Serious conditions still prevail in Western North Carolina (WNC) in the aftermath of HHH (the Hellish Hurricane Helene).
To save my precious time, we are doing a copy ‘n’ paste from my former neighbor and friend, the president of the Henderson County Women’s Republican Club. She and the Club posted a lengthy email today with details on recovery conditions.
I thought a very abbreviated version might be informative to our readers who can also consider this as “disaster prep” for your own situations—which we hope never has to be used.
(Please also keep the president and her husband in your prayers because they had a tree come crashing into their house. They’ve evacuated the area.)
Here is a the very abbreviated version of what she sent to us members. (Currently, about 30% of the HCWRC are men, who are deemed associate members.)
QUOTE:
Food and Water
- Supplying drinkable water remains a top priority for emergency crews.
- 158 water systems are on a boil advisory, 46 plants have reported having no power, and 13 systems are out of water.
- Last night, Duke Energy reported they were able to return power to the Marion water supply. [Marion is an hour east of Asheville on I-40. That interstate is closed from the Tennessee-NC border to east of Black Mountain which is at the eastern edge of Buncombe County. That interstate had a major washout of roadway in the Pigeon River gorge and it will probably take more than a year or two to be rebuilt and reopened!]
- The State of North Carolina has promised 40 trailer loads of water and 20 trailer loads of food daily through at least October 6.
- Buncombe County has begun water distribution at multiple sites. Each will be available daily from 1:00-7:00 p.m.: [Then a long list follows, which I will omit.]
- There are two major feeding sites in NC-11 [North Carolina Congressional District 11] where citizens can access food, water and basic necessities: [Then a long list follows, which I will omit.]
United States Postal Service
- As of late Monday, September 30, all mail delivery operations in the following three-digit ZIP code areas (any ZIP code beginning with these numbers) have been suspended: 287xx, 288xx, and 289xx. [Please do not mail anything to James or SKM until we announce in the blog that postal operations have resumed.]
Power and Gas
- 301,000 customers remain without power in Western North Carolina.
- 73 percent of all customers across the state have had their power restored and the citizens of WNC will be next.
- Duke Energy has restored power for 16 of the 17 hospitals that experienced outages as of 10:00 p.m. last night.
- Power to the Marion water supply has also been restored.
- In Asheville, damage assessments indicate 1,000 broken poles and 2,200 spans of primary are damaged.
- Duke Energy has not changed their anticipated restoration of service date.
- Most customers in Western North Carolina can expect the power to be back on by Friday, October 4.
- WARNING: Customers in areas that are inaccessible, dependent on infrastructure that has been destroyed or are unable to receive service, may see additional delays. [ I suspect that my neighborhood is in this area where service restoration will take somewhat longer.]
- Thousands of linemen are working day and night to clear debris, reopen roadways and repair major portions of the power grid.
Roads
- A “DO NOT DRIVE” message remains in place from the North Carolina Department of Transportation for Western North Carolina.
- Unless it is an emergency, please do not travel.
- Yesterday, NCDOT reported 220 roads remain closed in Western North Carolina. This morning, NCDOT announced that communication and access issues skewed their ability to collect information on road closures and an updated estimate of 300-400 roads are closed.
- Several crews from Florida are assisting in the repairs by bringing 7,500 feet of temporary bridge to NC.
- North Carolina is working with other states to determine additionally needed assets to mitigate compromised crossings and open more roads.
- NCDOT has reopened I-40 East at the location of the landslide near Old Fort. [Old Fort is the small town located at the base of the mountains just east of Black Mountain, east of Asheville.]
- Individuals evacuating the Asheville area are able to use I-40 East or I-26 East [i.e., which goes south to South Carolina]
Cell Service
- I have heard multiple reports of service weakening over the past 48 areas [sic, I assume she meant “hours”].
- This is expected, as more individuals are traveling to find cell service and temporary cellular assets are beginning to achieve maximum capacity.
- Service providers are continuing to deploy additional temporary cell sites to mitigate overwhelming the temporary network in locations where sites have already been deployed.
North Carolina National Guard
- 706 North Carolina National Guard soldiers and airmen have been deployed to provide support to Western North Carolina so far.
- This includes the deployment of 250 vehicles, such as High-Water Vehicles, Palletized Load Systems for commodity distribution and Forestry Support Teams for debris clearance, and 19 helicopters.
- Air missions are continuing in support of search and rescue, damage assessments and supply delivery.
- A bulk transport of supplies will be flown into Asheville via NC Air National Guard C-17 transport.
So far, NCNG has:
- Provided 97,200 lbs. of supplies by air transport
- Delivered 306 pallets of water and 230 pallets of food
- Conducted 60 hoist rescues
- Rescued 422 Western North Carolinians - 42 were critically injured, four were infants and 64 were animals.
Asheville Regional Airport
- Asheville Regional Airport closed mid-day on Friday, September 27, due to risk of flooding.
- Commercial flights at Asheville Regional Airport have resumed.
- If you parked your car in an Asheville Regional Airport lot and could not retrieve the vehicle due to the storm, great news - none of the airport’s lots flooded and all cars are fine.
- Stay safe and pick up your car when you are able.
For NC-11 Medical Practices
- If you own a medical practice in NC-11 and are experiencing financial hardship due to Hurricane Helene, the North Carolina Medical Society will be reactivating its Financial Recovery Program (FRP) to help you recover and open your doors again.
- The FRP will be back online to provide much needed assistance soon.
For Local Government Resource Requests
- For county leaders: This is a reminder to make sure your Emergency Operation Center has submitted the request for gasoline, food, water, cell service deployables, etc. with North Carolina Emergency Management to have your request processed and resources delivered.
- My office stands ready to assist with checking the status of your request if the county or municipality has not heard back from NC Emergency Management within 24 hours.
For Individual Assistance through FEMA
North Carolina received a Major Disaster Declaration for the following counties: Buncombe, Clay, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, and Yancey Counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
If you reside in one of the above-listed counties and had damage to private property due to Hurricane Helene, you may be eligible for Individual Assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Individual Assistance provides financial aid and services to eligible individuals and households that have been affected by a disaster to assist with the recovery process. Individuals can officially begin applying for Individual Assistance online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov, or by calling the application phone number at 1-800-621-3362 (TTY: 800-462-7585) between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. EST.
- To date, over 10,000 survivors have registered with FEMA for Individual Assistance.
- FEMA has also approved two new programs for use in NC:
- Displacement Assistance - Provides immediate housing for up to 14 days
- Serious Needs Assistance - Provides immediate financial assistance to replace and recover financial needs.
To Connect With a Loved One
… Please only use 911 for life-threatening emergencies so the lines remain open for critical situations.
Shelters
- For those unable to evacuate to a safe location or in need of a place to go, the following shelters are currently open and available as of October 1:
- [Then a long list follows, which I will omit.]
END QUOTE
I will continue to post as time permits. Please continue to keep us at SKM and all affected by HHH in your prayers. Thank you!
END
|||
