic cameras, North Carolina rest areas, and charging stations for electronic vehicles.

drivenc.gov

Yea, I live in Asheville. We were 100% cut off at first, two interstates will take years to reopen, one is limited to East bound only, and interstate into SC now fully open.

79% of cell towers were down as fiber optic cables were ripped out of the ground by uprooted trees and washouts. Service is still hat and miss, I have long stretches on no service

We still have very little because it can't get because of roads. It's a complete cluster here, FEMA just getting here and ramped 4 days after the fact.

Most help comes from within the state, but roads are hampering that. Water system is totally FUBAR, and we are many weeks away from getting that back.

Of course no gas, with mile long lines at the few stations open, along with. 500 Law enforcement officers from across the state are here. Hundreds of firefighters and rescue personnel here, more coming.

 

[MtnMan]

I hope you are right. It's ugly though -

The route for I40 into TN was 100% political. Geologist said it was the worst route, but a powerful politician got it run through HIS county.
It's had many lengthy closures over the years, but this one will certainly be the longest.

 

[MtnMan]

Sadly, several news sources are putting the death toll over 100120 and hundreds more are missing

Grandson, firefighter paramedic swift water technician has spent several days in the hardest hit area, and he says it's going to probably hit triple digits, just in the eastern part of the county.
And there are still areas no one can get into.

The count of the missing is still over 500 according to the sheriff at this afternoons news conference.

 

[BoomerD]

Yea, I live in Asheville. We were 100% cut off at first, two interstates will take years to reopen, one is limited to East bound only, and interstate into SC now fully open.

79% of cell towers were down as fiber optic cables were ripped out of the ground by uprooted trees and washouts. Service is still hat and miss, I have long stretches on no service

We still have very little because it can't get because of roads. It's a complete cluster here, FEMA just getting here and ramped 4 days after the fact.

Most help comes from within the state, but roads are hampering that. Water system is totally FUBAR, and we are many weeks away from getting that back.

Of course no gas, with mile long lines at the few stations open, along with. 500 Law enforcement officers from across the state are here. Hundreds of firefighters and rescue personnel here, more coming.

I’ve seen a few stories that they’re even using mules to move supplies into cut-off areas…

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130

Widespread devastation left behind by Hurricane Helene came to light Monday across the South, revealing a wasteland of splintered houses, crushed cargo containers and mud-covered highways in one of the worst storms in U.S. history. A crisis was unfolding in western North Carolina, where...

www.yahoo.com

 

[MtnMan]

I’ve seen a few stories that they’re even using mules to move supplies into cut-off areas…

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130

Widespread devastation left behind by Hurricane Helene came to light Monday across the South, revealing a wasteland of splintered houses, crushed cargo containers and mud-covered highways in one of the worst storms in U.S. history. A crisis was unfolding in western North Carolina, where...

www.yahoo.com

Heard the Mayor of Canton saying the were using 90s technology to deal with this due almost total failure of communications.

I hate posting from my phone, but that's all I got. I don't expect to get Internet back for months.

The only plus is I haven't heard a damned thing about tRump. Think this bad, think if FEMA was staffed only with those that were willing to kiss the ring.🥴

I'm also getting to the point I don't mind warm beer 🍻

 

[RearAdmiral]

Heard the Mayor of Canton saying the were using 90s technology to deal with this due almost total failure of communications.

I hate posting from my phone, but that's all I got. I don't expect to get Internet back for months.

The only plus is I haven't heard a damned thing about tRump. Think this bad, think if FEMA was staffed only with those that were willing to kiss the ring.🥴

I'm also getting to the point I don't mind warm beer 🍻

I don't mean to equate these things at all, but I'm even struggling a little bit looking at the damage. I've spent many an hour viewing real estate in the Asheville and surrounding(ish) areas like Lake Lure, Lake James. Absolutely heartbreaking seeing the amount of death this storm caused.

 

[AdamK47]

Ohio went from severe drought to flooding.

Fertilized and seeded the lawn a week before these big rains. It's looking nice now.

 

[Stopsignhank]

MM, Thanks for the updates. My inlaws just moved there and it is good to get updates on the area. I don't know if you are on Reddit but Reddit Asheville seems to have good information for people trying to help in the area.

Good luck and hope you get back to "normal" as soon as you can.

 

[brianmanahan]

Ohio went from severe drought to flooding.

Fertilized and seeded the lawn a week before these big rains. It's looking nice now.

yeah it's shocking to see green lawns now after months of brown ones