Helene’s devastation, plus politics
We don’t know the final death toll of Hurricane Helene, but it’s already high:
The Category 4 hurricane made landfall along Florida’s Big Bend region late Thursday night, with winds of 140 mph and a devastating storm surge. Helene left behind widespread destruction from the Sunshine State through Georgia into the Carolinas and Tennessee Valley as the storm traveled across the U.S.
At least 120 people have been confirmed dead across six states – Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. …
Communities in western North Carolina were hit especially hard by the effects of Hurricane Helene, with catastrophic flooding destroying hundreds of roads and bridges. Access to several areas has been cut off, preventing crews from getting much-needed supplies like food, water and fuel to residents.
Dozens of people are now confirmed dead in North Carolina, and hundreds of people remain unaccounted for due to the lack of power and communication access.
Later in the article, it says that the storm brought between 10 and 29 inches of rain to the mountain areas of North Carolina. That is a storm of astounding magnitude.
NOTE: Reactions to natural disasters are often used to make political points. You probably recall how George W. Bush was blamed for the toll of Katrina in 2005. Now, with Biden symbolically at the helm, does anyone expect much leadership from him or from VP Harris, who is busy staging photo-ops on the storm? This article describes the plans of Biden, Harris, and Trump. The latter seems to be going to the area first (to Georgia; NC is still too messed up), and the others say they hope to in the future.
My friend in Asheville, NC says that they had 3 days of sustained rain and moderately higher winds. She said that a big factor was how saturated the ground was and how high the rivers were, before this storm came in.
She’s in west Asheville and has her cell phone comms back working and expects to get power tomorrow. Water service is out and may not be back for some time. When I visited her in the winter, uncommonly cold weather caused some frozen and burst pipes, and she almost had a water outage then. Not a good water infrastructure, it would seem.
I saw a ton of videos posted on Facebook and there was alway some idiot who asked “Why didn’t they evacuate?” As I said to my sister, “Who in the Blue Ridge Mountains thought, ‘A hurricane is going to hit Florida; I’d better evacuate.'”
as pointed out, fema seems as incapable as they were in florida in 92
https://redstate.com/bradslager/2024/09/30/in-the-aftermath-of-a-hurricane-in-north-carolina-one-congress-member-raises-awareness-for-her-campaign-n2179955
It’s not surprising that a hurricane would devastate areas that rarely experience hurricanes, of course they wouldn’t be as prepared as Florida or other places where hurricanes are much more frequent.
Living where I do we have volcano, earthquake, and tsunami preparedness, I doubt there’s much of that kind of preparedness in western North Carolina or Tennessee, though maybe there’s some for earthquakes since the Virginia quake in 2011. (There was a 4.8 in New Jersey this year that caused a little damage and disruption and made national news, but there was a bigger one in Oregon three days ago.) We don’t have hurricane preparedness here of any sort.
Sometimes Nature just gets too big for us, and things happen that it would never have made sense to plan for. Not much point in assigning blame, proper focus is to help people get back up and running again.
Praying for all the people affected by the hurricane.
TommyJay: ditto on the water situation. Finally heard from my cousin in Asheville. They’re OK. The city is not. Water mains are broken all over the city but the damage is so extensive that they can’t tell where all the breaks are. It’s as if the place got bombed. It will be weeks if not months before basic services are restored. Bringing the city back will probably take years, if it can be done at all.
The Blue Ridge had 36 hours notice that this storm was coming. Forecasting was remarkably accurate on this one, from landfall in the Big Bend of Florida through Georgia and South Carolina and up to western NC, complete with rainfall forecasts which were accurate. My friends filled up their cars and bought supplies and tested the generator.
I don’t see Gov. Cooper out giving detailed press conferences on this. Nor were disaster supplies in sufficient quantity placed in advance in the areas forecast to be the worst hit. Leadership matters. In Katrina, for instance, New Orleans suffered greatly, whereas Mississippi, which took the actual landfall, had fewer casualties and a faster recovery.
I appreciate the National Guard people up there and what they’re doing. It’s the statewide leadership and national leadership which seem lacking.
A storm like this is not unprecedented. We moved out of Hickory, NC, in the foothills east of Asheville, about 40 years ago. Within a few years, when Hurricane Hugo hit Charleston, SC, it went up through western NC. Our former neighbors lost power for nearly three weeks.
Cooper, the Democrats Governor, might just revive the campaign of the black Republican, porn site and all.
Related:
Best of times, worst of times…
Good people are stepping up; the bad guys…not so much…
God help ‘em…
https://instapundit.com/675257/
On a weather page (spaghettimodels.com) someone posted this comment from a lineman friend there. If true, it’s beyond belief.
“Went up old fort rd to where it connects to 9. Whole area is gone. 100 ft ravine where houses used to be. Kids walking around naked asking where their parents are. People begging for water. Blackhawk helicopters from FEMA. I don’t wanna talk about the smell of dead bodies. I’m in disbelief.
Trump says “he’s working with Elon” to get Starlink set up for Americans impacted by Helene. Of course a lot of people need power first.
Now, if you want to donate to any disaster relief, you have to be very careful. A lot of mean people out there trying to take your money. Some blog I read mentioned Samaritan’s Purse.
And the whackos are coming out of the
woodworkuniversities (and no doubt many other places)…“Whacko former University of Kentucky staffer said Hurricane Helene was ‘act of God’ to punish Trump supporters”—
https://nypost.com/2024/09/30/us-news/helene-was-act-of-god-to-punish-trump-supporters-ex-kentucky-u-staffer/
“…plus politics”
What happens when the ruling junta MUST go after its internal opponents at the cost of everything else….
“THE HIGH COST OF CRONY CAPITALISM”—
https://instapundit.com/675173/
Key graf:
It never would have happened if we weren’t all driving the wrong cars and too frequently and raised so much cattle.
/s
The areas are devastated. People displaced will never return. Those that rebuild may take years to do so. Imagine having your home destroyed, then trying to find a place to live. Thousands of peoples lives are ruined.
The 2018 Campfire in California destroyed the town of Paradise and outlying areas. People are still rebuilding, and being hampered by govt regulations.
It will never be the same.
When I was in high school, late ’60s early 70s, a major hurricane came up through the piedmont and Appalacians causing flooding, death, and destruction. It did not destroy Washington D.C. These things happen from time to time, but 30 inches of rain in 3 days, that is extraordinarily powerful.
Gov. Cooper is up there now, giving a press conference with various agency leaders. The FEMA spokeswoman was careful to say that “President Biden and Vice President Harris” have authorized continued support for the region. This conference is being given on the nice safe tarmac of the Asheville airport, in Fletcher, south of Asheville proper.
Per the National Guard commander, military cargo planes are being used to bring relief materials into the airport.
Has this devastation been blamed on climate change yet?
I have a free app that shows air traffic. And it shows all air traffic. And there has been REMARKABLY little air traffic in the area of the devastation since this. I had expected to see NUMEROUS helicopters. I have seen one. (For example, during the Park Fire in California, I saw TONS of helicopter action at any time of the day.)
This is a big moment for Democrats, and not just in North Carolina. The word is getting out.