Posted on 09/28/2024 10:33:21 PM PDT by Morgana
Multiple towns and villages in North Carolina have been destroyed by raging floodwaters fueled by the remnants of Hurricane Helene.
Shocking footage captured a powerful torrent of muddy brown water racing down what was a pristine green hillside in Chimney Rock, while the eerie sound of an emergency alert siren can be heard whining in the background.
The sudden waterfall blasts away anything in its path including wooden buildings and family cars which are simply tossed aside by the surging waters like discarded toys. Chimney Rock was largely obliterated by the inundation.
The storm has washed away roads and damaged others while leaving homes without power and cellphone service across much of southern Appalachia.
There have been close to 60 storm-related deaths have been reported in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia leaving countless worried relatives unable to reach loved ones.
Kate Pace was one of a number taking to social media desperate for news about her missing parents.
'It's been about 24 hours since we last heard from my parents. The Spruce Pine / Burnsville area of Western North Carolina has been decimated by the storm. I recognize cellular service is deeply impacted,' Pace wrote.
'I also recognize maybe there is emergency info. I haven't seen yet. If anyone has additional details on rescue efforts in that region please drop me a message. Thank you.'
Among those also waiting for news was also Francine Cavanaugh, whose sister told her she was going to check on guests at a vacation cabin as the storm began hitting Asheville.
Cavanaugh, who lives in Atlanta, hasn't been able to reach her since then.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Some FReepers pooh-hooed this storm.
Big mistake.
When Mo’ Nature wraps up this much latent power in a system like this and hurls it at us, the likelihood that somewhere some of us will die, and many others will be harmed, is quite high.
Horrible and heartbreaking. Prayers for all affected by Helene’s wrath.
pooh-hooed?
What does that mean?
The ones that stayed behind poo pooed it.
I pray for the victims there but when you build in known flood areas next to a rivers, below a dam one day and that day will come a 50 year or even a 100 year flood and wipe out everything.. I live not more than a mile from a river and couple lakes behind dams but I do live 650 ft above elevation, I have see it flood due to one dam having to open the flood gates and flood out 300+ homes due to getting 12 inches of rain in 3 hours. I have seen water go over the top of the other dam and short out all the transformers on the backside, wash away an 80 year old bridge and actually move the dam 6 feet on one side tearing it from the anchors in the mountain... Moral of this story is do not live in flood zones.
And there are probably still holier-than-thou scoffers who sneer that this was just another over hyped hurricane that was really no big deal.
Because they never have to live through it.
That was one of the criteria that mr. mm and I had when house hunting.
Aside from NO HOA’s, must have internet (for work), and can’t be too close to a road, NO FLOOD ZONES was on the DQ a house list.
I lived in the Asheville, Hendersonville, Greenville SC, corridor for 10 years. I do not remember any flooding at all.
If you live right next to a river or lake or reservoir, then there is obvious risk.
But, flooding from intense rain fall?
Wow. That's a new one for me.
Some FReepers pooh-hooed this storm.
____________________
We are all immunized by the media.
They always blow up any little problem and make mountains out of molehills.
Then, were the real thing happens, people tend to ignore the warnings.
The same way as we tend to ignore the pages of idiotic warnings in the front of any operational manual. But, somewhere in those pages, there may be hidden something we really should read.
The devastation is real and its heartbreaking. Many of these areas had already gotten inches of rain days before. Helene just added to a precarious situation. It moved fast.
It was raining at a rate of 2.5” per hour in some places. In a valley, the only place for the water to go is up.
Biltmore Village in Asheville is built in a low lying area and regularly floods. But the towns like Black Mountain, Old Fort, Chimney Rock and Boone rarely see such events.
The area of devastation is staggering. From southeast VA all the way to TN near Knoxville. Thats a huge area of impact. In a lot of places the destruction is total. Its going to take more than crews with chainsaws and electrical crews to get these places up and running.
My beloved mountains have been damaged badly. It will take years for them to be made whole.
Another lesson people learned is do NOT have an electric vehicle in an area which may get storm surge.
EV’s and salt water do NOT mix well. Some EVs burst into flame when saltwater shorted out their batteries.
I live in the Hickory, NC area. At the moment I am in Spokane, WA, due to an auto accident in Aug. The family got hit but everyone is ok and all houses in good shape. they started getting power back around 2:00pm. Yesterday for some reason I was able to communicate with everyone but the people that live within 10 miles of each other could not. Hopefully dad will be able to travel soon and we can get back home.
I heard a report somewhere that most of these folks had no insurance as they could not afford it, guess this is on the US Taxpayer.
Likely most who left their EV did it on purpose.
Let insurance pay for your buyer’s remorse.
Wanna bet most then buy an ICE vehicle with the payout?
Betcha.
Average cost of federal flood insurance, per FEMA, is about $800/year.
If you can’t find that in your budget and live in a flood zone, you might want to find somewhere else to live.
Helene was MORE DANGEROUS and DESTRUCTIVE AFTER it left Florida!!
Hell of a mess. We lucked out here in north Georgia. Western wall of the eye went over the top of us. Tons of rain but little to no wind thanks to the mountain behind us and never lost power which is amazing. It went out for a couple hours on Thursday well before the storm got here which is typical.
Agnus 1972 or so, decimated eastern PA, Reading Wilkes Barre and plenty of other places. WB was annihilated.
Not just a coastal problem
We lost the only restaurant and the only grocery store in town. The New River crested at 21 feet taking out 3 campgrounds locally.
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