Yves here. The post below is from Gordon H, a friend and sometimes running buddy of the site. He is a retired lawyer-turned-pension expert who consults on a pro bono basis retirement issues across the country. When he lived in Alabama, he would also advise me on informally on legal and legal representation issues (I am now on my 4th estate attorney….). He and his wife moved a few years ago to North Carolina. Gordon was fortunate enough to escape meaningful harm from Hurricane Helene, but was close by much harder-hit areas. He describes some of the effects he saw and the extensive assistance efforts from many in the community.
Reader KLG gave an account from Georgia yesterday, featured in Links, and mentioned how the FEMA and other government disaster relief forces appeared to be missing in action:
I have heard that FEMA is basically absent and that the state of Georgia is not much better. After previous storms the Georgia National Guard was out in force the next day. They must have been on another road. I counted utility maintenance trucks from at least 15 companies around the Southeastern United States. Those linemen are local heroes. Otherwise these very rural people have been mostly ignored, or so it seems.
Lambert also featured an article from The Atlantic, ‘The Death Toll Is Going to Be Tremendous’, which was an interview with former FEMA director Brock Long. Long would naturally loath to be criticize the agency. Even so, some of the things he said struck me as revealing, and not in a good way:
Long: When there’s a storm like this, the worst thing that you lose is communication. It’s very hard for local and state and federal officials to obtain situational awareness when you’re not hearing from communities. A lot of times, we have mobile communication capability, or what we call “communication on wheels,” that we can bring in to create temporary capabilities for cell and landline.
The model is officials wait for demands for help and complaints to come in?!??! That might have been the best you could do 20 years ago, but has no one heard of drones? Why, for instance, doesn’t the National Guard have a drone force in each state that it can send in to survey the situation to help speed responses and better determine where the most urgent needs are?
This bit was similarly disconcerting:
Long: All disasters are locally executed, state managed, and federally supported. The locals know their jurisdictions best, and they convey their specific needs to the state. The state tries to fulfill what they can, and anything that exceeds their capacity goes into FEMA. It’s a from-the-bottom-to-the-top system. FEMA is not going to have visibility or familiarity with some of these areas that have been totally cut off, these towns that they don’t work in every day.
Comments from people in the afflicted areas to media and from readers in comments suggest they expect FEMA to be a first responder. But as you can see, it’s a last responder, brought in only when the locals and states are (officially?) overwhelmed.
By Gordon H
Greetings from Black Mountain, NC!
Sylvia and I deeply appreciate all of the earnest inquiries we have received and the prayers that have been offered. We are well, if not thriving, in the aftermath of the destruction wrought by Hurricane Helene. I apologize in advance for the impersonal nature of this group email, but we found it difficult to respond fully to so many texts (while we only had cell phones) and so many emails when we finally got back online. Here is an update on what has happened to us and what we have observed.
The rainfall here was truly epic. Our minister has an 8-inch rain gauge and recorded 3 inches early last week, then 8 inches before emptying it Thursday morning, then lost track. I have seen reports that Swannanoa, only 3 or 4 miles from us and the scene of horrific damage, received over 13 inches between 8 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 24 and 8 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 28. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/09/30/helene-rainfall-totals-north-carolina/75454558007/ We are east of Asheville, in the dark shaded area. Fortunately for me, I planted a bed of 150 tulips the day before all the rain started, and the mulch was virtually undisturbed at the end of all the rain. One more bed to go. . .. I also harvested our Granny Smith apples from the tree in our yard, and those have been quite tasty.
The full force of the hurricane began on Thursday and continued into Friday, with forecasted wind gusts up to 80 mph. We lost power at 6 a.m. on Friday, and about 10 minutes later a fireman knocked on the front door and urged us to evacuate, saying there was a possibility of a dam break at the reservoir not far from us (more on the reservoir later). We put our cat Tony into his carrier, grabbed a few essentials and headed out in both cars. The fireman said that First Baptist Church in Swannanoa was the nearest shelter, but our minister heard on the radio that it was already full and advised us of that fact. We were also concerned about the proximity of the church to the Swannanoa River, so we headed to First Christian Church in Black Mountain (our church), hoping that one of our nearby members could let us in. Unfortunately, all of the people with keys were trapped and could not get out, so we parked our cars under the portico at the front entrance and watched the storm. Soon, our small creek turned into a river about 100 yards wide, gradually covering our parking lot and finally creeping up to the tires on our cars. Tony, of course, was a bit concerned. All of a sudden, the waters began to recede. About 1 p.m., after the rain slowed and being advised by a neighbor (higher up the hill from us) that she could still see the street, we figured that the dam was holding and that we should try to get home. One route home was blocked because a bridge was completely washed out, and the other route had too much standing water under the I-40 overpass. We pulled into a vacant Wendy’s and parked until the standing water drained sufficiently. Then we went through downtown Black Mountain, where virtually every back road we tried had trees downed. It took about an hour to navigate our way home, but we discovered our home had not been damaged and only one small branch had been knocked down into the yard. There was no power, no water, no internet, and only spotty cell phone coverage.
The cell phone became our lifeline to the outside world, but the batteries quickly wore down. My car is over 10 years old, and I had never used the 120-Volt outlet. That outlet became a lifesaver, and I soon figured out that I could start the car, turn it off, charge cell phone batteries for 10 minutes, restart the car, turn it off, and repeat the process. This also enabled me to listen to Braves games and the Saturday Ole Miss football game!
Saturday and Sunday were both clear and pleasant days, and people with chain saws got busy. By the end of Sunday, virtually all roads and streets in Black Mountain were cleared of downed trees. There were some downed power lines, but we did not see any downed power poles. The fact that streets were clear of trees, coupled with the fact that Ingle’s, the large grocery chain here in NC, has an enormous (literally one mile long) distribution center in Black Mountain, made this town a priority for Duke Energy. We had power restored at our house on Tuesday evening, followed on Thursday evening with internet, tv, and landline phone.
The weekend also saw neighbors, church groups and everybody else jump into action. Two of our elderly church members had a generator and started feeding their neighborhood. One of their neighbors had cisterns filled with rainwater, so our friends made 5 pots of coffee for their neighbors. One guy was a generator expert, and he offered to accompany me home to try to get a generator started for our next door neighbor and best friend here. People were out in the streets, helping wherever they could. It was inspiring to see.
Water is a huge priority, as I am sure you have heard. Initially, we used a drainage ditch to fill plastic jugs with water for toilet tanks. When the ditch ran dry, a neighbor escorted me to a springfed pool in our community. The water is beautiful, and he gave me some cheesecloth to use for straining, saying it could be boiled and would be suitable for drinking. For Sylvia, I analogize to the Pool of Siloam or the Gihon Spring. Ingle’s set up a drive-through system and refilled a gallon jug per person early in the week, just to get people by. Ingle’s and FEMA volunteers also handed out food, toilet paper, baby diapers, and all sorts of supplies, again free of charge. Cars snaked through the parking lots, and dozens of volunteers assessed needs and then gathered the items. Within days, numerous organizations received truckloads of bottled water and set up distribution stations across town, often handing out food, also. First Presbyterian starting providing hot lunches to hundreds of people. Mail service resumed on Tuesday, much to our amazement. That evening, we saw a double rainbow back in the eastern sky above the trees!
By Wednesday, we knew there would be no trash pickup, thanks to an out-of-state friend who checked the trash company website and texted me. That morning, when Sylvia had gone to get some gas, a neighbor rang our doorbell and told me that her sister from Georgia had driven up in a large pickup and was outside, ready to haul our trash back to Georgia. Because we had to empty the refrigerator, we had a number of bags ready to go. Dawn took our trash and that of other neighbors back to Georgia, promising to return the next week. Amazing! Trash cannot be left outside, lest the local bears decide to rummage.
Our across the street neighbors are not on City of Asheville water and instead have a well. Once power was restored on Tuesday, they were fully functional. Rod is an independent filmmaker and has been moving around, taking lots of video. Gina works the night shift with the Red Cross somewhere in Asheville, doing who knows what. By Wednesday, Rod was offering us their shower, which we gladly took them up on!
Inspired by everything I was seeing, I decided that I needed to volunteer to do pro bono legal work, perhaps with FEMA, so Thursday morning I went downtown in search of wifi. I was directed to a home near downtown where the owners had a Starlink account [they lost everything in their recently-renovated basement, but were volunteering wherever they could] and had set up a wifi hot spot for the public. There, I was able to access the internet, clear my Inbox, and respond to many of you who had sent emails. I also discovered an email from the Mississippi State Bar, advising all members of that Bar that the North Carolina Supreme Court had just entered an order authorizing the temporary admission of out of state attorneys to provide pro bono legal services here in response to Helene’s devastation. I downloaded the form and submitted it to the NC Bar. Having worked as a volunteer attorney with FEMA in Biloxi in 2005 after Katrina and having worked with the Georgia Senior Legal Hotline for 3 years, I figure that I can still pull on some of those experiences and help out here. I am waiting for some response and direction.
Black Mountain is home to numerous camp and conference centers, the most famous of which is Montreat, the long-time home of Billy Graham. Our lot backs up to Cragmont Assembly, operated by the Original Free Will Baptist Church. They jumped into action and provided housing for many of the out-of-town volunteers, even trucking in portable showers (one for men, one for women). As of yesterday, they were distributing over 2000 meals daily and accepting donations of clothing and other essentials. It’s doing fabulous work.
Our denomination’s conference center, Christmount, has not been so fortunate. Roads, bridges, homes, water lines and other infrastructure have been seriously damaged, and the recovery will be difficult. I have just been elected Assistant Treasurer for Christmount, but I haven’t even gotten my name on the bank signature card or attended any orientation yet.
As I said, water is now critical. North Fork Road runs right by our house and leads to the North Fork Reservoir, a 326-acre source of drinking water for 80% of the customers (including us) in the City of Asheville system. Starting on Monday, after the road was cleared over the weekend, a steady stream of trucks carrying large pipes (some large enough for me to stand inside), equipment, rocks and fill have passed by. It used to be so quiet! I watched a major briefing yesterday on the progress; if you are interested, it starts at about minute 34 on this link. https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=603511062231050 The system has about 180 miles of piping and about 40 stations that have to be filled in order to maintain water pressure. The Mills River plant services the other 20% of the customers, and it is back on stream. There is simply no way at this point to firmly estimate when the system will be fully functional.
Gas and cash have been other problems, but they are being solved. Once power was restored, several gas stations were back in service, limiting customers to $20 of gas, cash only. They still need to connect to the internet before they can accept cards. Our local bank was partially flooded, but they have a plumbing and restoration contractor hard at work, hoping to reopen on Monday. On Thursday, they were able to restore ATM service while I was downtown, and I was literally the first customer who happened by after it became operational.
Yesterday, a grading and hauling contractor cleared our church parking lot of all the mud, and another company will powerwash it (after driving to South Carolina to get water). One of my tasks is to figure out whether FEMA will reimburse us for this cost, and that seems possible.
We also drove through Swannanoa, pausing at Tony’s animal hospital to check on their situation; they had a little water enter the waiting area, but otherwise were undamaged and hope to be fully operational next week. The rest of Swannanoa is as had been described to us by our mail carrier (23-year military veteran and Swannanoa native) as a “war zone”. Ingle’s had about 3 feet of water and mud; buildings are destroyed; cars were up on railroad tracks and in trees; semi-trucks were tossed about; a trailer park was a chaotic jumbled mess; and so much more. Today’s Wall Street Journal has photos. We then got onto I-40 and drove into South Asheville on the main artery, Hendersonville Road. The Walmart has 20 generators running and was pretty well stocked with meats, produce, frozen foods and dairy products–none of which are available at our Ingle’s–so we stocked up. The roads in South Asheville were reasonably clear, but we also saw evidence of many downed trees and new power poles (just as we saw in Swannanoa). We decided against going into North Asheville, where Biltmore Village and the River Arts District have been so devastated. There was no good reason to gawk, and we would simply get in the way of responders and people trying to salvage what they can.
No rain is forecast for at least the next week, and temperatures should be pleasant, producing ideal working conditions for the many people working on restoring the water system, rebuilding roads, clearing debris, and just figuring out what to do next. It is eerily reminiscent of what I saw in Waveland and Bay St. Louis, MS, after Hurricane Katrina.
Some of you have inquired about donations. Here is a link to Christmount, with instructions on how to donate. https://www.christmount.org/ Here is a link to our church, again with instructions on how to donate through Givelify. https://www.fccblackmtn.org/ I am the Assistant Financial Secretary, so you can be assured of receiving a tax letter in January.😀
Again, we deeply appreciate you thoughts, prayers, and concerns.
Gordon, Sylvia and Tony
From a quick Google search:
Precipitation, in the form of rain or snow, can have adverse effects on drones. Rain can damage sensitive electronic components, such as motors, sensors, and cameras. Ice can accumulate on the drone’s body and propellers, affecting its aerodynamics and causing stability issues.
Source: https://climavision.com/blog/navigating-the-skies-how-weather-impacts-uav-operations/
So presumably drones can only be deployed after the worst is over at which time helicopters and other means of communication can also be deployed?
In the field of distributed systems, a heartbeat is a periodic message sent from one component to another indicating that “hei I am still here and alive”, so perhaps FEMA can provide each community with a device that would send heartbeat messages with the understanding that said device will only be activated during something like a hurricane. If an area has not been sending messages for a period of time, then that area should be treated as a potential disaster area. If drones are going to be part of the solution, then FEMA could also provide a couple of drones to each area in advance in order to provide bidirectional communication capability. Why wait for FEMA to send a drone if you can send a drone FEMA’s way?
I never suggested sending in drones when the storm was on. How would that make any sense? You do it after the hurricane has past.
Ah my bad, I guess my focus was more on letting FEMA know ASAP that an area is facing a real disaster thus allowing them to send help as soon as it is feasible.
I have only limited experience with drones but the consumer versions can only fly for a few minutes due to the weight problem of large batteries. So they are a short range solution and the gasoline or jet powered versions are more military equipment.
It’s possible that up to date satellite coverage of the area may exist. This would be good enough to show destroyed structures, downed trees and the like. Perhaps others know a lot more about this.
Yesterday I drove over to Greenville and it was completely normal with not even a disabled stoplight. My brother still didn’t have internet from the pole but otherwise all was functioning. There’s a lot of construction equipment in this area due to the housing boom and people who know how to use it. Even North Carolina may come back faster than expected but the clean up will be epic.
One diff from Katrina is that despite ongoing pockets of poverty this region is increasingly affluent and booming. Those 9th ward people probably needed FEMA a lot more than we do.
FEMA is not a first responder. Never has been. You may find this brief overview helpful. Ultimately, first responders are from the local community, and backed up by the state.
https://www.fema.gov/about/how-fema-works
It’s been mentioned multiple times this is not the impression most Americans have, and it partly appears to be the fault of FEMA itself. Looks like faulty messaging is also one of their issues.
This was highlighted in the comments yesterday.
I’d be OK with this explanation, except it doesn’t explain the way FEMA apparently comes in heavy footed and shuts down, or tries to shut down a lot of local rescue efforts. Yeah, I’m not understanding why they’d do that.
I’ve never been on social media, (unless this site is social media), but I’m beginning to appreciate its value as a communications channel outside official narratives which are often wrong. / ;)
For some definition of “social.”
I imagine it’s because FEMA sees any semblance of independent self-reliance as a threat, as an empire is wont to do.
Most of the faulty messaging is originating directly from Donald Trump and crew, sowing confusion and endangering lives needlessly.
Yeah, that’s why I felt cognitive dissonance at:
Certainly back at the time of Katrina most people understood FEMA to be a first responder. That’s why they got so much criticism at that time. The previous administrator acted like a first responder, and a very effective one. Somebody needs to do a huge education project to teach people about FEMA, and somehow I don’t believe either Trump or Harris is going to do it.
I attended a retreat (a Charles Eisenstein thing) at Christmount in 2022. Amazing place – has a real air of peace and beauty.
Prayers and love from afar to all affected.
It’s inspiring to hear how the community are supporting eachother
We ‘lived’ through Katrina ourselves. If what you are seeing reminds you of that disaster, then recovery will be a long and irregular affair.
All the best and good wishes for your community building and rebuilding.
Any word on the IV fluids factory? That has been a topic of discussion here on the comments page recently.
Stay safe.
I work at a major MidWestern Hospital. We have gone into ” IV/Irrigation fluid conservation mode” and have been told to expect the Baxter factory itself and the infrastructure right around it will take at least several months to repair.
Oh bloody H—. Now we will all suffer from America’s utter lack of any strategic planning. I was considering another round of cardiac stents, but now will yet again put it off.
If the American government doesn’t mandate the construction of at least two, if not three IV/Irrigation fluid manufactories inside America after this, then we will have definite proof that the present government is not deserving of the job.
Stay as safe as you can.
In response to the shortages caused by Hurricane Maria taking out the IV bag production facility in Puerto Rico in 2017, B. Braun has invested $1 billion dollars in a new state-of-the-art facility for producing IV fluids in…
Daytona Beach, Florida.
Doesn’t Baxter have a huge 24/7 complex in Round Lake IL to pick up the slack?
WOW its all just so Cecil B. DeMille and a side of wealth having a good life regardless.
yeah, like 2 ships passing in the night.
Interesting and compelling to follow this timeline. Family spent a Thanksgiving weekend in Black Mountain in 2016, it’s a wonderful place to see and to visit. One day of hikes brought us adjacent to that nearby Montreat center as well.
Pardon this expression but indeed a village of like minded individuals contributing what they have and even sharing of resources and critical knowledge. It’s highly reassuring in these highly cynical times in which we live. And as for FEMA in particular, I read up on their response last week to Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and also to Hurricane Michael in 2018. The anecdotes ( the responses delayed, all the regulatory requirements, etc.. ) after Michael could prove to be infuriating to even the most patient of adults.
Black Mountain was hit hard. Henderson and Buncombe counties (Hendersonville and Asheville) and several less-populated counties directly north of them were hit as severely or worse. I understand at least one community north of Asheville registered 30″ of rain from the storm.
To quantify what drove really catastrophic flood damage, examine these river gauges for the period Sept. 27-Oct 1 (drag the margins of the timeline below the main graph):
Mills River, about 1/2 mi. W. of Asheville airport runway and east of the Sierra Nevada Brewery
French Broad River, right at the gates of Biltmore, Asheville’s prime tourist attraction and an upscale shopping and dining mecca
In both cases, note the peak FAR above the blue line showing the previous historical maximum river level.
And then, there are the cases where we’ll never know the peak, because the flood tore down the gauge or interrupted its communication link. This gauge is near the N. Main St. bridge on the north edge of Hendersonville.
Henderson County’s web site shows the 500-year floodplain map; it appears last week’s high water exceeded that prediction.
The US Geological Survey will be revising a lot of flood maps post Helene. Where this one registers (1000 year flood?) remains to be seen.
I believe those maps are developed by FEMA in administering the NFIP.
USGS provides the topographic base map, FEMA the flood designations. The US Army Corps of Engineers also has some input to this as they are responsible for navigable waters.
I tend to think that drones can come into their own here if used properly. Of course the first thing to do would be to download the latest satellite maps to go for the “big picture” of the damage caused. Drones would be then utilized to go for smaller tasked missions and the emergency services already uses drones here in Oz. Firefighters use their thermal cameras to map out the actual fire front and those very same thermal cameras can be used to locate people lost in bush lands. Perhaps they could be set to drop small emergency packs if they spot people below consisting of thermal blankets, medical kits, lighters, etc. or be rigged with small speakers to shout out messages to people below. They can rapidly assess local damage and identify which roads are impassable as well as identify areas dangerous for emergency teams. Yes, they have their limitations but just consider how extensively they are being used in the Ukraine/Russia.
US civilian drone flight requirements. This information has been out there for years. It’s not new. People complaining that US drone operators, or pilots, are ‘coyboys’ maybe don’t know much about drone operators or about the drone community. We use them at my agency for many purposes. Acquiring a license is much like acquiring a car drivers license: learn the rules of the road, demonstrate knowledge of same, and pay a small fee. Not hard. / my 2 cents
https://pilotinstitute.com/drone-license-requirements/
if FEMA is not a first responder, i want to know how federal $$, and how much, routinely (i.e. before the disaster hits) gets to the actual first responders to enable them to be prepared. across the country, are they getting enough $$ support to handle the increasingly likely climate disasters? so the locals can serve as more and better first responders going forward?
given the level of denial that seems to exist–across the board politically and institutionally–of the magnitude of the preparations that need to have begun yesterday and have not, it does appear that as the global situation builds and worsens in the coming decades, local communities are going to be very much on their own. given that, yes it is heartening to learn of how ready the people on the ground generally are to help their neighbors, and those in the next county over, survive.
My engineering MS degree (nearly 20 years ago) was in disaster response, and my capatone included a whole section on the Stafford Act and Disaster Declarations, another one on communications, and a third one on response.
Each layer of government is supposed to have resources that smaller units aren’t expected to have for a variety of reasons. These are sipsupposed to be allocated via triage, defined by existing local emergency response plans. The cost of response is then reimbursed, with each layer of government expected to bear 25% of the cost. I can’t recall if the same applies to private utilities, e.g. electrical utilities, communication resources, etc., but I’ll go out on a limb and say it does.
The flaws in this system, which to my knowledge haven’t been changed, is that true catastrophes can wipe out local and regional governments which gives the triage system a survivors bias. Resources go to places with less need simply because the absence of calls for help are missed in the din of calls for help. This shouldn’t necessarily be attributed to malice or incompetence, although that’s not to say there isn’t any of that.
Two interesting things I discovered in my research was that:
1. people will self deploy to help in a disaster. Keeping people out to prevent looting or panic is counterproductive. A competent response manager will organise the volunteers and track what they do (volunteer expenses are refundable under the Stafford Act), who and how many are there, get receipts, etc. [Sidebar- is Elon Musk sending all of this equipment at inflated costs to profit from the 75% reimbursement?].
2. Plans have to be approved and in place for resources to be allocated. Improvements are not allowed unless those improvements were already approved. E.G. building codes post-Andrew, sewer codes post-Katrina, etc.
I’m supposed to be working so I have to stop. I want to go on about how the Telecommunications Act of 1996 royally F’d up local radio which made communications during disasters a hot mess.
I hope this helps.
What an absolutely on point comment.
“The flaws in this system, which to my knowledge haven’t been changed, is that true catastrophes can wipe out local and regional governments which gives the triage system a survivors bias.”
Indeed. Without bias. Or without survivors’ bias. Thank you.
thank you so much, redleg, for “stealing” the time to respond to my question. this is very clarifying.
i hope you will, if you can, go on at some point here at NC about how the Telecommunications Act of 1996 royally F’d up local radio and made the communications during disasters a hot mess.
and continue to share your observations on the USA disaster response setup, at all the levels of gov’t, and both short-term and looking further ahead.
Interesting note about the post disaster building codes. Our experience after Katrina was that the “sudden” code upgrades ban was circumvented by the introduction of Federal level codes. These codes were “implemented” after the disaster as part of the ‘recovery’ process. Thus, any permanent siting of the Katrina Cottages, (which are super trailers and very well designed and built,) had to comply with Federal rules, one of which, which is how we were diddled out of being able to purchase and site our “temporary” Katrina Cottage, required raised structures to be supported on steel rod reinforced poured concrete columns. Said columns turned out to be prohibitively expensive and a deal breaker with almost everyone we knew or spoke to concerning this. Then the ‘unused’ Katrina Cottages were sold on to the secondary market. Dealers were buying the cottages in bulk lots and then marking them up as much as 100% for resale.
Follow the money.
The story of the Federal funds, filtered through the State government, that were used to “make whole” those of us who did not have adequate home-owners insurance is a separate tale of woe. Suffice it to say that most were ‘reimbursed’ 80% of the dwelling’s assessed value pre-hurricane.
There is also the dark tale of the ‘missing’ recovery and clean-up funds. It seems that family members of a prominent Politico were involved in that swindle.
Moral of the tale is that the people of Appalachia should begin now to scrutinize every little jot and tittle of the “recovery” process. There will be more than enough corruption under those rocks to start a regional bait worm business.
Stay safe. Stay alert. Trust no one you don’t know from before the disaster. Sign nothing until you have read the entire document.
Has Fort Bragg been closed down ?
It was renamed Fort Liberty in 2023, its former namesake General Braxton Bragg having fought on the side of the Confederacy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braxton_Bragg
In classic Orwellian ‘Doublespeak’ then, Fort “Liberty” must mean the diametric opposite of what it purports to represent. How appropriate.
I’m not so sure about it being the diametric opposite, considering the sort of “liberty” the slaver Confederacy was fighting for. Seems appropriately continuous.
The squeaky wheel gets the oil. Communities need to make lots of noise in order to get assistance. More well-to-do communities know how to make noise, while the less affluent often don’t. The result is that bridges and roads get repaired sooner in wealthier areas, homes get rebuilt sooner in wealthier areas, and so on. We saw this play out during the early days of the Covid pandemic when billions of federal dollars flowed to a variety of well-connected businesses, while lower income people struggled to get a few thousand. And the wealthy got early access to medical care while the poor died in large numbers. Same as it has ever been.
And when the up-mountain communities can’t squeak the wheel; when the outer rural residents can’t squeak the wheel for lack of landline or cell phone or Starlink or other satellite phone system communications? (Starlink isn’t the only satellite phone system.) You understand exactly what I’m saying.
Thanks very much for this post. I think I’m beginning to see a pattern with FEMA and Red Cross responses to US disasters, different but essentially the same wrt to providing actual disaster relief to the affected. Infuriating but good to know. I’m looking for private ways to help. (Always avoiding the sudden appearance of emails from outfits I don’t know asking for donations. That’s a scam in itself that follows like a flock of vultures after every disaster.)
adding: thanks for the link to Christmount. Neither they nor a couple other local places I’m looking at have spammed my email; always a good sign, imo.
The Red Cross is FUBAR, turned into a brand by recent neoliberal mgmt.
This article came out shortly after the storm and has organizations that were early in getting boots on the ground to help.
https://www.bpr.org/bpr-news/2024-09-28/list-ways-to-donate-and-help-flood-victims-in-western-north-carolina-after-hurricane-helene
Thank you.
I’m picturing all the people huddled in front of the locked church as the waters rose, and wondering how long would the waters rise until they just broke in. And then wondering if they would be afraid of what would happen if a National Guardsman caught them doing that…so many situations we will all have to navigate in this brave new world.
A vivid image that. It reminds me of the scenes from the old black and white film “Hurricane” where the islanders rush to the door of the big church and seek shelter within. All to no avail.
Nature, being a bit anthropomorphic here, is no respecter of Terran human mental constructs.
Thanks for posting this.
Hopefully this leads to a larger discussion. What should the nation be doing for disaster preparedness? FEMA was set up 45 years ago, maybe it’s time to look at what’s required now because I think it’s safe to say it’s a different world, and 1000 year floods, and 500 year wildfires are going to become much more common events.
In the days when people feared nuclear war most countries had Civil Defence with contingency planning – now they provoke nuclear war they have nothing but everything dependent on Internet and electronics
Western society is so brittle but if you want to go to Amazon you can still buy Gold Apollo pagers as tested in Lebanon with some sarcastic reviews – still Amazon has not delisted the product
Thanks – really interesting report.
Looking for commonalities with disasters here, notably the Christchurch earthquakes:
Cash really is king in disaster situations when the power is out. You need plenty of it for emergencies – actual, physical cash, not the electronic version.
Community spirit seems to be the glue that holds things together after the fact when things go well. There was a series of ‘You know you’re from Christchurch when…’ articles afterward that highlighted this (sample: It’s normal to greet people with “do you need a shower?”).
Water is always really important. The water network in Christchurch was offline for over a month in most places (earthquakes are probably more damaging to the water system than hurricanes, but I definitely recognize similarities in this post). A good reminder to have emergency water in bottles or a rainwater catchment system.
Whelp now we know some of the results of the worst possibilities we can imagine. I’ve run the gamut of emotions, mostly fearing for friends in the area. Generally have a horror at how badly we locate built places, including where I live, but that is another story, I do think that maybe evacuation warnings should have been taken more seriously, and that is for future work to educate and improve communications. For one thing, expecting everyone to have a cell phone absolutely does not suffice. Nor is a project or plan to expand broadband service the answer. People need to account for their neighbors in their building or block.
Expecting people from FEMA to show up throughout the whole potentially impacted area before day one or on day one is not realistic. Your rescuers are your neighbors. Even expecting local emergency services to show up as they normally would is not realistic. FEMA works with local government. The first actions are situational status, then they deploy resources, and their people move in after that.
I work with a rare (some consider unique) local grassroots community preparedness group, that is organized to activate for major emergencies with widespread infrastructure outages (power, roads, buildings). Naturally, we are focused on major earthquakes, but these systems can be activated for events. In a city, power and infrastructure outages can means the water system fails. My region also faces major flood and landslide, heat and freezing events that affect many folks.
Briefly, what I’ve learned as we interview our city departments, in the context of a state with robust government preparedness that had served response for major transportation outages and weather events.
1. Households need to be prepared, and neighbors need to be prepared for up to 2+ weeks of no power and no drinking water. Knowing and working with all commercial (stores, restaurants, etc.) and local institutions like hospitals, before major disasters will make the difference for resilience beyond what individuals might stockpile. Our group sets up mutual aid locations within walking distance of everyone, with materials to facilitate mutual aid, and with radio communications with the city command center. Our city has a ham radio auxiliary service, with specific certification, recognition and drills with the city. We also have people with GRMS radios and licenses for hyper local communications.
2. Communications are critical! Figure out your minimal power needs, a generator, solar powered batteries, alternative human powered capabilities so that you can minimally listen to radio communications. I have a wind up radio that picks up emergency radio bands. One step up is a GRMS radio and license so you can speak to others. Understand the infrastructure in your area, and know your ham radio operators. These are the people who were on the job 24/7 after the flooding event. Have a plan to contact one person out of area with a concise status text (if you have a cell phone with power), and that person will communicate with other family or friends. If a cell tower picks it up, it will be sent until received.
3. Water will be an issue. Drinking water is a major issue, and blithely figuring your hot water heater or the lake will provide is not a plan. Power outage means water outage and the pipes into your home will be impacted, especially here where we have combined outflows. Solid waste needs to be planned for – not to be sent down the pipes. Urine can be thrown out on the ground, but feces are a health hazard. Plastic buckets with bags or plastic bags in toilets to be taken to a spot for future clean up is our standard now.
4. Missing people, pets, fires, illness, injury, power to those with medical devices (again know your neighbors), shared refrigeration, sharing of generator power to charge devices – all of these will be facing us in the immediate aftermath. It is difficult, and emotionally taxing work. Worry and grief are real. Having gathering places, and taking care of each others’ mental health is critical.
Much of this happened organically because we are people who will help and take care of each other. Some of our local churches are going further with a state program to be a ‘resilience hub’. Recognized groups and systems that connect to the regional and state authorities mean everything can be more effective. Communities face issues all the time that call for response, heat, severe cold, a pandemic… response to all of these are enhanced by thinking through things most of us do not want to think about. Working to make government work more effectively with us is ongoing.
We have been following radio communications from the affected area which started up immediately, and Facebook groups and friends in the area which started to show up after a few days. My personal living space and views preclude being an individualistic prepper, but I’ve got water, batteries, a lot of canned food on hand all the time, a ‘go’ bag for myself and pets, household stuff locked down so it doesn’t fly across the room in a major earthquake. I’ve also accepted that, frankly, after any event just as on any day, I and everyone else will can die, be injured or ill, or be okay. The real training for myself is to do my best to listen, prioritize and respond to the situation I am presented with.