The devastation of Helene

Better times: Undated Color-King Natural Color Card postcard with a view from Thousand Pines Inn 

in Tryon, North Carolina. The inn is now a private residence.

Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane on Sept. 26, has devastated the southeastern United States and Appalachia with its rain, wind and tidal surge. Very preliminary estimates are that there is about $100 billion in damage and economic loss. Some of the worst impacts have been in western North Carolina, in areas that I'm somewhat familiar with from my time living in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Other significant impacts occurred in Pinellas County, Florida, where I lived for a few years as a teenager.

The Washington Post reported this afternoon: 

"Even as response teams worked to reach those struggling amid the wreckage, mountain communities in Tennessee and North Carolina were bracing Saturday for more flooding as Helene continued its destructive path, pushing dams to the brink, forcing residents to flee to higher ground and leaving some towns entirely cut off from communication. Officials were still waiting to get a complete assessment of the damage in isolated areas."

In Appalachia, which includes far western North Carolina, almost all of the communities are isolated. There are also cities of 90,000-plus, such as Asheville, North Carolina, but Helene didn't discriminate in dumping about 30 inches of rain across wide swaths of the region.

Some of the heartbreak, the full extent to which may takes days or weeks to determine, has been documented in real time on Twitter (X) and Facebook. But that's only from folks who are able to pick up a cell signal sufficient to communicate with the outside world. Every voice deserves to be documented for the historical record.

Here are just a few of the Twitter posts I've seen:

Ginny Barker: "Please pray for my community of Swannanoa, NC. We have had complete devastation from Hurricane Helene. No power for several counties over. No water. Spotty cell service. This is to us what Katrina was to New Orleans."

Andrew Price: "I made it out of Asheville. The entire area has no cell service, no power, no water, no sewer. I tried several times to make it  off campus, but neighborhoods are blocked by power lines, trees, and flood waters. UNC Asheville has not been communicating well with students."

Brad Panovich (Charlotte meteorologist): "Our station received this email from Banner Elk in Avery county. 'I am hoping to open a line of communication with the "outside world".  Residents of Elk River in Banner Elk are completely stranded.  Attached is a picture of what used to be the bridge which is the only way in or out of the community.  We have no power, water, cell service....  We do have a generator and wifi at the clubhouse, which  is how we are sending this.  Most of the residents are elderly, and there is no way to get out if there is an emergency.  If nothing else, maybe you guys can help us communicate information to/from the outside. Scott'"

Ash (West Virginia resident): "National media hasn't grasped the severity of the flooding in Appalachia. Entire downtowns and highways are gone, homes washed away, many without power, cell service, or escape routes. We are one of the poorest regions in the U.S. and many won’t recover. Our region needs help."

YourQueerAuntie: "Appalachia already didn’t have much. You’ll see footage from Asheville and Boone the bigger mountain towns. Please don’t forget the smaller rural communities that are entirely decimated and were already lacking recourses. Every single road in my family’s community is gone."

Katsumi27: "Tryon is NOT FINE. I’m sitting here without power and damage. Power lines and huge tress all over the road. 9 has huge down tress and power lines."

Bill Hangley Jr.: "so much story still to come. the Appalachians are incredibly rugged, steep and thickly forested, full of creeks & small rivers; almost no flatlands. towns cluster in valleys on narrow floodplains. once a road is out, you’re stuck until they rebuild that road"

Fred McCormick (Swannanoa Valley resident, journalist and business owner): "I’m exhausted. There isn’t a lot of new information to report from Black Mountain, where power and water remain out. Local officials do not have an ETA for repairing the water service, which is out due to the electrical outage. Many roads are still impassable."

Ashley (Charleston, South Carolina, resident): "One of my best friends is the social media manager for Chimney Rock State Park in NC. I haven’t heard from her since 10:30 this morning, 9/27/24. If anyone knows Maddy or knows someone who may know Maddy, please let us know she’s okay. I’m terrified."

About 13 long hours later, Ashley posted this update: