Dear friends and family, the devastation in WNC is hard to describe in any way other than "heart breaking". It reminds me of hurricane Irene's terrible flooding in Vermont.
RosieVan and I are currently in New Mexico (having started a swing west to Colorado before Labor Day). We were lucky and well prepared: our house was not damaged, but our neighbors were less lucky. We are without power or reliable cell service but finally got running water on Tuesday. My housemates are heroically holding down the fort and helping out the local community as much as possible.
Below is a description of what happened written by a local WNC first responder.
"The death toll is over 160 so far. They are still finding bodies, and there are still hundreds of people missing as I write this today six days after the hurricane hit land.
How did we get such damage from a hurricane even though we are 650 miles from the coast?
First, we had a lot of rain before Hurricane Helene even showed up. We had 10 inches of rain in the week before the first storm clouds of the hurricane arrived. This rain saturated the ground and filled ponds and streams.
Then the hurricane arrived. She barreled her way up through the panhandle of Florida, quickly shot through Georgia, and then slowed down and stalled over North Carolina and East Tennessee.
She dropped 20 inches to over 30 inches of rain in some areas… that’s an estimated 40 trillion gallons of rain. Enough to cover the entire state of North Carolina with 3.5 FEET of water.
The southeastern slopes (of western North Carolina) and the northwestern slopes (of East Tennessee) acted as funnels or rain catchments that directed all this water downhill and concentrated it into streams and rivers running into the valleys. It overflowed these streams and rivers causing massive flooding.
How much flooding?
The French Broad River usually crests at 1.5 feet… but it reached 24.6 feet during the storm.
The Nolichuckey River Dam in Greene County, during the peak of the flooding, took on 1.2 MILLION gallons of water per SECOND. Compare that to Niagara Falls which peaks at 700,000 gallons per second. Fortunately, this dam held… but barely, with damage."
Many other dams did not hold. Houses, cars, timber, propane tanks and poor souls all washed down river. Entire communities were swept away. First responders (an estimated 18,000 of them!) continue to search and rescue, in some cases using mules to carry supplies. Please keep the people impacted in your prayers, the recovery of normalcy will take a long time.
Not surprisingly, local support is being provided by local residents. If you are inclined, donations to North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund or Helene Relief - Welcome To Hendersonville, NC (visithendersonvillenc.org) will help. Thank you for your good wishes and continued prayers for our community.
Comments