by Daisy Luther, The Organic Prepper:
There are scenarios we all try to prepare for, like long-term power outages, terrible storms, or other disastrous events. But as Western North Carolina demonstrates, there are some things so wildly unexpected that you just can’t prep for them. The SHTF in Western NC almost two months ago, and people are still in survival mode.
For those saying, “Well, the government will help them; that’s what we pay taxes for.” No, they won’t. In fact, they’re making a terrible situation even worse. It’s so bad that one has to wonder, is this mere incompetence, or is there something darker at play? Let’s take a closer look at this SHTF playing out in our own nation, one that most of the country is completely unaware of.
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
The information in this article is based on first-person accounts from the people who live there. Not every person in Western North Carolina is having the same experience. These are stories from the hardest-hit areas. These things aren’t all being reported in the MSM, and in fact, some are reporting the opposite. After the outrageous propaganda voiced there during the election, I know who I find more credible.
What happened?
This isn’t my first article on the topic. I went into detail here and here, including video documentaries.
Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee are part of the Appalachian Mountains. The elevation on many of the mountains is more than 6000 feet. If you live all the way up there, far from the rivers that run through the valleys of that area, flood damage would be pretty unexpected. It’s 350 miles or more from the coast, so a hurricane is also completely unexpected. Historically, Western NC has gotten some wind and rain when there are hurricanes nearby, some trees have been knocked down, and a bit of damage was done, but nothing like Helene has ever happened in these mountains.
Hurricane Helene was a full-on catastrophic disaster. There was flooding everywhere, even up in the mountains. The rivers running through the area flooded quickly. Entire forests full of trees came down, and landslides devastated the mountains.
Entire homes were completely washed away, with residents inside them. Other homes were filled with thick, toxic mud and sludge. Cars disappeared into the river, found in ruins, miles away from where they had been parked. An almost unfathomable 1400 landslides wreaked havoc on the Appalachians in Western NC and Eastern TN. Here are the stats:
The storm and its aftermath caused 1,400 landslides and damaged over 160 water and sewer systems, at least 6,000 miles (9,650 kilometers) of roads, more than 1,000 bridges and culverts and an estimated 126,000 homes, the budget office said. Some 220,000 households are expected to apply for federal assistance.
Many of those homes are completely uninhabitable right now. People are living in near-apocalyptic conditions, and no amount of physical preps could have helped them. When your entire house is washed away or filled with sludge, most, if not all, of your preps will be ruined.
Let me be extremely clear. People in Appalachia are made of different stuff. They are resilient and resourceful and a large number of them are preppers. But the scale of this disaster, an estimated $53 billion dollars worth of damage, is not something you can prep for. It’s the luck of the draw whether one of those 1400 landslides hits your house or the one next door. Homes that were not victim to landslides had other problems, like wind damage and falling trees. Very few people were unscathed.
Many, many roads were so damaged or covered in debris that they were completely impassible. So, even if you still had a car, you weren’t going anywhere.
The “immediate” government response
The response to this by both the federal and state governments has been laughably bad – at least if you have a dark sense of humor. For all the politicians expounding on what they’re going to do, very little has actually happened that is of help. Helene landed in the mountains on the evening of September 26th.
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