Board 8 > Hurricane Helene Destroys East Coast

(+) Yeah! (+)

How isnt there a thread on this yet? Nearly the whole state of North and South Carolina are without power, all cell phone and Wi-Fi has been out and this is the first time I can get a weak signal out. Theres an enormous death toll, tens of thousands of homes destroyed, the town of Chimney Rock has been wiped off the map. Theyre still rescuing people who are trapped and the shelters are at capacity. I dont even know how bad it is because all communication has been completely down, but its obvious this is the worse disaster to hit North Carolina ever. All four main roads into NC are destroyed and Im posting to yall completely screwed without water or power in Asheville. Hope everyone from around here is doing okay.

I live on the east coast of NC and we got one minor day of rain, which is normally not how it works, somehow it headed so far inland that it missed us basically. But yeah I've heard the west is just absolutely boned. Last I heard was that essentially every single road in most parts of west NC is considered closed until further notice.

Near Nashville we've only had quite a lot of rain, but I've heard from family who have needed to evacuate to emergency shelters.

We arent allowed to talk politics anymore and current events line up too close to the sun in that regard so they are essentially banned.

Like, want to talk about why these events are occuring so often and that we are going to see more of this even later in the year?

Nope, banned.

Like,sucks for all the people in it. But we cant talk really talk about how the event should have been prepared for, what we'd expect as the response to the events, various goings on of those in charge of the recovery. Funny things like some idiot drawing a hurricane path on a map.

Nope. All banned in a broader sense.

Asheville and Boone seem like the worst hit places. I've seen so much devastation out there online and through friends.

the rest of the state is fine though. central NC is sunny and normal. I'm sure the coast is OK for once too.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/29/weather/hurricane-helene-florida-georgia-carolinas-sunday/index.html

I think the news about the death of a certain figure in the Middle East took the headlines over what's happening domestically.

My mom is alive but struggling

I haven't heard from my friend in a couple days (but she probably has more important people to talk to if she can get power and cell)

I'm kinda scared

I live near Atlanta, we were spared the worst of it. We had a ton of rain, my basement flooded, some of Atlanta was underwater, but all things considered it could have been way worse.

My best friend lives in Augusta (Eastern GA) and they had a lot of damage. Two of their neighbors had trees hit their house, a tree missed theirs by about five feet. Someone else in their neighborhood was hit by a tree and killed (I think a good portion of Georgia's death toll is in that area). Basically that entire city is out of power and travel is impossible because of all the downed trees blocking roadways. Definitely one of the worst storms to hit the GA/Carolina area in a long time.

red13n posted...

Like, want to talk about why these events are occuring so often and that we are going to see more of this even later in the year?

Nope, banned.

Like,sucks for all the people in it. But we cant talk really talk about how the event should have been prepared for, what we'd expect as the response to the events, various goings on of those in charge of the recovery. Funny things like some idiot drawing a hurricane path on a map.

Nope. All banned in a broader sense.

Seems fine so far

It's damaged the Florida gulf coast, Georgia, and southeast Appalachia.

Hardly the "east coast"

jesus christ bartz you fucking dork is that really what's needed here?

an uninformed person might see this and think that the east coast was actually affected by this.

just because there's a disaster doesn't mean people can just post misinformation.

I dont know who died in the Middle East and I cant access that link because the connection is too weak. This is a Katrina level event happening the US right now. Thousands of people are missing. North Carolina is devastated and without power with no signs of getting it soon. People dont have food and water. I dont know what the fuck Bartz is talking about. South and North Carolina are the east coast you flipping moron.

I have a lot of coworkers in Asheville. Can't imagine what they're going through.

The videos of bridges and highways just being gone are horrifying.

Every news story just tears my heart out regarding the aftermath of Helene. I can't even imagine the chaos and uncertainty you're going through - I hope you can navigate such a painful chapter.

In VA it seems like a bunch of flood-prone areas got hit, but it's surprisingly ok compared to NC

On Helene's approach here I was selfishly hoping things we be a bit worse around my area, just so they'd call off work and I wouldn't have to go. When we woke up on Friday morning and not much was amiss, I'll admit I was pretty bummed. At the time I wasn't sure of how much damage was incoming during that day for other places. Hurricanes tend to have most of their worst weather effects on their east side, and the Atlanta area basically had Helene pass just over us and perhaps slightly to the east, so despite the proximity not too much occurred in my area. I did hear downtown had some flooding issues due to drainage, but the metro area in general was intact.

After seeing what happened to other places though, I feel bad about being selfish enough to hope for something bad enough just to prevent me from going to work. The endless grind of a job might suck, but entire places destroyed and people dying is obviously a lot worse since there's no going back from that. When I was a kid, we spent almost every summer visiting Chimney Rock in NC. I was really shocked to see what happened to it; the entire town completely destroyed and wiped off the map basically. The area held a lot of sentiment for me, and to see the pictures of it now is really heartbreaking.

Man I thought red had a "not the time for this..." response until I hit Bartz... read the fucking room dude.

I'm up in Massachusetts. We haven't been hit yet and it looks like it may mostly dissipate before it gets here. I'm in shock and very saddened over what's happening down south right now.

I live in the outskirts of Orlando so we were barely grazed by it. Extent of the damage to my house was I had to redo the soffit on one quarter of the house which is the grand scheme of things is one of the better scenarios

It's crazy seeing how bad the damage is in the Carolinas. It's always bad in Florida but I guess because it happens so frequently, we just get used to it and are better set up for it. Somewhere that isn't just gets devastated. Not that storm surge in Florida isn't devastating too.

It's going to take a long time for the affected areas to recover

Bartz is mostly right, Appalachia isn't the east coast. Def could use more thoughts & prayers though.

Underleveled posted...

I'm up in Massachusetts. We haven't been hit yet and it looks like it may mostly dissipate before it gets here.

It's already dissipated, but also the storm's path was much further west than Massachusetts anyway.

"The Carolinas are on the east coast" isn't an incorrect statement. Yes, the areas affected are inland and not the literal coast, but you still call both states east coast states because they are. A totally unnecessary commentary regardless of truth.

Underleveled posted...

Man I thought red had a "not the time for this..." response until I hit Bartz... read the fucking room dude.

Sorry didn't mean to drag. Honestly have very little idea of whats going on with the Helene aftermath because it hasn't really broken the news cycle much out here.

There isnt much information getting out because theres only one main road into North Carolina clear as of now and our communication is almost entirely down but sometimes I can get a signal but it is bad bad bad here peoples houses are being carried away by the flood. They cant get supplies into the city because of the disaster. One of our local radio people described the situation as biblical. Both of our emergency dams failed. We were thoroughly unprepared for how bad it was gonna be up to the highest levels. Im sure well hear the full devastation report once the situation stops being ongoing. And dont be dense people refer to the states that are on the coast as the east coast all the time, they surely call all of California the west coast and if youre local you call your state the east coast because it is like what the absolute hell.

Sounds like Houston but with even less communication

Man people are spending way too much argumentative energy on a question of precision as if it matters.

Please keep us updated - I've seen very little about NC from other sources so far. My brother's in laws lost two houses in Florida due to this, but he's a bit further in land so he's okay.

My mom was told she's not gonna have water for a couple weeks

Oh gosh, sorry things are so bad there. Im used to storms being the worst in southern states like Florida that I didnt expect the Carolinas to be in such bad shape by the time Helene hit them. I hope roads can get cleared up and things fixed soon.

natural disasters aren't really a 'politics' thing, it's literally just disasters. the damage in the carolinas is so bad it doesn't even seem like fema can help them even if they wanted to. that's crazy.

Nah, everything is politics. This happened because of politics, and it'll get either worse or better because of politics.

I hope the communities there will be able to come back from this. There are a lot of places that look like they're irreparable

I made it back to Augusta the day after everything happened. Couldn't even fly back in, had to fly to Columbia and get picked up by a friend. Roughly 95% of the city was without power, I was completely shocked when we got ours turned back on yesterday. Traffic lights were either gone or not working. Houses and cars were fucked up. Saturday, we had spaghetti cooked from a makeshift grill. I spent yesterday helping get some tree off a roof. The Army base is closed off to nonessential personnel until further notice.

My family's in Western NC. Thankfully I was able to make contact with the Mrs yesterday after she had to drive somewhere with remotely decent cell service. Family's fine, and since she didn't mention anything about the house or other family members, I'm assuming everything in our section is okay, or as okay as it can be. Regardless, it's bad out there. Asheville is wrecked. Our town, one county over, had flooding in various places.

Above everything else, my family and I are good.

911 is still suspended. The number just isnt working and they suggest helping your neighbor. Ive used up all my gas and resources trying to make it the last few days and Im totally out of food and water now. Its still a disaster out there they havent even started fixing up our area yet. I drove for a long time yesterday but I couldnt find anything open and had to come back. Its not like I filled up the tank before Friday I didnt get paid till Friday so I couldnt. Cant access that money in my bank account at all. even evacuate at this point. My power and water have been off since Friday morning and Im only able to get brief spotty internet and bad radio signal to know whats going on out there.

Various articles have said it could take weeks to restore power and water... Dude I really hope you find a way to evacuate or something soon...

I can't fathom trying to survive through what must feel like an apocalyptic event.

Please try to keep us updated though

Theres no gas or anything. People in my complex are like grilling outside on barrels. Partying all night outside. We have fist fights breaking out over limited resources. One guy is defending his convenience store with an AK-47 yelling at people to leave so he wont get looted.

I'm not sure if this is at all helpful to you, I just read there are some water distribution centers opening up at 2pm today in Ashville. Here are the locations just in case you are close enough to any of them.

• William W. Estes Elementary School: 275 Overlook Road, Asheville
• Sand Hill Elementary: 154 Sand Hill School Road, Asheville (Please enter via Acton Circle)
• North Windy Ridge Intermediate School: 20 Doan Road, Weaverville
• Fairview Elementary School: 1355 Charlotte Highway, Fairview

Let me know if there's anything else I can possibly look up for you.

I've seen people online and even on gamefaqs saying these people and governments should have been more prepared and it's our fault.

This has never happened before. Cities hundreds and thousands of feet above sea level in the mountains never have biblical flash floods due to routine gulf hurricanes. This isn't just about cities in Florida who get a hurricane twice a year, this has never happened.

There was no preparation because people had like a few hours at absolute max to know a crisis would happen. I know family who went to lunch with their grandkids and couldnt get home for days because half the city was flooded literally without warning while they were in the restaurant

AriaOfBolo posted...

My mom was told she's not gonna have water for a couple weeks

update: months

Anyone who victim blames here is a massive shit head. It's not like you had days to find higher ground or go further inland. You are the higher ground further inland.

Climate change will come for all of us.

PeaceFrog posted...

Anyone who victim blames here is a massive shit head. It's not like you had days to find higher ground or go further inland. You are the higher ground further inland.

Climate change will come for all of us.

The storm basically grew out of nowhere. Probably one of the fastest growing storms in the regions history.

And with that they still undershot the intensity.

So people had little warning and then a rapidly approaching storm that continually beat out the forecast on the intensity.

So yeah, this is the future and it will continue to be more and more horrific.

also not everybody can just up and skedaddle even if they know it's a bad place to be

Yeah I don't know why some people think it's that easy to just uproot your entire life to move someplace "safer", especially when everyone living through this hell already assumed they were in the safest location...

And let's suppose everyone did evacuate ahead of time, that's a shit ton of people. Where are they all supposed to go?

PeaceFrog posted...

Climate change will come for all of us.

Even if you live in Iceland?

Bat178 posted...

Even if you live in Iceland?

As it happens Iceland is the only country in Europe where heat related deaths have declined in recent years rather than increased. But eventually, yes.

CassandraCain posted...

Yeah I don't know why some people think it's that easy to just uproot your entire life to move someplace "safer", especially when everyone living through this hell already assumed they were in the safest location...

And let's suppose everyone did evacuate ahead of time, that's a shit ton of people. Where are they all supposed to go?

Extreme weather is happening everywhere.

There isn't anywhere. We don't have a plan. We aren't slowing this. People are actively advocating against both fixing the problem and providing a solution because it is in their economic interest to pretend the problem doesn't exist.

My family is about an hour and a half south of Asheville in Greenville, SC. Lots of flooding and trees down. They just got their power back today. It makes me wonder if the elevation / amount of trees was part of the major problem for Asheville/West NC specifically.

I-40 is destroyed, which sucks because it was a cool scenic drive from Knoxville to Winston-Salem that I used to make for work all the time

There was a distribution water and food today but a group of reported skinheads came in a truck and took all the supplies at gun point. Theres been at least two shootings. The police and emergency responders are too busy. I was able to eat and hand out food and water to thousands of people because my workplace dominos set up a generator so I reported for work and we gave out tons of free pizza.

red13n posted...

Extreme weather is happening everywhere.

There isn't anywhere. We don't have a plan. We aren't slowing this. People are actively advocating against both fixing the problem and providing a solution because it is in their economic interest to pretend the problem doesn't exist.

Jesus christ, if I wanted to see this sort of post, I'd be asking to be let back into Current Events.

We certainly have been picking up some CE refugees recently.

red13n posted...

There isn't anywhere. We don't have a plan. We aren't slowing this.

Contrary to what many people seem to believe, the government can't actually control the weather. Mother Nature does whatever the hell she wants.