Helene Aftermath…Are You Ok?

[Southernmiss]

Hubby's family live in south Georgia, about 45 min. south west of Savannah. They got hit bad. They are out of power still (today is Monday) and the town predicts they will be out for 2 weeks. They had two generators but could only get one to work. His brother has a small one that he was using to get power to his freezer every now and again and his parents were using their's for that as well. They got the second generator to work so his brother was running between his house, his parents house and his wife's father's house carrying the second generator to run water pumps so toilets could be flushed. Here in Athens we got a good bit of wind and rain but no damage. Yesterday hubby, searched around town to find another generator and gas cans so he could take it down to them and fill up the gas cans here since only one gas station had one pump running and they were limiting gas to a couple of gallons and the lines were about 2 hours long. He found one that would run on both gas and propane, found a few small gas cans, went out to where we store our RV and grabbed one of our big propane tanks, came home and grabbed our small generator, more gas cans and drove down. It is a 4 hour drive. He said Wrightsville was out of power, Sandersville had power but power lines and trees were down the rest of the way down from there. None of the towns south of Sandersville had power.

His brother wired the new generator into his water pump and they wired our small one into his parents water pump. So now the fridges and freezers get hooked up to the generators long enough to keep everything frozen/cold and they can flush toilets and take showers. His parents have a gas stove so they can cook, his brother is cooking everything on the grill (he made biscuits in a cast iron pan on it this morning and somehow made gravy as well and took that to the parents house). Hubby drove home today and told his brother if it gets to the point they need more food or basics, call us and he will drive them down. Evidently the local WalMart is open but only allowing about 5 people in at a time and the lines are 3 or 4 hours long. We tried to talk the parents into letting us find a hotel to put them in or bring them up here but they say they are doing o.k. Hubby said it was pretty hot in the house even though they have all the windows open, with the new generators hubby took down they can also run the ceiling fans for about half a hour at a time.

Glad everyone is ok and your stories of making do remind me of helping our family and friends in Katrina.

Dh and our neighbor drove 2.5 hours to get needed supplies and bring them back to family. We spent several weeks helping family and friends. My brother's family lived with us for 3 weeks.

I hope things can be restored quicker than the estimates.

I'll always remember the very long lines at the gas station, Walmart, water distribution sites, etc. and the shell shocked and exhausted looks on faces in each of these places.

Bless you all for looking out for each other.

 

[Dan Murphy]

We are near some of the hardest hit areas in NC and it's really bad. Currently, rescue teams are going in on 4x4's, small boats, horses, and mules to access places that are completely cut off. We will know more in coming days but we already know that there have been a lot of lives lost, they just haven't gotten a full scope yet. The stories are heart wrenching and keep me up at night.

I personally have no power, water, or cell coverage at home + was flooded in for a couple of days. No major damage to the home. Once the water receded some, we were able to navigate through downed trees and washed out bridges to get to food, water, and power. Gas, food, and water are running low (long lines) but we're accessible from other cities for deliveries. The same isn't the case for places further up from us. Thankfully, my work had power and internet restored so it's been a gathering place for anyone needing to work, charge devices, shower, get ice or water, etc.

We are so lucky.

's

 

[DCLMP]

Maybe they can divert that money going to Ukraine to actually help Americans.

 

[barkley]

It's difficult to get in to devastated areas, as it was after Katrina. Right now, the areas can't support outsiders unless they come completely self sufficient.

The people to help will come. They're making preparations already.

and there may now and in the immediate future be assistance arriving/evacuations that the public is not made aware of. i only say this because we had an orlando vacation planned that occured within the week after hurricane katrina. according to all the national news reports there were no commerical airlines flying in but midway through our california to orlando flight we were notified by the captain that we would be doing a short stop-that stop was a landing in new orleans where a number of passengers disembarked (in hindsight i'm thinking aide workers) and their seats and all other vacants were filled by very obviously non vacationing travelers.

never in my life will i forget flying in and out and seeing the messages of 'help us' spray painted on roof tops and tarps.

my thoughts and prayers are with everyone impacted even remotely by helene.

 

[luvthatduke]

I just read about a little boy (Micah) and his grandparents being whisked away by the water. They are deceased. Micah's mother survived, as she got trapped in debris. Imagine losing your child and your parents in the blink of an eye? I think there are going to be many more found dead once they are able to really get in the area and investigate. It's all so unbelievable.

This was one of the photos taken by the family before they were washed away.
There is another roof shot along pics of the boy & his mother here:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...ooded-Asheville-home-swept-away-grandson.html

 

[NotUrsula]

Just FYI, you normally don't need any electric power to flush a typical household toilet, unless it's power-assisted. The standard in hurricane country if potable water is scarce is that you can sweep up a 3-5 gallon bucket of flood water, tie an old t-shirt around the top of the bucket to hold back any debris bits, and then pour the water into the toilet. The weight of the dumped water will cause the toilet to flush. (You are instructed to fill all bathtubs when a storm is coming in, with the idea of first using the tub water to flush. Once you have to use floodwater the smell can get a bit unpleasant, but of course, not nearly as nasty as an unflushed toilet will smell after a while.) Once you get water service back, you need to add some bleach to the toilet for several flushes to clean the pipes.

 

[barkley]

Just FYI, you normally don't need any electric power to flush a typical household toilet, unless it's power-assisted. The standard in hurricane country if potable water is scarce is that you can sweep up a 3-5 gallon bucket of flood water, tie an old t-shirt around the top of the bucket to hold back any debris bits, and then pour the water into the toilet. The weight of the dumped water will cause the toilet to flush. (You are instructed to fill all bathtubs when a storm is coming in, with the idea of first using the tub water to flush. Once you have to use floodwater the smell can get a bit unpleasant, but of course, not nearly as nasty as an unflushed toilet will smell after a while.) Once you get water service back, you need to add some bleach to the toilet for several flushes to clean the pipes.

you don't need electricity to flush but it can be risky to flush if you are on a septic/flow field type set up that is not gravity based because then what's going down into the pipes is not being pumped so you can cause a nasty backup. if a person is not on a municipal water/sewage system it's important to know the operational limitations absent power.

 

[Pink Partridge]

This was one of the photos taken by the family before they were washed away.
There is another roof shot along pics of the boy & his mother here:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...ooded-Asheville-home-swept-away-grandson.html

View attachment 899583

Talk about gut wrenching. My God. These poor people. May they rest in peace and paradise.

 

[JLTraveling]

Maybe they can divert that money going to Ukraine to actually help Americans.

Please explain like I'm 5 how giving Putin free reign to conquer Europe helps Americans....

 

[Southernmiss]

Please explain like I'm 5 how giving Putin free reign to conquer Europe helps Americans....

And the US can be involved in multiple expensive endeavors at one time.

 

[mom2rtk]

Please explain like I'm 5 how giving Putin free reign to conquer Europe helps Americans....

This isn't the forum for that. And I'm pretty sure you know that.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Just FYI, you normally don't need any electric power to flush a typical household toilet, unless it's power-assisted. The standard in hurricane country if potable water is scarce is that you can sweep up a 3-5 gallon bucket of flood water, tie an old t-shirt around the top of the bucket to hold back any debris bits, and then pour the water into the toilet. The weight of the dumped water will cause the toilet to flush. (You are instructed to fill all bathtubs when a storm is coming in, with the idea of first using the tub water to flush. Once you have to use floodwater the smell can get a bit unpleasant, but of course, not nearly as nasty as an unflushed toilet will smell after a while.) Once you get water service back, you need to add some bleach to the toilet for several flushes to clean the pipes.

I know it's going to sound gross, but one of the things I always see here when we've got an approaching system is the kitty litter approach. I've personally never done it, but there is usually a run on kitty litter and trash bags when people do their pre-storm shopping.

1. Turn off the toilet's water valve
2. Flush out any remaining water in the bowl
3. Line the toilet bowl with two plastic garbage bags, one inside the other
4. Put some kitty litter in the inner bag
5. Use the toilet
6. Tie off the inner bag when it's full or needs to be replaced
7. Insert a new inner bag and add more absorbent material
8. Store used bags away from children, pets, and wildlife

 

[Southernmiss]

This isn't the forum for that. And I'm pretty sure you know that.

This was a response to someone else. Is their post ok?

 

[Foxhound3857]

Worried about my sister because she lives in North Carolina, but so far they've only mentioned rain in their area, no flooding or concerning wind speeds. Says she partially regrets moving out there though, it's just so muggy and wet.

 

[Pink Partridge]

Worried about my sister because she lives in North Carolina, but so far they've only mentioned rain in their area, no flooding or concerning wind speeds. Says she partially regrets moving out there though, it's just so muggy and wet.

What region does she live in? Some people won't have power/cell service for weeks.

 

[Foxhound3857]

What region does she live in? Some people won't have power/cell service for weeks.

She lives in Knott's Island.

 

[Pink Partridge]

She lives in Knott's Island.

Looking at a map, she suffered zero damage from this storm.

It is very difficult when you don't hear from loved ones during these scary times. Hugs.

 

[Pink Partridge]

Maybe they can divert that money going to Ukraine to actually help Americans.

The National Guard dropped over 100,000 pounds of supplies outside of Asheville yesterday. I believe more is arriving today.

But what these people in the area need are more search and rescue folks. Yes. There are some there right now. But they need THOUSANDS of troops in there right now.

My mind is on Kimberly Ashby right now. She was in one of the homes that was swept away. Her husband was found (ALIVE!) 2 miles away. She has not been found yet. I pray there are recovery teams by the thousands searching for her and everyone else that is missing.

 

[Pink Partridge]

"Missing People in East TN & Western NC due to flooding" is a Facebook page that will show you the magnitude of how devastating this storm aftermath is.

You really can't believe this is happening as you read the stories.

Here is a spreadsheet of some of the missing and their story:

https://www.reddit.com/r/asheville/comments/1frqgnl/avl_reddit_help_find_these_people

 

[Foxhound3857]

Looking at a map, she suffered zero damage from this storm.

It is very difficult when you don't hear from loved ones during these scary times. Hugs.

Yeah a lot of rain for them but nothing serious. Fortunately her husband works from home so he's not affected at the moment.