10/11/2024
COME HEL(ENE) or HIGH WATER
Helicopters and chainsaws are the normal sounds we hear everyday,all day long in our communities.
We live in the mountains, hundreds of miles from the coast. We are NOT in a Hurricane zone. There is no planning or prepping or evacuating for a Hurricane here.
I cannot begin to express my deepest gratitude and my deepest sorrow. I cannot begin to tell you how many tears I have shed and how much sleep I have lost. I cannot begin to tell you how much sleep I have lost and how much worry I have for what the future holds.
Was it a blessing in disguise that our flight was the last flight to go out on Friday morning while all the other flights were being canceled? We made it to our destination after over a year of planning a much-needed and looked forward to vacation, but that dream was quickly shattered by the destruction that was happening back home. Our gracious hosts understood our dilemma and worked hard to keep us present while we were with them, yet at night, as we lay in bed, we would Doom scroll and check in on friends as much as possible. Many were still without service and it was driving us mad not knowing if they were safe.
The images and videos coming in through social media were soul-crushing. Learning of accounts of friends who had perished along with their families while trying to escape, learning of friends who had lost their homes completely washed away while they stared and watched. Seeing videos of beloved towns completely vanished by the power of nature is simply unimaginable, yet is now the reality.
Our community has been torn apart in so many ways yet our community Has Come Together to help one another in incomprehensible ways and Means and I am thankful to each helping hand that's here. From removing trees, and passing out survival and pet supplies, to the Pack Mule Team carrying food and medical supplies to the mountain communities where the rods still remain impassable.
What we have lost is so small in comparison to others yet what we have lost is so important to keep our business alive.
I'm thankful to the various agencies, companies and volunteers that have shown up to provide support and supplies to our communities. Our First Responders, Fema, National Guard, Dennys mobile unit providing pancakes and coffee, chik fil a, McDonald's mobile unit. Various churches and store parking lots who have become hubs for donations and pick up points. Not to mention other states that have brought in much-needed service and supplies.
World central Kitchen was created by local chefs who came together and provides hot-packed meals each day for the community. In the last two weeks many restaurants emptied their freezers and cooked everything and gave it away.
We try to find happiness and smiles, whether we are helping friends pack their salvaged, mud covered belongings or when we hear the live music on the streets as we drive through town.
Our town is filled with kind, hopeful people, but it also has its fair share of those who take advantage, of those who become overly aggressive and those who are just horrible to the core. There were shootings over gasoline, break-ins to stores and looters. All taking advantage of people at their most vulnerable points.
The essentials.
Being without power sucks, it's inconvenient to say the least. Your natural instinct is to go to bed when it's dark and get up with the sun. Sound familiar? Our neighborhood was blessed to be without this modern comfort for 10 days, yet there are still areas where friends live that are now on day 15 (at current time).
Internet service and cell service is spotty. Elon sent in StarLink. There are a handful I have access to, but you have to be sitting in the parking lot and be close by. (This means, i have extremely limited Internet access, which we all know, as a business…hurts.)
Water.
The other essential item for life, water.
Hurricane Helene brought high winds and unfathomable rainfall. The French Broad River rose to over 24ft above Her banks. She engulfed entire towns and neighborhoods. 3 dams broke.
There is too much to list, let's just say there are now new rivers where businesses and homes used to be.
When the North Fork dam broke, it took out the water plant that supplies 80% of our town. We have now been without running water for 15 days.
Each day, I go out and collect non potable water for cleaning, washing dishes and flushing toilets. I have three 5 gallon buckets and two 5 gallon bladders I fill. Sometimes from a non potable water station, sometimes from the creek down the street. We currently have 4 cases of bottled water on hand for drinking. The estimated time for running water to return is a minimum of 6 weeks.
I will never take having running water for granted again.
The raw reality.
What the news doesn't tell you, the boots on the ground will. We are no longer in rescue mode. The cadaver dogs are here, working and doing what they do. First-hand accounts of horrific scenes to gruesome to share. One of our local hospitals is diverting bodies, they have over 900 unidentified and are overwhelmed. But the news won't tell you that.
I've been out helping where I can. Focusing on others. Today I'll be handing out pet supplies to those who need it.
As for us, our home sustained minor damage, the back deck took on the most and will need to be replaced.
What we can assume to be looters, broke into one of our trailers that had our 360 set up and cleaned it out. (Ill be keeping my eye on the marketplace for it to show up.) My Max Curve was in an attendant's car for an event that Friday and her car was crushed by 2 massive trees. And my newest set up was ruined when the venue flooded. Funny, I received a text from the client letting me know it was “ safe to pick up the remnants of my photo booth”. that statement made my stomach hurt.
All has been reported to insurance and now we wait.
It's been 15 days since I've had a solid night's sleep. Each night, I lay in bed worried about what was to come. Wondering How to pivot the business. How to continue to do what I love.
It makes me sad, and I think about what I do each day right now. Its not the mundane tasks. Its helping others.
I know we will get through this, I'm not sure how, but we will.
For the foreseeable future, I have no work coming in. I need to work, just because our world here has come to a stop, does not mean the bills have.
I am available to travel for work. Photography and photo booth. How can I help you?
I am strong and resilient, I can bend, but refuse to break.
