With many roads impassable due to the damage caused by the hurricane, mules are being used to deliver supplies in western North Carolina. Sareen Habeshian reports at Axios:
Mules are helping deliver aid to residents in North Carolina as they grapple with the fallout from the destructive Hurricane Helene.
The big picture: Five Southeastern states are responding to widespread devastation caused from the hurricane that made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm last week, with the death toll surpassing 130.
- Many roads in North Carolina remain impassable due to storm damage. All roads in the Western North Carolina “should be considered closed to all non-emergency travel,” the N.C. Emergency Management Agency said on X Monday.
Zoom in: As government agencies, organizations and businesses haul food, water and other emergency supplies into North Carolina’s mountain towns using semi-trucks, helicopters and military planes, Mountain Mule Packers enlisted its mules to help with the load.
- The pack mule strings can deliver supplies to areas not accessible by vehicle, including hard-to-reach mountainous areas.
Mountain Mule Packers delivered its first batch of aid Monday with food, water and diapers to the western part of the state, using two fully-loaded trucks and several stock trailers, according to a post on the ranch’s Facebook page.
A video on the Facebook page illustrates how the sure-footed mules are able to cross debris-strewn roads impassable to cars and trucks (from 2016).
It was strange seeing some of the damage, having lived in Asheville for a year. The “arts” district, in a previous industrial area and at river level. Gone. Biltmore Village, devastated. Not sure about the Biltmore mansion. In addition, some of the “safe” areas in and around Asheville at elevation suffered mud/rock slides. And so on. Asheville is quite variable in elevation. Some areas unscathed. 400 yards thataway——> devastation.
It will take quite some time to clean and recover.
I wonder if drones could be used for ferrying supplies.
Zipline is operating in North Carolina and is apparently being used to deliver supplies. I’ll see if I can track down some more info.
Just talked to my former partner. Marion (Lake James) is devastated. Lake 10 ft over. Luckily he is at his second home in No GA. No physical danger issues.
My ex is in Black Mountain. Hit hard. Home may have been in landslide.
Heh. Maybe I’ll refer her to the donkeys.
Too soon?
Seriously. A very unfortunate situation.
@Drew
The area you knew will never be the same, and it will take at least a decade to recover. Water is a motherfucker. This is why I urge everybody to get flood insurance, if you can.
I have not looked at it too much. I know what it is like having everything you own thrown out onto the curb for trash pick-up. Because we know the drill, we keep my wife’s mementos ready to go, and we were somewhat lucky.
(You could get your wife and daughter to identify what must be saved, and then, you could buy some army surplus ammo containers. They are airtight and would float, if you tossed those items in at the last minute. You could even have a special can for your golf clubs.)
The scammers and fly-by-night contractors from all over the country are loading up their trucks to fuck over the people. I got on a list for a local licensed contractor and roofer, but I gutted the house myself. Everybody thought I was crazy, but most regretted not waiting.
You will be happy to know that other than $2,000, I did not get any government money. I was able to keep up with my previous bills plus the apartment we were living in plus my wife’s ruined business.
It is not an experience I would wish on my worst enemy.
TastyBits raises the issue of flood insurance. Having grown up near the Mississippi I am somewhat sensitive on this issue. The effect of subsidized flood insurance for people living in the flood plain of the Mississippi was that more people lived in the flood plain of the Mississippi. Consequently, subsidized flood insurance had the perverse effect of putting people in danger.
My view is that we need to strike a balance between mercy and prudence. I do not know where that balance is. That’s why we have legislatures. Unfortunately, we have cowardly legislatures who are willing to put people in danger to get a few votes.
@Dave Schuler
From the little I have seen, most places were “safe areas”, and I am guessing they do not have flood insurance. Their homeowner’s insurance is not going to pay for any flood damage, and the only coverage they could have gotten would have been through the federal program or self-insure.
Maybe, the flood insurance program would be better as a reinsurance program, but that would probably come with problems, also.
There are too many people and not enough space.
I suspect that people are flocking to the southern and western coasts mostly for lifestyle reasons rather than because the center of the country is out of space.
Landslides will have been a huge problem.
The spindly roads up to some of the hilltops where I played weddings down there were unstable to begin with, even in dry weather.
The sheer scale of the road infrastructure destruction alone is mind-boggling, to say nothing of the more important losses.
Gonna be a long, long, recovery/evolution. Terrible situation.
Hope the Biltmore wasn’t hit too hard. It’s a magnificent structure.
I agree with Dave about the flood insurance thing. It means a lot more people move to those areas putting more people at risk. I think an at least partial answer is to have the states rather than the federal government pick up the risk. It means you could still get flood insurance but you would be paying for it in your taxes.
In the case of Asheville I don’t think people thought of it as a flood zone. I didnt. However, a lot of area with valleys below hills/mountains with thin soil are subject to flooding. Looking at a number of sources it looks like minor floods were predicted every 30 years or so but a major flood like they experienced is an every 100-1000 years event. For an event that rare I am OK with the federal govt coming in and helping both in the acute stage and with rebuilding.
Love the idea of mules. Did some packing with them when I was much, much younger. Very sure footed and good workers. Also make good guard animals.
Steve
I think steves comment on insurance is balanced. A very rare event. And how to insure over it, except by the collective? (Of course the problem is, when you add politicians into the mix – now every risk becomes a collective.)
We clearly have erred on the side of subsidizing high risk building over time. But where to draw the line? Tornadoes in the midwest. Floods everywhere. Hurricanes? Earthquakes? Wild fires?
Its a tougher policy question than it appears. Maybe we should populate the moon. Oh, damn. The asteroid thingy………
Actually, the Gulf and East Coasts are easy. Outlaw amusement parks and any type of short-term rental. The local jobs would dry up, and the people would quickly move. Problem solved.
Then, we can move 30 million people to Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia, or the backwoods of West Virginia.
Mother Nature designed the Mississippi River Valley to flood, but levees have been built to prevent this. In other parts of the country, land around creeks and rivers is a natural overflow basin. Swamp/marsh land has been drained and/or back-filled.
(The NOLA pumps date back to 1920, and they were intended to reclaim swamp land.)
Now, where are all the re-shored manufacturing plants going to be located, and where are the workers going to live, and where are the gas stations going to be located, and where are their workers going to be located, etc., etc., etc.?
Oh, they all need insurance, and in a flood zone, flood insurance is required by the Fed to get a mortgage.
For my homeowner’s insurance, I pay for an additional wind rider for hurricane damage. I have no idea about tornado areas, but if enough damage occurs, there will eventually be riders in those areas.
To be totally safe, I would suggest caves. Find a hibernating bear. Kill it, and make it your home. Plus, you would have some food and a rug or coat. Any electronic device would need to be shielded from an eventual magnetic storm.
FWIW, I would support my tax dollars going to a federal program to lower crime in Chicago neighborhoods. Unfortunately, I cannot think of anything better than suitcases and U-Haul’s for the law-abiding, but they would probably move to the coasts.
@Drew
Asteroids would be more of a dark side problem. Radiation would be a problem on the other side, and then, there is gravity, biology, and adaptation. Humans could live underground. The rock would protect them, but their bodies would soon adapt to the different gravity conditions.