Hurricane Helene Brings Catastrophic Flooding to US South

dennis said:
Below is a map of "Hazardous waste sites in NC" and if you click on each site you can see that some of them are things like CVS pharmacy, Wal-Mart and Target stores as well as other common businesses you wouldn't normally think of as a hazardous waste site (I guess if you haven't read RFK Jr's book)
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Thanks Dennis for looking into this further and adding clarification. The "waste" problem isn't as dire as what could be imagined by that map. That video of bags of chemicals laying around at the pvc factory and it washing into the river is alarming. We have to assume there are all kinds of toxins in the water and mud. To burn skin or cause disintegration of clothing and shoes there must be very caustic chemicals involved. The cadaver dogs have their noses down on the ground and in refuse piles so they could have breathed something in.

I've seen videos of people taking mud and water samples to be tested, all civilians doing that work. So, we'll be hearing results at some point and further reports of sites with hazardous materials washing away or in the dirt.

After posting those videos yesterday I thought we need to discover new, innovated technologies to clean up or neutralize these toxins that have been a disaster for all life. The C's say 4D STS could easily clean up this mess with their tech. Maybe 4D STO will slip a few informational dreams to sleeping scientists to help us 3Ders with these problems. And we need to be better stewards of the land were some of my thoughts.
 
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SummerLite said:
We have to assume there are all kinds of toxins in the water and mud.
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Some might be water soluble or not, that would possibly determine how far downstream it goes. Some things will bind to the mud particles and settle out with them. Many organics are broken down by sunlight and bacteria to constituent parts. It still is a mess. There are people who have studied these things.
 
Here's something interesting:

"Did you know?​

Some words in the English language have more colorful histories than others. In the case of bunkum, you could almost say it was an act of Congress that brought the word into being. Back in 1820, Felix Walker, who represented North Carolina's Buncombe County in the U.S. House of Representatives, was determined that his voice be heard on his constituents' behalf, even though the matter up for debate was irrelevant to Walker's district and he had little of substance to contribute. To the exasperation of his colleagues, Walker insisted on delivering a long and wearisome "speech for Buncombe." His persistent—if insignificant—harangue made buncombe (later respelled bunkum) a synonym for meaningless political claptrap and came later to refer to any kind of nonsense."

Definition of BUNCOMBE

www.thefreedictionary.com

buncombe

Definition, Synonyms, Translations of buncombe by The Free Dictionary
www.thefreedictionary.com www.thefreedictionary.com

"Asheville lies within a river valley where the two major rivers of Swannanoa River and French Broad River converge and flow out together as the French Broad River. As with many big confluences, this land attracted people long before the country of the United States ever began. According to the records we have, the Cherokee were the most recent indigenous North American tribe to utilize this area. Although rather than build settlements here, the Cherokee chose to keep it as an open area for hunting during select seasons and tribal meetings during others. Their name for the land was Untokiasiyi, meaning “where they race” in English. The area would keep this name until the late 1700s."

The History of Asheville, NC: Tracing the Footprints of Mountain City

If you're interested in learning more about the history of Asheville, then sit back and get ready as we take a romp through its history.
smokymountains.com smokymountains.com

The Cherokee did not have horses prior to the time they were introduced by the Spanish conquistadores, so presumably they had footraces there. Other accounts I have read stated that the race course was wide enough for 4 or 5 to run abrest and it was a loop that ran mostly around the Biltmore Village area.
 
CHIMNEY ROCK, NC — Blue-collar workers prevailed over bureaucracy in Hurricane Helene-ravaged North Carolina by rebuilding a highway at breakneck speed on their own terms – allowing residents to finally return home.

Coal miners from West Virginia – whom locals have lovingly dubbed the “West Virginia Boys” – moved a mountain in just three days to reopen a 2.7-mile stretch of Highway 64 between Bat Cave and Chimney Rock washed away by Helene.

...

The Post previously spoke to “sole survivors” from Chimney Rock, who expected to spend a year on the open road until road access to their home was restored.

On Friday, The Post watched while the miners balanced a bulldozer and two excavators on the banks of the newly-widened Broad River to shift the final 20-ton granite boulder into place to restore access between the two towns.

The miners, who were all volunteering their time, were too sheepish about building a highway without legal permission to speak on the record.
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“The DOT (North Carolina Department of Transportation) said ‘yeah, we’ll send some engineers down here and assess the situation.’

“Then the West Virginia boys came in and said, ‘We’ll have this road punched in in about three days.’ No s–t,” he recalled.

“The Army Corps of Engineers took a look and said they’d send some surveyors and engineers, the same thing the DOT said pretty much. I told them you might as well not waste your time because the West Virginia guys will have this road built before you finish your paperwork,” Lewis continued.
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...

“It’s a miracle. It’s unfathomable what has happened in the past few days.

Many in the area still feel abandoned by FEMA and other emergency responders.

nypost.com

Exclusive | ‘West Virginia Boys’ move a literal mountain to build a road so Helene victims can finally return home: ‘Nothing short of miraculous’

“The West Virginia boys have moved the mountains. All of the roads were just gone, until now. It’s nothing short of miraculous,” one resident told The Post.
nypost.com nypost.com
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A couple from Nokomis, Florida (Project Atticus) went out to West Asheville and covered what is happening on the ground there.

If you could do with some positive news and want to see a bunch of really good humans doing fantastic things in North Carolina, check this link out below.

Such resilient, positive, shining, warm hearted, grateful people: all supporting one another, whether directly affected by this disaster or not. Out of such horrific events, shines the beauty of the human spirit 🌈 🌞:hug2:

"I've never been more proud to be country!" laughs and smiles Megan, a single mother who has an organic / permaculture farm (Wild Mountain Farm). Her family live 3 miles down the road. Just before the floods swept through, a neighbour came and told them: I know you've seen bad flooding before, but you've got 30 minutes, clothes on your back, get in your vehicle - take me SERIOUSLY. Thankfully they did. Megan's wee 120 year old cabin held them all until the wild weather abated...

48 hours later they found their dwellings filled waist high with mud, everything wiped out. They were lucky though, their houses had a yellow sticker = salvageable / pink = demolition. Megan said that actually brought her to her knees in tears seeing family after family standing outside what was their home, just holding one another in shock. She said it felt like something out of a zombie apocalypse movie.

As much positivity as there was in this story, and as strong as they clearly are, you can still feel they are all putting on brave faces, it was shocking, terrifying and devastating. So much widespread death and destruction in these communities, to me this feels like it was 9/11 for them as a community. IMO, the grief hasn't even hit yet, those in these communities will still all be in shock and running on autopilot in many ways. And all those people who are missing / those who will likely never be found... ☹️

Lots of beautiful people in this little snapshot, reaching out and doing what they can to ease the pain of others, amidst their own.
And the world turns...

Something makes me think these communities ain't likely to vote blue this year.

 
Hot Springs is a quaint little community in Madison County on the French Broad River. There are thermal springs there tapped by wells used as baths at an inn. In another town a photo showed plywood put over damaged plate glass that had "Romans 12" spray painted on it.

Stancil said she was amazed at her friends' and fellow community members' response too.

"Within the first week, we had a volunteer coordinator. We had the gym staffed 12 hours a day to receive donations. We had an IT team and built a website.... We're rebuilding Madison County with what we have in our barns and sheds."


Stancil paraphrased a friend's thoughts about the community's response to Helene, as the barriers that typically have separated residents eroded during the town's time of severe need.

"The weird boundaries and boxes we put each other in are just melting away," Stancil said. "She was like, 'Y'all, we got vegans going to barbecues.'"

www.citizen-times.com

After Helene, Hot Springs residents 'basically recreated a society in a couple days'

Wendy Stancil said she feels more invested in being in Hot Springs after Tropical Storm Helene. She says the bonds she's made since will last forever.
www.citizen-times.com www.citizen-times.com
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The clean up in the region involves a tremendous amount of mixed material and the issue of what to do with it all comes up. The following article states that just in the City of Asheville alone they estimate 2.5 million cubic yards or 70,000 truck loads of debris that has to be sorted in temporary collection points then disposed accordingly.

The amount of material in the 5 states impacted is huge. Every where you drive you see it, mostly downed trees. In places where the flooding took out buildings and their contents all that stuff is mangled together.

www.citizen-times.com

At W. Asheville apartments, 'deactivated' Helene debris site still concerns residents

A temporary Helene storm debris processing site behind low-income Asheville apartments is now deactivated. But some residents are still worried.
www.citizen-times.com www.citizen-times.com
 
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