North Carolina needs help

North Carolina needs help. An earlier article reported 300 roads were blocked in the state after Hurricane Helene ravaged the area, dumping “40 trillion gallons of water on several southern states between Sept. 24 and 29, with wind speeds reaching 140 miles per hour.”

On Friday, Oct. 11, Gov. Roy Cooper reported on the radio that 600 roads were blocked, 500 bridges were damaged and 100 bridges need to be totally rebuilt. On the morning of Oct. 15, a radio report noted that 600 roads had been opened, but 600 roads remained blocked. In addition, water systems and power systems are totally destroyed. So, it seems the full extent of the devastation is not known, but what is known is that it is extremely severe.

There are before and after aerial images where you can see houses and bridges in the “before” photos, but in the “after” pictures, structures are not just damaged. Instead, houses and bridges are totally gone, as if they were never there.

Numerous stories from people who survived and suffered loss include one account of a man and wife who traveled to their mountain home to secure things prior to the storm. When they awoke in the morning, they found the corner post of their home had collapsed from flooding. Before they could exit the house, the entire home slid into the river. The house was filling with water, so the husband got everyone on a mattress floating in the house – but then the house hit a turn in the river and the couple were thrown into the water. Again, the husband got his wife and dogs together, this time on a floating wall from their home, but they hit a tree, were thrown into the water and this time were separated. The husband grabbed a tree branch and made it to shore, but after searching, he has thus far been unable to locate his wife, even with more than 100 people joining the search.

Another story: A couple camping in Newland, North Carolina, were last seen the night of the storm. The next morning the campground was flooded, and the two were missing.

Another story: A young lady on the third floor of an apartment building sent her mother a text Friday morning, Sept. 27, at 10:30 a.m. that the water was at the second floor. Rescuers arrived at 1 p.m. with the water now on the third floor. While ropes were thrown at people to try to rescue them, the apartment building shifted off its foundation. Not being able to grab the rope, the young lady was swept away. Local police found and identified her body later that evening, but the family has not been allowed to have the body.

Another story: A family of four, upon seeing the magnitude of the flood, decided to leave their home by car. Upon getting in the car, it started to float, so they abandoned the car and tried to make it back to the house. Unfortunately, a large wave came and swept them all away.

How does a wave on a river sweep people away?

Detailed information is lacking concerning this, but apparently all the local dams were in danger of breaking due to the magnitude of rain from Helene, prompting evacuation warnings for people living below the dams due to flooding. Numerous dams opened their spillways to prevent the dams from breaking. Some opened all of their flood gates. This enormous magnitude of water coming from so many different dams didn’t help with all the flooding that occurred. Hydroelectric power is probably one of the cleanest renewable energy sources; however, facing large storms, perhaps lake levels need to be dropped before the storm hits, but hindsight is always 20/20.

Unfortunately, people are saying they are “still finding dead neighbors.”

A list of missing people in the hardest hit communities has been created. As of Oct. 5, the Guardian reported that more than 1,400 people were listed as missing. An Oct. 18 update reports 39 people were unaccounted for in North Carolina; however, as of Oct. 16, a list of missing people still had 945 names on it, with most of them from North Carolina, and remember, this is just the “hardest hit” areas. These are names posted by relatives and friends.

A work colleague traveled to a region outside of Boone to volunteer with a church group administering hot meals. During his running of errands and deliveries, he stated that he saw the orange T-shirts of Samaritan’s Purse everywhere, working with many more organizations, distributing food and aid.

Another colleague stated that several of his sons took chainsaws and traveled to the region. When they arrived, they were sent to help an older farmer fix his fences to keep in his cows. While they were there, they could smell something dead. After personnel from the sheriff’s office arrived, they were unable to locate the source of the smell, as there was just too much debris. These young men said that they saw “refrigerator trucks full of dead bodies.”

A veteran presently living in an Asheville shelter stated, “They have a lot of mobile morgues in town, and they’re filled with bodies, and they haven’t been able to report those numbers yet.”

The flood of water was described as being like “biblical devastation,” and the aftermath described as “post-apocalyptic.” People interviewed by the Epoch Times “predicted that rebuilding will cost ‘billions of dollars,’ which must come from federal aid and will likely reshape the region’s identity.”

While Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated that FEMA is running short of disaster funds, according to Fox Business, “the DHS’ Inspector General released a report saying FEMA is sitting on at least $8.3 billion in untapped, unspent funds.”

North Carolina needs help.