09/30/2024
FYI…RE: HURRICANE HELENE AFFECTED AREAS FROM Courtney Grace, CWS
Dropping info here if it helps:
I need people to understand something with the news coverage regarding effects of hurricane Helene. There is a lot more to the NC Mountains than Asheville.
Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, Vilas, Sugar Grove, Elk Park, West Jefferson, Black Mountain, Swannanoa, Sylva, Cullowhee, Brevard, Bryson City, Hendersonville, Cherokee, Waynesville, Burnsville, Candler, Canton, Spruce Pine, Chimney Rock, Lake Lure, Linville, Marshall, Maggie Valley, Newland, Grandfather, Beech Mountain, Sugar Mountain, Old Fort, Morganton, Marion are just a few of the cities and towns that have been flooded and/or destroyed. The counties of Yancey, Mitchell, Avery, Ashe, Watauga, Transylvania, Burke, Wilkes, Caldwell, Alleghany, Madison, Buncombe, McDowell, Rutherford, Polk, Henderson, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Clay, Cherokee, and Swain are devastated and in need of the same help, some even more.
Other counties that fall under various definitions of Western North Carolina include: Alexander County, Catawba County, Cleveland County, Surry County and Yadkin County. When these counties are added, they form a total regional area of roughly 11,750 square miles (30,400 km2). This makes the region roughly the size of Massachusetts. Western North Carolina holds 11% of our state's population.
There are millions of people up there with no electricity, no communication, no water, and no way to get out or let rescue teams even know where they are. I am not taking anything away from Asheville and the utter destruction there or any other areas in NC that have damage. The level of destruction is unimaginable. But it's not one or two cities or towns that are in need of help.
This does not include the destroyed areas in the Tennessee mountains, Western Virginia, Georgia, or South Carolina.
Please do 2 things for me:
1. Donate to Operation Airdrop, The Red Cross, or Fleet of Angels (or all 3!)
2. Contact news media to get coverage for ALL of Western North Carolina. People need to know the full scope of this disaster so that more people can get desperately needed help. And so more people can be located because a lot of us have loved ones up there and we don't know if they're dead or alive.
ETA: additional organizations that are helping in various areas
In a period of three days, Southern and Central Appalachia experienced unprecedented rainfall from a combination of a historic rain event and Tropical
