WNC Update - Bad And It May Get Worse Before It Gets Better

Only now are we starting to understand just what devastation was left by Helene.

It’s been about a week now since Helene hit the Appalachians. We tend to focus on North Carolina because it’s home, but it also hit Georgia, South Carolina, East Tennessee and Virginia, not to mention Florida.

In our state, we’re starting to hear more direct accounts from people about just how bad it has been.

Asheville is probably going to be the easiest place to get back up and running, but we heard Sunday that it would probably take about seven weeks just to get water back and power may take longer.

That puts things in a different place because if you can’t get rid of human waste, that’s a real problem. We tend to take indoor plumbing for granted and have forgotten about things like Cholera and Dysentery, but they haven’t forgotten about us. Keeping those sorts of things at bay could become a challenge without running water.

That’s in town though.

You can imagine how bad things are when you get out around areas like Chimney Rock and Bat Cave and further back in the hills where the roads are narrow and not easy to drive even in the best of conditions.

If you’re like us, you’re hearing and seeing accounts of immense hardship. The roads are and will remain impassable for some time to come - if they’re still there. This flood was so extraordinary that in many places, the geography has changed.

Did you see the story about the couple who was sheltering in their car with two bottles of water and two bags of chips?

Turns out the driveway was all that was left. The rest of their property, including their house, was swept away.

All gone.

It’s good that we’re hearing more directly from people as some limited communications are restored. There has been raw panic and immense grief and the lack of communication has probably allowed some foolishness to fill the void. People are blaming that on social media, but the truth is, it’s just human nature to worry, speculate and gossip. Social media doesn't cause that. It just amplifies it, good and bad.

On the positive side, millions have been raised and people are organizing immense relief drives. People can coordinate plans and relay conditions. Phones with satellite connections can send out exact coordinates for people who need to be rescued.

There has been a lot of criticism of FEMA. We’re not going to get into that other than to say a) we don’t know enough to comment on it directly and b) anyone with any awareness of the people of Western North Carolina - by which we mean the people who were born and bred there, not the newcomers - are going to have issues with people telling them how, when and where to do things. These are people who know how to take care of themselves and get things done and they don’t want to wait on policies and procedures and approvals. If you’ve seen the videos, you’ve heard this a lot. Might as well let them do it because you can’t stop them, nor should you want to.

And by the way, we aren’t ripping on the transplants either. We’re talking about the peoples that we know well.

There is an awesome effort going on to help and it’s truly inspiring. People have dropped what they’re doing and rushed to help, bringing trucks, motorcycles, even mules and goats, getting supplies in however they can. One man said he loaded baby supplies and got formula and water to a woman who had a newborn and less than one day’s formula left. Can you imagine how much this week has aged her?

There are immense challenges but given the scale of the catastrophe, we hope that everything starts moving more efficiently and with a greater sense of urgency. There are so many lives at stake.

And while we aren’t going to rip on FEMA there are some things that need to be called out. We can start with Governor Cooper.

He has good qualities, but he’s not a flashy politician, to say the least. But on Sunday, he ripped into social media - by which we think he meant X - and said it needed to be held accountable for “misinformation.”

We barely know what is and isn’t real and people are responding in many different ways. The best thing the governor could do would be to be highly visible - he hasn’t been - and to talk constantly about what has been done and what is coming next.

The best way to counter bad information is with good information. He could certainly do better.

He’s not the only one.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken was absolutely tone deaf when he tweeted this: “The US is at the forefront of humanitarian response to the growing crisis in Lebanon, announcing nearly $157 million in assistance today. We are committed to supporting those in need and delivering essential aid to displaced civilians, refugees and the communities hosting them.”

You know, Mr. Secretary, we have displaced civilians and refugees of our own now.

You couldn’t possibly get any more tone deaf than that - well, unless you’re President Biden and you say this when asked about the aftermath of Helene:

“Oh, in the storm zone. I’m thinking what storm are you talking about.”

And then he added: “They’re getting everything they need. They’re very happy, across the board.”

Seriously?

Look, we all understand that the Joe Biden we have today is not the Joe Biden we used to know, but if you think that went over well in the flood zones, think again. That infuriated people. You couldn’t have blown that more if you set out to do it on purpose. Nobody is happy and there was no comfort found in that comment. None whatsoever.

Vice President Harris announced $750.00 would be available to eligible families (not individuals but families) - and then retweeted Blinken’s tone deaf tweet (by the way, you’re supposed to go online to apply for that money, which is a good trick WITHOUT ANY POWER).

These are the people who are supposed to be solving this immense crisis. You’d like to turn to them for some inspiration and comfort, but there’s no comfort in any of that.

All of these presidents had their faults and you may or may not have voted for them, but Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama all understood that there were times that they had to provide emotional support for people who are suffering from crises or natural disasters. Clinton in particular was really good about that.

We’re not seeing that currently and it’s a real void.

Look, there are real problems that have to be resolved before we can really get started on recovery. This is not a normal disaster. The roads are gone. Towns are gone. In some places, mountainsides are gone. And the insane amount of water on hillsides means that mudslides are not over - they’re still happening. None of this is easy.

We have to have a sense of urgency even as we understand the profound difficulties the helpers face. Can things be streamlined? Absolutely. Can you move faster when the roads are completely covered in boulders, mud and debris - or just not there anymore?

No, probably not.

However, what we can do is to innovate and find different solutions. If drones aren’t up and searching and/or dropping supplies, they should be. Maybe you could put some FLIRs on some of them and look for body heat signatures.

Maybe a creative soul could put a hotspot on a hot air balloon and drift around and give people a chance to connect, if they can.

Would it work? Maybe. If you hike to the top of Stone Mountain in Alleghany County, you can’t get a signal on the way up, but guess what: at the top, you get a beautiful signal, all the bars.

The point is we’re going to have to try things we haven’t tried before and for many people, we may be running out of time.

If you live close enough to go help and you’re fit and resourceful, nothing you do in life will make you feel better than helping those people who can’t get out.

But even if you can’t go personally, you can send supplies and/or donate. You know what people need? Aside from basics like food and water?

Here are some things they really need that you might not think much about: manual can openers. Work gloves. Blankets. Tampons and pads. First Aid items. Baby food. Diapers. Baby wipes. Paper products of all sorts.

Warm socks.

It’s going to get cold up there soon, which hasn’t really been discussed.

You can coordinate with a local church or just donate to the Red Cross or Samaritan’s Purse or any number of organizations. People are loading their own trucks up and heading in. You can probably find someone that way too.

The main thing is this: please find a way to help. Hope is desperately needed and you can give that. Even something relatively trivial to you, like socks, gloves or a can opener could make a really big difference.