Hurrican Helene
Please help.
Hey all
I received an email from a client of mine that was greatly affected by Hurricane Helene. We don’t hear it in the news as much but they are still suffering from the disaster.
Please read.
Give if you can. Send stuff if you can. Read her letter.
Also, if you know a musician who lost an instrument in the disaster:
Go to www.americansongcatcher.com/restringappalachia
Click “Receive Instruments”
Fill out the simple form
You will be contacted
Hello everyone, this is Diane Bardwell Masters.
I’ve been delaying writing about how Hurricane Helene affected the areas in Western North Carolina, where we live, because it is so huge that I simply haven’t known where to start. This is serious and it is real, but I don’t want to traumatize anyone, so please choose if you want to read further or stop here.
My husband Robert and I are safe and doing well and are extremely grateful that our street is just high enough to not get flooded. We had minor inconveniences of no power, cell phones or internet, but our water stayed on and we were able to cook on our gas stovetop. Trees are down in many parts of the neighborhood and only less than 2 blocks away, the river flooded 10 feet high into a farmer’s huge field and filled the lower floors of some houses. The beekeeper who had about 20 hives there had to carry them to higher ground while the water was rising up to his waist. They all survived, thank goodness.
But all around our area in Transylvania County, many people lost everything — their homes destroyed by mud, water and fallen trees, all their belongings ruined, cars crumpled and buried in mud or swept downriver into trees and under bridges, pets lost in the waters, land ruined — everything. At one point, 90 roads were closed because of mudslides down the mountains, water covering them, and/or large chunks of the road literally falling o< and leaving huge holes or only part of one lane. However, many other towns have had much worse, devastating fates.
Asheville is 40 minutes above us and has been hit horrifically. Places we’ve recently been in are just gone. The two rivers that run through the city overflowed with an intensity that no one could have predicted. Whole areas are literally wiped out. The beautiful 65 acre North Carolina Arboretum, that we joined only 3 weeks before the storm, is closed now while they start e<orts to clean up over 2,000 trees that went down!
The Blue Ridge Parkway is closed down, all the famous forests and trails are shut down indefinitely, and Route 40, which is the main trucking and travel route from Tennessee through NC, is so damaged with large pieces of it that crashed down the mountainsides will be closed o< for at least a year for repairs.
There are numerous small mountain towns farther north and east and all the way into Tennessee that have been completely wiped out. I mean they are gone. I can’t even bear to look at more video clips because it is so incredibly heartbreaking. There has been such a palpable feeling of shock and grief in the air. The more I find out, the more I am slammed. My heart is so, so heavy.
Hundreds of people have died in the floods and massive landslides and many of these may never be found. So many others wounded. And so many people that do not know if their loved ones are alive, who still have no way to call anyone. People have been trapped for 2
weeks now with no utilities or ability to get supplies or medical help. So many bridges and entire roads have been washed away.
Please understand that even though people knew to be prepared for heavy winds and much rain with some flash floods likely (and we had a separate 3 day storm just before that so the ground was saturated), no one ever expected this kind of destruction. Hurricanes do not come up into these mountains like this one. Some places got up to 30 inches of rain and the winds were incredibly strong. Water filled up the tops of the mountains, and then came roaring down, turning everything into mud and taking literally everything with it. Huge raging rivers of massive debris was not what anyone was warned about and no one in the hills was told they would need to evacuate because it simply wasn’t expected. Very di<erent than a hurricane warning on the coast. This has been called an historic catastrophic event.
Here are some video clips if you would like a more visual sense of the damage: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/sg5e1HhGFAVjczFQ/?mibextid=11tuMg
There are massive rescue missions going on now and helicopters flying to the remote areas to find the people that are still trapped to bring them water and food and medical supplies. Besides government crews, many volunteers are pouring in with donations of supplies and helping with rescue and cleanup. There are countless trees and massive debris piles everywhere to clear and roads and bridges to rebuild. There are even teams with mules or horses that are carefully picking their way on little paths of rubble to bring supplies to the mountain folks who are isolated now.
Our small town has a church nearby that is a major hub of distribution for this area and are trucking supplies into towns farther away. Just about every church in the area (and there are many) are assisting with hot meals, clothes, baby supplies, etc. People are helping strangers in so many kind and generous ways! The opening of hearts is truly touching. And…there will be many months of help needed for people to be placed in housing somewhere and they’ll need everything to start over. This is a marathon, not a sprint. FEMA and other assistance is slowly helping but many people do not qualify and/or did not have adequate insurance. Cars that took them to their workplace are gone, and so are the workplaces. There is so much need that it is pretty overwhelming. I sure wish we were millionaires!
If you feel moved to contribute to organizations that I know are authentic and truly helping, I will list them at the end of this letter. Every little bit does help.
After helping out in an assembly line for filling boxes of non-perishable food, I realized that my 73 yr old body needs a di<erent way of helping. I am not allowed to lift and cannot be on a cleanup crew. So I took the chunk of funds that we personally had to contribute and helped a woman I heard about that was still stranded up a mountain with a washed out road. She is awaiting surgery in 2 weeks and had no water, no food (and she is restricted to
soft foods now), cleaning supplies and no food for her dogs and cats. I was able to buzz around town all afternoon and find among the many empty shelves in the stores all the supplies she needed for a few weeks. Her case worker was able to lug it up to her house after she drove as far as she could. She told me the people she delivers supplies to are so thrilled and grateful and cry when they reach them.
She also told me about a young mama who was swept away in her car with her 2 year old who had to swim for their lives while holding her toddler and cling to a tree. Without a car now, she has to carry her child while she walks everywhere. I was able to put a post on a
Facebook group and a mom donated a great backpack carrier for her right away. The mama was so grateful when I gave it to her! Such a small thing, but it made it just a bit easier for her.
So, what I see my role for now is to write this, hopefully gather more donations of funds, and find the local families through this case worker and local organizations that are desperate for really basic things. There is an immediate need, and also when they finally get relocated to another trailer or apartment, they will need blankets, pillows, sheets, kitchen things – all the things we take for granted in our homes. And they need cash to be able to buy some things themselves or pay for rent, etc.
I would love to help so many more individuals or families that are nearby. If you feel moved to help in this way, even if it is a very small amount, I would be so grateful and will use it to directly help them. And I’m happy to keep you posted as I do.
Donations for this option can be sent to either:
Venmo to Diane Masters @Diane-Masters-2 (last 4 digits of my cell phone are 1151) or PayPal to robertanddianemasters@gmail.com Please make a note “Hurricane donation”. If you prefer sending a check, please email me at the above email address.
If you prefer donating to a tax deductible organization, here are some options, though there are many more:
Sharing House in Brevard, NC (our town). This incredible organization helps people year round and is now a major hub for providing emergency financial assistance, food, showers, clothing, cleaning supplies, camping equipment and more to residents in our county. 100% of the donations to the Hurricane Relief will go directly to low-income residents a<ected by the crisis. Here are the
links: https://www.sharinghouse.org/donate or you may choose to order items needed on their Amazon wishlist:
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3IL57WT3PGU72/ref=hz_ls_biz_ex
World Central Kitchen (Chef Jose Andres and his team have landed in Asheville and are working with local restaurants to prepare thousands of meals, giving to all who come to 4 places in Asheville and delivering to at least 8 other towns farther
away) https://wck.org/donate (On the Comment section of the donation form, you can type “Hurricane Helene.”)
Beloved Asheville is regularly filling up their trucks with food, water, gas and warm clothing now that the temperatures are dropping and distributing it in Asheville. Donations go directly to funding the food, water and supplies they are
bringing. https://www.facebook.com/BeLovedAsheville
https://venmo.com/BeLoved-Asheville
https://www.paypal.me/BeLovedAsheville
Mountain Mule Packer Ranch are taking strings of pack mules with supplies to hard hit areas that are not accessible by any other
way. https://www.facebook.com/mountainmulepackersranch/
There are many more, but please make sure you check them out because unfortunately, there are scams out there, too.
Thank you SO much for your consideration! And if you are not financially able to contribute, please send loving, healing energy to the people, animals, rivers, trees and land in these beautiful Appalachian mountains.
With deep care and appreciation,
Diane