God that must be awful. Your whole life you work hard and earn the money to buy a house, you keep your whole life in there, it’s your HOME. And then some fucking storm comes and just destroys it all. I mean, hopefully you & your loved ones survive, and that’s all that really matters, but to see all the physical representation of your life just washed away. I feel terrible for those people.
There is a kid on my son’s soccer team (East Coast) who is from Cali. I asked him why his family moved here. Unfased he said some forest fire burned his home down and then when they found a place to live again another forest fire burned it down. I guess is parents were like “fuck this.”
Yeah, I’m not in a flood zone, but seeing things like this is why I mounted a hatchet on my attic wall. It’s pretty certain I’ll never need it, but I can live a little lighter with the delusion that I’ll be able to hack my way onto the rooftop instead of dying, unfound, in a sweltering attic.
Honestly, it’s a good idea. Isn’t this how some people survived Hurricane Katrina?
It was Katrina that made me even think of doing it.
As someone living in Florida where people generally are able to predict and prepare for storms like this (even though they still cause devastation), I had absolutely no idea that it was possible for devastation like this to occur from a hurricane all the way in North Carolina. My power didn’t even go out. Did the people living there know this could happen? Was it a surprise??? How is there so much flooding over there???
The bad flooding is because of how steep those areas are. Down in Florida, water takes a while to make its way into the creeks, streams, and rivers. The areas with the most extreme flooding is because entire mountainsides worth of rainfall drains in the span of a couple days.
Eastern TN and western NC also had a ton of rainfall from thunderstorms just before Helene so the ground was already saturated. For reference check out this rain gauge in Asheville.
The rain from Helene didn’t really get to Western NC until the early hours of Friday the 27th. That gauge was already at 10 inches by that time. So really the storm before Helene brought more rain than Helene did. Either the thunderstorm or Helene alone would have been moderate, but manageable flash floods, but the two back to back was insane.
I had absolutely no idea that it was possible for devastation like this to occur from a hurricane all the way in North Carolina.
That’s because it’s only really becoming a thing due to climate change.
The town of Chimney Rock is gone.
No hyperbole.
It’s gone.
There are many more we won’t know about until next week. This is a national tragedy.
Oh the bright side, probably don’t have to go to work on Monday.
There probably are a lot of people that don’t have a work to go to anymore. I wouldn’t call that bright.
Anybody want to buy a house? Half price, only floated down the river once.
Time to socialize the losses
That was already done over fifty years ago through the national flood insurance program, NFIP.
PSA: If you are in a flood prone area, your lender may require you to purchase flood insurance. But did you know that some communities will argue against changes to the flood maps that would show them as being in a flood prone area? This means you may be at a higher risk for flooding than the federal maps would suggest. You can still buy flood insurance through the NFIP, though.
Here’s a “myths and facts about flood insurance” page from FEMA: https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20230425/fact-sheet-myths-and-facts-about-flood-insurance
Plain and simple, this was climate change. North Carolina has had record rain fall this year. Also the hottest summer on record beating out 2023.
Plus side is we are expanding highways and building a lot more houses. Plus we are getting a Buc-ees, so at least we will have cold drinks while we fry and drown.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/weather-news/article288918328.html
What?!? You’re telling me Hurricanes in Tennessee aren’t normal?
