Hurricane Helene

North Carolina residents trying to connect with family members may call NC 211 (or 1-888-892-1162 if calling from out of state) to report missing loved ones. People in the affected areas can alert others that they are safe by checking in on Facebook crisis response or reporting themselves safe through Red Cross Reunification by calling 1-800-ED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767).

Thank you! We are Ok. We have a generator and hot water! We had trees fall around our house - but our house wasn’t damaged. We feel very blessed. 

Has Spongemom Scrappants checked in yet? I don't have time to read the entire thread but scanned as best I could and didn't see her face on here but I might've missed it. I know her area (Greenwood, SC I think) got hit really hard with downed trees, etc. My aunt who lives upstate SC has a tree on her house, though she's thankfully okay. I'm in northeastern SC so we didn't get anything but rain and light winds but our old town of Spartanburg (upstate SC) was impacted somewhat and my old towns of Leicester and Maggie Valley in NC were pretty much destroyed.

I'm so glad to see citizens organizing and private pilots rallying together to get supplies dropped in via helicopters and small planes. My heart is broken for all that are suffering from this tragedy.

Not since 24th. Hope all’s ok with her.

Anyone in the upstate of SC, there is a SC Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Command Center staged at Mt Airy Baptist Church in Powdersville. On the church’s Facebook page there is a link to apply for help with tree damage and flood damage. Assessors will come out first, and any work will be done completely free of charge. Workers are trained and background checked, and DR works in cooperation and regularly meets with SC emergency management.  Yes, I know that Southern Baptists trend negatively right now, and yes, probably fair, and yes. Disaster Relief has a religious affiliation, but there are no requirements to receive help. The most they will do is offer a Bible and ask if you would like them to pray for/with you. Many say no. It is Ok.. Work is done for anyone across the board.

Disaster Relief has also placed a Laundry trailer in the Marietta/Travelers Rest area and is doing laundry free of charge. One 13gal trash bag load per family per day.  Drop off and pick up.  Clothes will be washed, dried, and folded.  Open to anyone, even those outside that community.  Located at Marietta First Baptist.  And not the one in Georgia. No appt needed.  Just drop off.  7 am - 8 pm

There are major area-wide internet outages.  And cell phone service is spotty in the Greenwood area on a good day, so now I imagine it is non-existant.  Cell service even in reliable areas has been out for long periods of time over the last few days.  Sunday I was not able to use my phone at all. And no wi-if at home meant no online anything.

Hello... while I have a moment of internet connection. Whew. It's been bad. The power has been out for 5+ days and there's no end in sight.

We have an 80' hickory tree on our house (not through the roof but the damage is unknown until it's removed) and over a dozen other similarly large ones down on our property. I didn't even count the smaller ones. There's a power pole in my side yard all intertwined in several downed trees. I have two leaning trees - one threatening all the brand new pump and filtration system put in this summer. And oh, golly, the pool itself is a dark muddy mess from all the red mud that washed over into it as the massive rains/flooding came down our hillside. Our fencing is down in multiple locations and the screens on the porch are... shall we say *very* ventilated right now. Six homes in my neighborhood of 87 homes have trees on their roofs. Two have gaping holes in their roofs. There's at least a dozen power poles down throughout as well. The roads are barely passable and only due to efforts of neighbors to clear them. We've had no work done yet by cleanup crews or linemen -- there's simply sooo much in our area to be done. They will get to us, but we're having to practice our patience right now. 

The good news is we have a generator to keep the fridge and freezer going. One of our hot water heaters is gas so we get hot showers on that end of the house! We also have a gas cook station on the porch so we've been able to eat well. And thankfully, the weather has been mild since the A/C is off. Normally this can still be brutally hot here. These factors have allowed us to manage pretty darn well. We even have friends staying here because it's worse at their place. Oh, and our youngest son bought a house here in town back at the first of the year and he got power back last night. So I was able to scoot over there and do a load of laundry today. 

I simply have a hard time feeling too sorry for myself right now when I see the utter devastation in other places - particularly in Western NC and Tennessee. We are going to be fine when this all gets said and done. Many of them will never be fine again. It's humbling. 

Thank you for wondering about me. And thanks to danor98 for reaching out. We've been special pea friends since 2011 due to shared experience her son and my son had. 

I'll be back on a regular basis at some point. Until then, I'll miss all the interaction here! I do love this place. 

I'm happy to report that my ds in rural Georgia got his power back today! woo-hoo! And it's two days earlier than the original estimate of the 3rd. Still lots of people without yet though. The nearest town has set up water stations for people in the country who can come and fill up containers. My ds was able to haul enough water on Sunday to restock their washing machine which was how they were flushing toilets. Now they can just flush normally.  

Schools are still closed there, and lots of roads still impassable. But even with all that they are still not nearly as bad off as those parts of NC.  

And more....

During the event, Walmart U.S. President and CEO John Furner announced the company, including Sam’s Club and the Walmart Foundation, would also be donating a total of $10 million to hurricane relief efforts across the affected states. Part of the money will be going to the East Tennessee Foundation.

Furner said his family moved to Franklin, Tenn., in 1979, and he had watched as Walmart expanded into Appalachia and East Tennessee.

We’ll be here. Not until the media leaves, but until we recover, and that’s what’s going to happen here, we’re going to recover,” Furner added.

Dollywood had already worked with its sponsorship partner Coca-Cola to donate a semi-truck full of water for distribution in Cocke County. Dollywood has also donated 60,000 reusable masks, 30,000 disposable protective garments and 2.5 million disposable masks to be used for cleanup efforts across East Tennessee.

thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/4916795-dolly-parton-walmart-millions-hurricane-helene-relief-donations/

You did! You sent linemen. We have multiple crews here in my local area from Canada. (And many other places.)

Unfortunately for me, still not in my neighborhood. Day ten now with no power. It's coming but I'm still channeling my innermost "zen" to be patient while we wait.

I'm doing a lot of reading, house cleaning, and small projects that require no electricity -- all during the daylight hours. I'm getting lots of sleep because there's not much you can do after it gets dark. It's stuffy and hot in the house at night, but you get used to it.

We're still counting ourselves lucky that our damage is such that we CAN recover. They are supposed to be here Thursday to take the tree off my house. If there is damage there, our insurance will cover it.

My heart aches for the many, many others who lost everything... including lives. It's just awful. Our region of the country will never be the same. Certainly not in our lifetimes and quite likely far beyond.