by Sundance at The Conservative Treehouse
It is day #4 in the generally unexpected worst effect impact zone from Hurricane Helene. The area west of Black Mountain, North Carolina, through the eastern portion of Tennessee is facing a major crisis that continues to unfold.
After three days of almost no communication from the region outside what the private sector and social media could put together, North Carolina governor Roy Cooper finally said, “the catastrophic devastation to western North Carolina is like nothing we have ever seen.” Damage to roads, bridges, highways and all infrastructure in the impact zone is extreme. Many areas remain cut-off as the roads and bridges have been destroyed.
Helene’s impacts are severe in parts of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia. However, the Eastern TN/Western Carolina region took the hardest hit as the massive flooding has destroyed towns and literally cut-off the primary access roads and interstates needed to get into the region.
Boone, North Carolina is near many of the worst hit communities and also the headquarters of Franklin Graham’s group Samaritan’s Purse. The orange shirts that show up in almost all areas of severe national disasters. Samaritan’s Purse does a phenomenal job of assistance and staged recovery, and this disaster unfolded right in their back yard.
Multiple private sector groups and individuals have rushed to assist as the state and federal government seem incapable of responding due to the region facing a communication blackout. In addition to the loss of power, cell towers, phone lines, fiber optic cable lines, and satellite receivers in the area have been destroyed. As a result, it took a long time for groups to realize the significance of the problem.
While aide is needed throughout many areas in the southeast U.S, the red circled impact zone is in the worst shape because access to get vitally needed resources, supplies and aid to them is very limited. Several communities remain completely cut-off and are accessible only by helicopter.
I-40 eastbound out of Tennessee is closed as the roads have washed out. I-26 is closed in key areas due to bridge collapses. The North Carolina Dept. of Transportation continues to say, “all roads in Western NC should be considered closed,” even the big ones. Rural, small mountain paths and a few state roads are the only way to get assistance into the area. Thankfully, as we enter day #4, people now realize the scale of the problem.
Folks, we just finished dropping off another shipment of material in Buncombe County. Thanks to your donations, their warehouse is no longer empty.
Western North Carolina is in dire need of supplies and assistance. We are doing everything in our power, but we still need your… pic.twitter.com/HLTy7JJtyh
— Mark Robinson (@markrobinsonNC) September 30, 2024
Operation Airdrop is staging out of Concord Regional Airport. Donations drop-off at nearby Wall-Mart. This may be a good way for people east of I-77 to help.https://t.co/igr1bqkLOz
— Christopher Allenby (@Allenby48) September 29, 2024
This shows the terminus of all the flash floods and debris flows from the Chimney Rock, NC area. This debris is basically the town of Chimney Rock pic.twitter.com/kfLCqUdUgz
— Reed Timmer, PhD (@ReedTimmerUSA) September 29, 2024
Be sure to click the link below to read more. Sundance did a great job with this post…
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