How Helene Affected The People Of Appalachia

BY Herschel Smith
1 week, 3 days ago

To begin with, this is your president. This ought to be one of the most shameful things ever said by a sitting president.

We must have spent too much money on Ukraine to help Americans in distress. I don’t generally advocate governmental control of anything, and following Biblical sphere law (State, Church and Family), communities and the church should be the first to respond and maybe the only ones.

But we’ve impoverished the middle class with taxes, and government has taken the role of both justice and grace/mercy (which is not its role). So if we’re going to have a FEMA, the least they could do is be present and do their jobs.

It’s a lie to say that no one can get there because of trees and road closures. The Billy Graham Association and Samaritan’s Purse were there within one day.

But on to the horrible affects to the fine people of Appalachia from storm Helene. This will be in flow of consciousness fashion, with some stunning video of both the storm and aftermath.

One of the most stunning things I’ve ever seen, provided by Reed Timmer.

Black Mountain.

Chimney Rock.

From Lake Lure to Asheville.

I-40 damage.

Chopper9 arial video.

Nolichucky River and bridge collapse.

Arial video of Helene damage, especially Lake Lure.

I know all of these places well. Very well. It makes me very sad to see it.

Pray for the good folks of Appalachia. Pray for God’s mercy and grace, in spite of the malevolence of their government. Pray for communities and churches to step up.

I will continue to update this thread with more videos in the comments or as updates to this post.

I would appreciate it if readers added their own data, observations, videos and news reports.

Here is one such report of a good son.

It had been 48 hours since the winds and rains from Hurricane Helene ripped through western North Carolina and Sam Perkins still had not heard from his parents.

So, on Saturday morning, he got in his vehicle and started driving toward their home, nestled on a mountain between Spruce Pine and Little Switzerland, to find them.

“My parents live in an absolute gem of the North Carolina mountains,” Perkins said in a post about his experience. The area is about an hour’s drive from Asheville. “Under normal circumstances, it’s pleasantly very isolated,” he added.

“Little did I know that up there, Helene has demolished roads, homes and utility networks. This area is completely cut off from resources in every direction.”

More than 100 people are dead after Helene tore through the southeastern United States, including at least 30 in Buncombe County, where Asheville sits, according to CNN’s tally. North Carolina was hit hard: Days of unrelenting flooding have turned roads into waterways, left many stranded without basic necessities and strained state resources.

Gov. Roy Cooper called it “one of the worst storms in modern history.” While supplies have been deployed, at least 280 roads are still closed throughout the state, making it hard for officials to get them into areas in need, Cooper said.

When he realized how many roads were cut off, Perkins said, he left his vehicle near a closed highway at the bottom of the mountain and started hiking to his parents’ home.

“I tried every road route I could, but the roads, no matter where you go, are blocked by landslides or failures,” Perkins explained to CNN. “I can’t tell you how many failing roads and deep mudslides I had to cross, how many fallen trees I had to take off my backpack for and navigate through.”

While hiking, Perkins said, he ran into multiple people trapped due to the devastated highway. For more than three and a half hours, Perkins said he hiked 11 miles and 2,200 feet high to finally reach his parents’ home.

“I have never been so relieved to see anyone OK,” Perkins told CNN, adding his parents are in their 70s, but pretty resourceful people.

“I just hugged them, cried, filled them in on all the news they were missing … walked around the property, helped them decide how to approach some challenges.”

Perkins found his parents in decent health and their home was mostly fine, but they were effectively trapped, unable to hike down the mountain on foot, he said.

“They have food. They are pretty much out of water, but they have enough propane to boil once they start needing to,” Perkins told CNN on Sunday, noting power restoration may take weeks for their area.

After he found his parents on Saturday, fog and rain settled in and Perkins decided to head back down. “I didn’t want to use their supplies, so I went ahead and decided to trek back,” Perkins explained, adding on the way down, he was even able to hitch a ride on an undamaged portion of a road with someone in the community.

And that community is strong, he said: “Everything you would expect with Southern Hospitality.”

His mother was able to a send him a message earlier Sunday, and it mostly focused on trying to get supplies for her neighbors.

“I’m still processing it all. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Perkins said. “Power is a couple weeks out. I cannot fathom how long it will take (the Department of Transportation) to repair the curvy roads that hug the steep mountainsides.”

Sam Perkins is his name. Sam is a good man, unlike Joe Biden.

Sam Perkins took this selfie while trekking to check on his parents.

It is also of great concern to me how completely tied we are to cell phone and cell towers (we’ve all cancelled our land lines, although they may not have survived this either), local grocery stores, grid power, local medical care, and government assistance.

I have the necessities of course like most readers do, firearms and ammunition, water and means of filtration, freeze dried foods, generators, etc., etc.

But a lot of folks don’t, and even if you do have these things, they aren’t forever.

UPDATE #1:

Sam Perkins’ FB Post.

Gov. DeSantis launches Operation Blue Ridge. He’s a better man that Biden, of course.

Bat Cave, Ashville River.

Swannanoa.

I-40 & I-26 closure estimates and detours.

Trackbacks & Pingbacks


Comments

  1. On September 30, 2024 at 9:01 pm, Herschel Smith said:

    Mount Mitchell got some 30″ of rain from the storm. I’m sure the destruction is epic.

    The damage to the AT is extreme, and there will probably be a good number of through-hikers to leave the trail unless they’re to the north of the damage.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51k1tSy6KvE

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjhwdaMBYvA

  2. On September 30, 2024 at 11:45 pm, 41mag said:

    Get NC Scouts books on radios. They’re great to prime the user for having that skill set available in situations like WNC finds itself now.

  3. On October 1, 2024 at 12:25 am, TheAlaskan said:

    Herschel, so glad to see you’re safe. I was wondering how bad you have it. Praying for you all. We have extreme weather/earth events up here too. Sometimes nature has a way of humbling even the toughest soul. God bless

  4. On October 1, 2024 at 8:21 am, RedinOleVirginny said:

    CAP — Christian Appalachian Project
    Been doing great work for awhile. They have a good network. Donate online if you can. God Bless our Southern Folk.
    Best Regards,
    Red in OleVirginny

  5. On October 1, 2024 at 12:17 pm, Chas said:

    I’ll bet the Asheville NC city government managers saved themselves….

  6. On October 1, 2024 at 12:32 pm, scott s. said:

    They keep saying “consider all roads closed”, but obviously that’s not the case. County road maintenance plus folks with local knowledge could compile maps with access routes. Of course these days there isn’t any hard-copy and if you are dependent on “the cloud” for all your mapping data you’re screwed.

  7. On October 3, 2024 at 11:28 am, Dan D. said:

    This is why the Foxfire books were written. I’m sure their price has tripled on eBay.

  8. On October 5, 2024 at 8:19 pm, T said:

    Harris is the perfect spokesperson for this government and its response to this hurricane debacle. She sucks.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment


You are currently reading "How Helene Affected The People Of Appalachia", entry #36919 on The Captain's Journal.

This article is filed under the category(s) Featured and was published September 30th, 2024 by Herschel Smith.

If you're interested in what else the The Captain's Journal has to say, you might try thumbing through the archives and visiting the main index, or; perhaps you would like to learn more about TCJ.

26th MEU (10)
Abu Muqawama (12)
ACOG (2)
ACOGs (1)
Afghan National Army (36)
Afghan National Police (17)
Afghanistan (704)
Afghanistan SOFA (4)
Agriculture in COIN (3)
AGW (1)
Air Force (40)
Air Power (10)
al Qaeda (83)
Ali al-Sistani (1)
America (22)
Ammunition (284)
Animals (297)
Ansar al Sunna (15)
Anthropology (3)
Antonin Scalia (1)
AR-15s (377)
Arghandab River Valley (1)
Arlington Cemetery (2)
Army (87)
Assassinations (2)
Assault Weapon Ban (29)
Australian Army (7)
Azerbaijan (4)
Backpacking (3)
Badr Organization (8)
Baitullah Mehsud (21)
Basra (17)
BATFE (229)
Battle of Bari Alai (2)
Battle of Wanat (18)
Battle Space Weight (3)
Bin Laden (7)
Blogroll (3)
Blogs (24)
Body Armor (23)
Books (3)
Border War (18)
Brady Campaign (1)
Britain (38)
British Army (35)
Camping (5)
Canada (17)
Castle Doctrine (1)
Caucasus (6)
CENTCOM (7)
Center For a New American Security (8)
Charity (3)
China (16)
Christmas (16)
CIA (30)
Civilian National Security Force (3)
Col. Gian Gentile (9)
Combat Outposts (3)
Combat Video (2)
Concerned Citizens (6)
Constabulary Actions (3)
Coolness Factor (3)
COP Keating (4)
Corruption in COIN (4)
Council on Foreign Relations (1)
Counterinsurgency (218)
DADT (2)
David Rohde (1)
Defense Contractors (2)
Department of Defense (210)
Department of Homeland Security (26)
Disaster Preparedness (5)
Distributed Operations (5)
Dogs (15)
Donald Trump (27)
Drone Campaign (4)
EFV (3)
Egypt (12)
El Salvador (1)
Embassy Security (1)
Enemy Spotters (1)
Expeditionary Warfare (17)
F-22 (2)
F-35 (1)
Fallujah (17)
Far East (3)
Fathers and Sons (2)
Favorite (1)
Fazlullah (3)
FBI (39)
Featured (190)
Federal Firearms Laws (18)
Financing the Taliban (2)
Firearms (1,795)
Football (1)
Force Projection (35)
Force Protection (4)
Force Transformation (1)
Foreign Policy (27)
Fukushima Reactor Accident (6)
Ganjgal (1)
Garmsir (1)
general (15)
General Amos (1)
General James Mattis (1)
General McChrystal (44)
General McKiernan (6)
General Rodriguez (3)
General Suleimani (9)
Georgia (19)
GITMO (2)
Google (1)
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (1)
Gun Control (1,670)
Guns (2,335)
Guns In National Parks (3)
Haditha Roundup (10)
Haiti (2)
HAMAS (7)
Haqqani Network (9)
Hate Mail (8)
Hekmatyar (1)
Heroism (5)
Hezbollah (12)
High Capacity Magazines (16)
High Value Targets (9)
Homecoming (1)
Homeland Security (3)
Horses (2)
Humor (72)
Hunting (37)
ICOS (1)
IEDs (7)
Immigration (114)
India (10)
Infantry (4)
Information Warfare (4)
Infrastructure (4)
Intelligence (23)
Intelligence Bulletin (6)
Iran (171)
Iraq (379)
Iraq SOFA (23)
Islamic Facism (64)
Islamists (98)
Israel (19)
Jaish al Mahdi (21)
Jalalabad (1)
Japan (3)
Jihadists (81)
John Nagl (5)
Joint Intelligence Centers (1)
JRTN (1)
Kabul (1)
Kajaki Dam (1)
Kamdesh (9)
Kandahar (12)
Karachi (7)
Kashmir (2)
Khost Province (1)
Khyber (11)
Knife Blogging (7)
Korea (4)
Korengal Valley (3)
Kunar Province (20)
Kurdistan (3)
Language in COIN (5)
Language in Statecraft (1)
Language Interpreters (2)
Lashkar-e-Taiba (2)
Law Enforcement (6)
Lawfare (14)
Leadership (6)
Lebanon (6)
Leon Panetta (2)
Let Them Fight (2)
Libya (14)
Lines of Effort (3)
Littoral Combat (8)
Logistics (50)
Long Guns (1)
Lt. Col. Allen West (2)
Marine Corps (280)
Marines in Bakwa (1)
Marines in Helmand (67)
Marjah (4)
MEDEVAC (2)
Media (68)
Medical (146)
Memorial Day (6)
Mexican Cartels (41)
Mexico (61)
Michael Yon (6)
Micromanaging the Military (7)
Middle East (1)
Military Blogging (26)
Military Contractors (5)
Military Equipment (25)
Militia (9)
Mitt Romney (3)
Monetary Policy (1)
Moqtada al Sadr (2)
Mosul (4)
Mountains (25)
MRAPs (1)
Mullah Baradar (1)
Mullah Fazlullah (1)
Mullah Omar (3)
Musa Qala (4)
Music (25)
Muslim Brotherhood (6)
Nation Building (2)
National Internet IDs (1)
National Rifle Association (97)
NATO (15)
Navy (30)
Navy Corpsman (1)
NCOs (3)
News (1)
NGOs (3)
Nicholas Schmidle (2)
Now Zad (19)
NSA (3)
NSA James L. Jones (6)
Nuclear (62)
Nuristan (8)
Obama Administration (221)
Offshore Balancing (1)
Operation Alljah (7)
Operation Khanjar (14)
Ossetia (7)
Pakistan (165)
Paktya Province (1)
Palestine (5)
Patriotism (7)
Patrolling (1)
Pech River Valley (11)
Personal (73)
Petraeus (14)
Pictures (1)
Piracy (13)
Pistol (4)
Pizzagate (21)
Police (656)
Police in COIN (3)
Policy (15)
Politics (980)
Poppy (2)
PPEs (1)
Prisons in Counterinsurgency (12)
Project Gunrunner (20)
PRTs (1)
Qatar (1)
Quadrennial Defense Review (2)
Quds Force (13)
Quetta Shura (1)
RAND (3)
Recommended Reading (14)
Refueling Tanker (1)
Religion (495)
Religion and Insurgency (19)
Reuters (1)
Rick Perry (4)
Rifles (1)
Roads (4)
Rolling Stone (1)
Ron Paul (1)
ROTC (1)
Rules of Engagement (75)
Rumsfeld (1)
Russia (37)
Sabbatical (1)
Sangin (1)
Saqlawiyah (1)
Satellite Patrols (2)
Saudi Arabia (4)
Scenes from Iraq (1)
Second Amendment (684)
Second Amendment Quick Hits (2)
Secretary Gates (9)
Sharia Law (3)
Shura Ittehad-ul-Mujahiden (1)
SIIC (2)
Sirajuddin Haqqani (1)
Small Wars (72)
Snipers (9)
Sniveling Lackeys (2)
Soft Power (4)
Somalia (8)
Sons of Afghanistan (1)
Sons of Iraq (2)
Special Forces (28)
Squad Rushes (1)
State Department (23)
Statistics (1)
Sunni Insurgency (10)
Support to Infantry Ratio (1)
Supreme Court (62)
Survival (196)
SWAT Raids (57)
Syria (38)
Tactical Drills (38)
Tactical Gear (15)
Taliban (168)
Taliban Massing of Forces (4)
Tarmiyah (1)
TBI (1)
Technology (21)
Tehrik-i-Taliban (78)
Terrain in Combat (1)
Terrorism (96)
Thanksgiving (13)
The Anbar Narrative (23)
The Art of War (5)
The Fallen (1)
The Long War (20)
The Surge (3)
The Wounded (13)
Thomas Barnett (1)
Transnational Insurgencies (5)
Tribes (5)
TSA (25)
TSA Ineptitude (14)
TTPs (4)
U.S. Border Patrol (6)
U.S. Border Security (19)
U.S. Sovereignty (24)
UAVs (2)
UBL (4)
Ukraine (10)
Uncategorized (98)
Universal Background Check (3)
Unrestricted Warfare (4)
USS Iwo Jima (2)
USS San Antonio (1)
Uzbekistan (1)
V-22 Osprey (4)
Veterans (3)
Vietnam (1)
War & Warfare (419)
War & Warfare (41)
War Movies (4)
War Reporting (21)
Wardak Province (1)
Warriors (6)
Waziristan (1)
Weapons and Tactics (79)
West Point (1)
Winter Operations (1)
Women in Combat (21)
WTF? (1)
Yemen (1)

October 2024
September 2024
August 2024
July 2024
June 2024
May 2024
April 2024
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006

about · archives · contact · register

Copyright © 2006-2024 Captain's Journal. All rights reserved.