North Carolina flooding

Yeah, very sad! We have family on NC's eastern coast, but no-one in western part of the state. It is a huge mess with many people still missing. Unfortunately, most/all roads in that area are presently closed with only emergency vehicles allowed in. Also, there are reports of "very aggressive looters & bad actors" prowling western NC & eastern TN.

IMO, those folks need the 82nd Airborn dropped in..

Here's NC's DOT road conditions map. The '!' roads are closed. This will take a while..

No cheer here..

A couple of us are headed down there tomorrow morning. I've got family a bit south of Ashville and like so many in the area, they don't have any power. We are headed down with a generator and a whole lot of supplies. I just finished wiring up my trailer lights last night and will be taking a small trailer of goods down there. A lot of friends and family have donated so I'm sure my Bronco and trailer will be packed! A big shout out to Mike @SlashRacer for coming down with me. We'll load up his Bronco too! He is also going to wire in the generator to my niece's house so they will have a some electricity. They have city water but under a boil order and the only way they can boil water is on their outside grill so getting their electric stove going will be a huge things for them especially with 2 small children in the house. Almost everything is gone on the grocery's shelves, gas is limited and everything is cash. With that being said, they feel blessed since there are so many that have lost everything.😌

Once that is finished, we will help where ever and however we can!

We also jump started a relief effort in our town which will be leaving next weekend. We are truly blessed to live in a generous community. If anyone wants to help out and you want to make sure your donations are used properly, there is info in this article on where to donate.
https://timesuniononline.com/news/2...htJSKOfvF8ERbQBeqQ_aem_ekmjaBuJ3xOIXI6WC_UsrA

Deano Bronc

A couple of us are headed down there tomorrow morning. I've got family a bit south of Ashville and like so many in the area, they don't have any power. We are headed down with a generator and a whole lot of supplies. I just finished wiring up my trailer lights last night and will be taking a small trailer of goods down there. A lot of friends and family have donated so I'm sure my Bronco and trailer will be packed! A big shout out to Mike @SlashRacer for coming down with me. We'll load up his Bronco too! He is also going to wire in the generator to my niece's house so they will have a some electricity. They have city water but under a boil order and the only way they can boil water is on their outside grill so getting their electric stove going will be a huge things for them especially with 2 small children in the house. Almost everything is gone on the grocery's shelves, gas is limited and everything is cash. With that being said, they feel blessed since there are so many that have lost everything.😌

Once that is finished, we will help where ever and however we can!

I have friends about 70 miles north in Hampton been helping the best we can from here. She said they got internet/phone service back yesterday so it's been easier to get folks updated and get more relief to where it's needed.
Thanks for doing what you can and prayers for everyone's continued safety and help!

Deano Bronc

We also jump started a relief effort in our town which will be leaving next weekend. We are truly blessed to live in a generous community. If anyone wants to help out and you want to make sure your donations are used properly, there is info in this article on where to donate.
https://timesuniononline.com/news/2...htJSKOfvF8ERbQBeqQ_aem_ekmjaBuJ3xOIXI6WC_UsrA

Great job Deano!! Please be safe and take care of yourselves.

Cheers

For those who want to help one good way to do that is to donate to the American Red Cross. They have a website set up here. If you want to go right to the donation page you can jump to it here.

Here's a good vid on needed relief items, logistics brief and status.

North Carolina was hit pretty hard by the remnants of Hurricane Helene. I spent a few days in Asheville, North Carolina back in September 2023. Its residents are friendly and it has an incredible arts community. They've also got a kickass craft brew scene. I hope they recover swiftly and completely from this devastating natural disaster. Anyone willing and able to lend a hand to their recovery is worthy of praise. We're all connected in one way or another.

Thoughts & prayers continue for the people effected by Helene. It's now 10 days post event, and we're not seeing great progress reported on establishing much needed relief and rebuild work. Sure, there are several heroic volunteer efforts underway, but IMO there should be much larger scale resources mobilizing in this region.

I mean, heavy equipment should now be onsite building temporary housing, medical facilities & air strips for the fixed wing transports necessary to deliver far greater loads than helicopters.

Transportation's gotta be a big priority. This region's critical interstate highway I-40 needs to be running in months, not 2028 as currently shown on Google maps.

There's essentially change on NC DOT's road conditions map.


Photos & videos show I-40 and most other area road damage are washed out roadway embankments.

Obviously, HUGE volumes of aggregate material will be required to rebuild these roadways. They should be siting new rock quarries and start making crushed rock today, to have this material available as soon as possible, Also, they will need houdreds of construction workers, so they should be siting & building temporary camps for those workers too.

Unfortunately, federal DOT seems to be interested in only providing funding, but there are multiple states involved in this mess and makes NO sense for each state doing their own thing - We gotta have MUCH stronger leadership at the Federal level for this to work at all efficiently..

I know - That's too much to expect..

Geez

Kenneth

Thoughts & prayers continue for the people effected by Helene. It's now 10 days post event, and we're not seeing great progress reported on establishing much needed relief and rebuild work. Sure, there are several heroic volunteer efforts underway, but IMO there should be much larger scale resources mobilizing in this region.

I mean, heavy equipment should now be onsite building temporary housing, medical facilities & air strips for the fixed wing transports necessary to deliver far greater loads than helicopters.

Transportation's gotta be a big priority. This region's critical interstate highway I-40 needs to be running in months, not 2028 as currently shown on Google maps.

There's essentially change on NC DOT's road conditions map.


Photos & videos show I-40 and most other area road damage are washed out roadway embankments.

Obviously, HUGE volumes of aggregate material will be required to rebuild these roadways. They should be siting new rock quarries and start making crushed rock today, to have this material available as soon as possible, Also, they will need houdreds of construction workers, so they should be siting & building temporary camps for those workers too.

Unfortunately, federal DOT seems to be interested in only providing funding, but there are multiple states involved in this mess and makes NO sense for each state doing their own thing - We gotta have MUCH stronger leadership at the Federal level for this to work at all efficiently..

I know - That's too much to expect..

Geez

You make a lot of great points. Having I-40 open would serve huge dividends in the future. There really is no good way to get to the Asheville area and surrounding towns from the North. We had to go through the Gatlinburg area and then through the Smokey Mountain National Park which is a bunch of sharp twisty roads. I can't imagine getting any kind of large equipment through that area.

We are headed down there again this weekend for volunteer work and help my brother-in-law clear a lot of his downed trees. They are still without power but they started to try and clean up some downed trees and powerline heading up to his place. We are hoping he will have power by the time we get there.

On the way out of there on Sunday, we saw so many utility trucks heading that way. So many without power so I hope they can make a dent in the outages soon.

Deano Bronc

You make a lot of great points. Having I-40 open would serve huge dividends in the future. There really is no good way to get to the Asheville area and surrounding towns from the North. We had to go through the Gatlinburg area and then through the Smokey Mountain National Park which is a bunch of sharp twisty roads. I can't imagine getting any kind of large equipment through that area.

We are headed down there again this weekend for volunteer work and help my brother-in-law clear a lot of his downed trees. They are still without power but they started to try and clean up some downed trees and powerline heading up to his place. We are hoping he will have power by the time we get there.

On the way out of there on Sunday, we saw so many utility trucks heading that way. So many without power so I hope they can make a dent in the outages soon.

Travel safely, Dean, and I hope you all can get a lot accomplished.

Laura

Travel safely, Dean, and I hope you all can get a lot accomplished.

Thank you. Not sure if you read my short version of last weekends trip since it was in the libations thread. You should be very proud of the fellow BN members that chipped in financially to help us get down there. We have one great community here.😊
https://thebronconation.com/welcome...tions-game-nsfw-t.10066/page-1769#post-329071

Also, for those that want to help down there, my wife came across this link. We have a local organization that will be in that area also.
https://hotspringsrecovery.com/

Deano Bronc

Thank you. Not sure if you read my short version of last weekends trip since it was in the libations thread. You should be very proud of the fellow BN members that chipped in financially to help us get down there. We have one great community here.😊
https://thebronconation.com/welcome...tions-game-nsfw-t.10066/page-1769#post-329071

Also, for those that want to help down there, my wife came across this link. We have a local organization that will be in that area also.
https://hotspringsrecovery.com/

No, I'm behind on; I will catch up -- thank you for the links! So many amazing people in the Nation and community

Dean, you and Suzy be safe as you venture to NC again. Hopefully there will be power and the chain saws have a great weekend. Be sure and let us know if there’s anything we can do for y‘all. Heading to the hotsprings website now…

I have a friend living in the Fort Meyers area (Port Charlotte) and he is right in the path of Milton… sheesh

Bluestreak57

Dean, you and Suzy be safe as you venture to NC again. Hopefully there will be power and the chain saws have a great weekend. Be sure and let us know if there’s anything we can do for y‘all. Heading to the hotsprings website now…

I have a friend living in the Fort Meyers area (Port Charlotte) and he is right in the path of Milton… sheesh

Thank you Al.

I am really feeling for the people on the Florida coast. They have really gotten beat up in the last month. I hope they are moving to a safer area although I think a lot of highways right now are bumper to bumper.

Deano Bronc

Thank you Al.

I am really feeling for the people on the Florida coast. They have really gotten beat up in the last month. I hope they are moving to a safer area although I think a lot of highways right now are bumper to bumper.

My friend in Punta Gorda has his house all closed up and back in Montana. Hoping he has a home to go back to as he really hates our winters since he retired to FLA.
Prayers for all.
Ernie on the other side in Ormond Beach tells me he can not find anything in any stores with all the panic buying. He is as prepared as anyone.
Be safe and smart folks.

Deano Bronc

You make a lot of great points. Having I-40 open would serve huge dividends in the future. There really is no good way to get to the Asheville area and surrounding towns from the North. We had to go through the Gatlinburg area and then through the Smokey Mountain National Park which is a bunch of sharp twisty roads. I can't imagine getting any kind of large equipment through that area.

We are headed down there again this weekend for volunteer work and help my brother-in-law clear a lot of his downed trees. They are still without power but they started to try and clean up some downed trees and powerline heading up to his place. We are hoping he will have power by the time we get there.

On the way out of there on Sunday, we saw so many utility trucks heading that way. So many without power so I hope they can make a dent in the outages soon.

The Air National Guard is flying in some heavy equipment. https://www.army.mil/article/280098/national_guard_rescues_hundreds_of_people_in_hurricanes_wake