Jim, you assessment of things is pretty good. Our infrastructure of roads, bridges, & homes lost has been tremendous. By some estimates,, a couple of the roads in my area,, will not be back to normal 2-lane blacktops until 2027,,, maybe. There are still many places that work has not even started on these roads. One of which is actually a Federal highway,, US 64.
And yes,, the way things were here, the terrain, made access to thousands of people very laborious, along with the loss of basic services like power, water & sewer. In fact,, a major river in Buncombe County,, the French Broad,, still has dangerous levels of toxins in it to where swimming, wading etc are not advised. They think it's due to many small septic systems that have been damaged or such to where raw sewage is seeping in in many places.
Getting relief supplies to many places required helicopters, That was the only way to get stuff to people.
But I fully agree that BOTH of these events were truly horrible, and devastating to thousands of people. The lives lost, the lives altered, and the loss of so many homes.
I just heard another story about here & Helene I had not heard before.
A cemetery had part of it washed away. Apparently 14 buried caskets & remains were washed away. I think 7 or 9 have been found,, and only (2) of the deceased have been identified. They are working on the identification of the other remains/caskets they have found. But several are still missing. One gentleman has video of a casket floating down the river,, and by all appearances it was his mothers casket with her remains inside. They haven't found that one yet. And of course,, the headstones & such are also damaged or gone.
My heart goes out to those in Texas suffering. Because I have witnessed such devastation here, and how it affects so much.
People want to "Blame" somebody. From Trump to the local officials. They want to know why an early warning system wasn't in place or used or whatever. They want immediate alerts & such to their phones etc.
My response to much of this is that God is still in control, and no matter what us mere humans try,, things can & will happen beyond our imagination. Yes,, maybe an early warning system would have helped some people. But how many people turn off their phones at night? How many don't have signal in many places? How many will IGNORE warning sirens? And lest we forget,, how many would complain or try to SUE if an early warning system had been in place, used, and they evacuated? Only to find it was unnecessary, and stuff got looted or whatever? Kinda the "cry wolf" attitude.
I look around here and see the destruction, the lives lost, the total alteration of the topography, and know that I've witnessed history. Growing up here,, I could look at the area,, and see places,, that in the past looked differently. I could see where boulders larger than 1 or 2 houses USED to sit,, and were moved by an earthquake or a flood long before I was born. And I see the mountains here carved out by water,, knowing that at one time,, this place looked very differently.
Sadly,, us mere humans are just a small part of the very big picture we call the world. And we can all study history & see the terrible destruction by hurricanes, floods, winds, etc over the centuries, that altered life in so many places around the globe.
As a caring & compassionate human,, it's heartbreaking to see such events happen. Here & elsewhere. But I can't blame anybody or entity for what God decides to cause.
No matter what we humans try,, God is still a lot more powerful.
