Hurricane Helene

[dogmush]

https://x.com/Mrgunsngear/status/1839701848602587175?t=J5y_XkzuRQPGvIDbvjA1Vg&s=19

Lake Lure dam is apparently about to fail up in NC.  It's amazing how much damage some water can do.

[dogmush]

More info: https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/north-carolina-dams-failing-force-evacuations-after-rain-rcna173059

^^^^
There's a link in there to the USGS flood gage on the Pigeon River which is 28.5ft up and rising.

[WLJ]

Chimney Rock, NC before and after

https://x.com/nicksortor/status/1839788741805912557

[WLJ]

[WLJ]

[dogmush]

A section of I40 east has reportedly collapsed into the valley.

[WLJ]

Meanwhile on a Hwy in FL

But I think that may be an old picture

[WLJ]

Herrrrrre's Kamala (did I pronounce that right?)

End Wokeness
@EndWokeness
Kamala Harris thinks that aid for floods, hurricanes, tornados, & fires should be distributed based on race:

"Communities of color need more"

https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/1839649759365128696

[WLJ]

NOAA Aircraft Operations Center
@NOAA_HurrHunter
Ride through the eyewall of Hurricane #Helene aboard @NOAA
 WP-3D Orion #NOAA42 "Kermit" during our evening mission on Sept. 26, 2024. This mission gathered crucial data of a large hurricane intensifying before landfall. Find NOAA resources on continuing impacts and post storm recovery at http://noaa.gov/helene.
#FlyNOAA #science #aviation
Video Credit: Lt. Cmdr. Andrew Utama, NOAA Corps

Bumpy ride

https://x.com/NOAA_HurrHunter/status/1839670793178902851

[WLJ]

[WLJ]

Don't know if this is true or not

Colin McCarthy
@US_Stormwatch
See this blue blob on radar.

These are birds stuck in the eye of Hurricane Helene!

[BobR]

That's a neat picture of an Air Force C130 inside the eye of Dorian (2019). They have a weather reconnaissance squadron that flys out of Mississippi ever since they took the mission away from Navy decades ago.  In other news the NOAA P3s used for weather stuff are getting kind of old so they are going to get some C130s purpose built for their mission.

https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/noaa-awards-contract-for-next-generation-hurricane-hunter-aircraft#:~:text=Today%2C%20NOAA%20announced%20that%20it,proven%20platform%20for%20hurricane%20reconnaissance.


bob

[WLJ]

A section of I40 east has reportedly collapsed into the valley.

https://x.com/millenboy/status/1839834377821233374

[Boomhauer]

Upstate SC- We got hammered with downed trees everywhere. The power line network is thoroughly wrecked. Many trees down on lines are so large they need crane, heavy equipment, and chainsaws with 6 foot bars. We are blessed to have power in my little neighborhood but most of the area does not. Main roads are mostly clear, secondary roads are a complete crapshoot. Power is very spotty even in the cities where normally they keep power on during weather events. Cell service is spotty, mainly text and voice with occasional internet service.

Most stores are closed. Hospitals are running on backup gensets. Most fuel stations closed, the very few open have lines of several hours and hundreds of cars. Duke power is staying up to two weeks before many areas will get power back. Anything open is being mobbed. No civil unrest yet but some stores have to close when people get out of hand.

Western NC got the *expletive deleted*it stomped out of them. We are fortunate to mainly be dealing with trees down and power down, it’s a complete disaster up there around Lake Lure and many other issues to the point the DOT of that area is saying effectively no usable roads and many areas are instituting curfews

We sent a lot of line crews down to FL and GA. I don’t know the situations down there. Prayers for all and the people up in the mountains I know Mrs Smith was at risk and potentially evacuating but no word otherwise

[dogmush]

Some of the videos coming out of NC are heartbreaking. 

[WLJ]

Some of the videos coming out of NC are heartbreaking.

I was just coming here to post one that popped up in my YT feed

Not sure why the guy felt the need to add the upbeat music

It's been a solemn morning as my friend Michael Baker and our group joined first responders early at dawn in Erwin to start the long process of surveying damage so plans of action can be implemented. We've pledged our full support over the next few weeks documenting with photos and video for the town of Erwin and an other municipality (Elizabethton, Hampton, Greene County) that we can be of help to. Please pray as we met several families today that had suffered total losses. Now is the time to donate anything that can be of help.

The Aftermath of the Helene flooding of Erwin Day 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FVvRe0JNqo

[WLJ]

From Lake Lure to Asheville, flooding footage shows damage across NC communities
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVpBGhjVGj0

[grampster]

I've tried to contact Mrs Smith, with no luck.  Her town was hit hard with rain and flooding.  She told me she had a place go and also got her animals to a safe spot.

[230RN]

I wonder how insurance is going to work.  Seems a lot of damage was probably done in places outside of "flood plain" areas where additional flood insurance charges are tacked on to the premiums.

I pity the poor folks who were underinsured because they bought and financed when the house was worth $60k and yesterday was worth $160K and the ground it was sitting on is now also worth zeroness. 

Who would want to build on it now?

Same thing with underinsurance happened in the recent devastating Superior mass fire in Colorado.  The banks don't care as long as you're insured to their loan amount  But at least the lots the houses were sitting on (with the service taps) were still worth something.

Terry, 230RN

[Boomhauer]

I've tried to contact Mrs Smith, with no luck.  Her town was hit hard with rain and flooding.  She told me she had a place go and also got her animals to a safe spot.

I don’t think you are going to hear from her anytime soon. Comms are extremely spotty in much lesser damaged areas. The parts of TN and NC that got the massive floods? I’m betting nothing works up there except radio. I think there is a probability that she won’t have a house to go back to if it was anywhere close to that river she was talking about.

[dogmush]

.

I pity the poor folks who were underinsured because they bought and financed when the house was worth $60k and yesterday was worth $160K and the ground it was sitting on is now also worth zeroness. 

Who would want to build on it now?

...
Terry, 230RN

Folks will still want to own/build on that land, and I suspect a bunch of folks will rebuild, for several reasons.
1. For rebuilding folks, that's home.  For lots of them, several generations of home.  You don't give up and leave unless you have to.

2. For folks buying/selling, land in that part of the country comes in two varieties: flood plain, and vertical. If you want to build anything, it's going to be in an area that can flood, or can be cut off by flooding.

2a. This was a historically bad situation.  You could rebuild on much of that land, and never see this again in yours,  or your children's lifetime. People will consider that. (Of course, statistical chances being what they are, you could also get another "500 year flood" next year. IME people ignore that part)

[Jim147]

They got a couple Starlinks set up in Ashville. They are letting anyone that can get in range use them, but you need to have a way to charge your phone or laptop if they survived.

[RocketMan]

Quite a bit of helicopter traffic in and out of Hickory Regional Airport, just over the hill from my house.  It's about a mile as the crow flies to the main terminal.  I can hear Jet Rangers and Hueys moving through.  Saw a CH-47 leaving eastbound a bit ago.  I think it's the largest airport this side of Asheville, so most of the traffic is related to relief operations in that area would be my best guess.

This video on Facebook was shot just a ten minute drive from my place.  One of our favorite restaurants is just a few hundred yards downstream of that dam.
All that water overtopping the dam is flowing downstream to Lake Hickory.  The US321 bridge over Lake Hickory is less than a mile away from here.  I'm wondering if it's going to be closed at some point.
He's got quite a few other videos up on his page showing the aftermath of Helene's passage on Friday.  The videographer is an accomplished young man, the son of a woman we used to go to church with.

[Boomhauer]

My oh so wonderful local small town police are stopping volunteers from clearing fallen trees and cleaning brush because they don’t have business licenses. They are also being real aholes to the citizens trying to get what they need at local stores.

[230RN]

dogmush said,

"Folks will still want to own/build on that land, and I suspect a bunch of folks will rebuild, for several reasons.
1. For rebuilding folks, that's home.  For lots of them, several generations of home.  You don't give up and leave unless you have to.

2. For folks buying/selling, land in that part of the country comes in two varieties: flood plain, and vertical. If you want to build anything, it's going to be in an area that can flood, or can be cut off by flooding."

Acknowleged.  Time will tell.

I recognized the "N year flooding" concept but deleted it before posting. Lightning does strike twice in the same place kind of thing.  Yer places yer bets and yer takes yer chances. Too bad 'cause I lost the opportunity to tell about the time I saw a tree get hit by lightning twice in about three  minutes.  The fact that it was slightly carbonized and smoking probably enhanced the chances of the second strike, but still....

Terry, 230RN