Helene visited us

[blume357]

I know what my wife, dogs and I have been through over the last 2+ weeks is minor compared to what happened above us in North Carolina, but attached below is a video of how we had to deal with Helene's visit. Because I had a natural gas generator and other items we stayed in our home through all of this... I talked to a friend who he and his wife had to leave after one tree came through their house and they are really having a hard time getting over it and I think part of it is having to stay some place strange. I've spent the last two weeks doing damage control not just from Helene but the 'clean up' that was needed after her. This included temporary framing on our front screen porch to try and keep it from falling off the house, (it will have to be rebuilt) putting all the items from the master bedroom that were salvageable into storage and of course getting the roof in one spot tarped plus too many things to mention... along with all that was dealing with the insurance company over the Ford Flex which was totaled.

 

[thinckley]

Glad you and yours are okay! @blume357

 

[Fox Mike]

Truly glad y'all are OK. One awful mess but it is 'fixable'. I am amazed at the tree service people. I had some storm damage a couple years ago (NOTHING like yours) and the guys in the bucket were incredible working around a downed power line. Scared me to watch.

 

[Johnnu2]

No place is safe.
Glad you made it alive......

J.

 

[Tensaw]

So glad that you are ok. I hate that you have to go through the clean up and repairs. But one day you can look back on it with stories to tell.

 

[peachhead]

I can't even fathom it. Any idea how long it will take to get your house fixed?

 

[contender]

Being in the area where the town of Chimney Rock was destroyed, the town of Lake Lure was heavily damaged, roads and bridges damaged or destroyed, and having friends that have damaged homes (like Blume) or totally destroyed (a brother from another mother), to the loss of life, (RIP Mitch) has been a huge impact on us.
Yet despite all this all around me, I know that I was blessed.
My heart aches for the losses of life, the damages that I have seen all around me. But to know that it could have been worse, and that we can all rebuild allows me to give thanks to the Lord for the blessings that we have.
Blume, I was so relieved that you and your family were not hurt.
As each day passes, I see little improvements in our area that tells me that we will continue to grow stronger and better than before.
A good friend lost about half of his apple crop. Another friend lost 10 acres of apple trees.
So much destruction that many people who have been through hurricanes or tornadoes have seen this area and commented that they have never seen such destruction.
Yet, the same people say they have never seen the way the people here have reacted and done so much to help others.

So as we all try to rebuild our homes, our lives, and the infrastructure that has been altered, we just have to keep the faith in God, and appreciate our blessings.

 

[rugerguy]

...so sorry and sad to hear what you guys are going through and was worried about my sister and her family over in Simpsonville,SC., but they re all OK ....take care and be careful..,our thoughts and prayers with all , so many losing everything....wow

 

[blume357]

I was hesitant to post this video, the reality is that at any other time it would be a big thing what happened to us at my house but the reality is we are truly lucky and blessed. What happened to us and our home pales compared to many places in North Carolina. I think I said it, but many of our friends were contacting us wanting to help but other than getting all those trees off the house there was nothing else we needed.

 

[contender]

We too were so blessed.

Due to our (still) lack of the internet and inability to actually physically see the destruction that is just a few miles away has kept me from knowing how bad it really is.
We have very limited internet access by using our phones and we aren’t able to see the stuff that others have seen broadcast on the news.
But last night, Miss Penny was able to find a short video that was taken from a helicopter. The video only shows maybe 1-1/2 to 2 miles of the river and the road west of Chimney Rock as it goes into the Bat Cave community.
I had to watch it at least 20 times, pausing it often to study it. Even though I have driven that area almost daily all my life, it was very hard to identify things. Once I managed to identify one spot, I was slowly able to figure out several things.
Basically, most of the road from Chimney Rock to the Bat Cave area center, which is about 4 miles apart is just gone. Only a few short sections of highway are still there. And while the video stopped right where the 3 highways separate I could see that there is still a lot more destruction above that.
The highway will require a full rebuild and even a fair amount of redirecting of the river again in a few places. Or we’ll have to have some very long and big bridges to get through.

All over here I keep hearing of how much someone has lost.
Just yesterday I heard a woman say;” We went from a 3.2 million property to nothing. We had all kinds of insurance too. But when I called my insurance agent, I was told “Sorry it’s a landslide and you aren’t covered.” Her business was on the river at the east end of Chimney Rock, not far from the Lake Lure city limits. So the wall of water and debris were pretty bad by the time it got to her place.
So much loss and yet so few casualties compared to what I have seen.
We were truly blessed.

 

[Colonialgirl]

Well I made it through Milton and only lost power until Saturday; The road (Mandrake Rd.) was flooded, but my house and property were dry (well muddy but not flooded); lots of downed limbs, and fences. One house for sale at $310K had a badly flooded yard on all sides and there were several new "lakes" that are slowly subsiding; the local major highway (Morris Bridge Rd) is open but blocked down where it nears the Hillsborough River and the "over-flow" channels, dont know about near I-75.
It was rated as the worst hurricane to hit Tampa area ever.

 

[KIR]

I saw where a woman who home was destroyed by Hurricane Milton. She was asked by reporter why would she continue to live in the area. She answered, she loved the sunrises and the sunsets and she had been there for decades and knew all the people who lived around her...
To each his own I guess...Last year I was asked to move to FL where there are hurricanes, tornadoes, tropical storms, mosquitos, alligators, DeSantis, then asked, how about TX? They only have flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes, not on the national electric grid, Cruz, then asked about AZ where I have lots of family, but I was there in Phoenix when I was a kid, hot, Hot, Hot, dusty and while N. AZ is supposed to be better, a lot of snow.
I live in Sparks, next to Reno in the Truckee Meadows Valley. I dislike the smoke Californians can't control; this is supposed to be a high earthquake area, but since 1965 when I moved here have only felt one out of three that were reported close by. I love that we have proper seasons here. Lots of nearby desert to go out shooting. The Sparks Marina is close by where I have taken some awesome pictures (a hobby of mine) and have been sailing and boating out there as well. Lots of different fabulous events.

 

[JackBull]

I know what my wife, dogs and I have been through over the last 2+ weeks is minor compared to what happened above us in North Carolina, but attached below is a video of how we had to deal with Helene's visit. Because I had a natural gas generator and other items we stayed in our home through all of this... I talked to a friend who he and his wife had to leave after one tree came through their house and they are really having a hard time getting over it and I think part of it is having to stay some place strange. I've spent the last two weeks doing damage control not just from Helene but the 'clean up' that was needed after her. This included temporary framing on our front screen porch to try and keep it from falling off the house, (it will have to be rebuilt) putting all the items from the master bedroom that were salvageable into storage and of course getting the roof in one spot tarped plus too many things to mention... along with all that was dealing with the insurance company over the Ford Flex which was totaled.

Have you met with FEMA? Were they easy to deal with? Have you received your $750 and what else are you eligible for from .gov. What charities have contacted you?

 

[XP100]

In Hudson Fl. we made it thru with no damage. Power went out about 9PM Wed. evening. Sat up in the dark for about an hour. Got up Thur. about 6:30 got the generator out all the extension cords the gas can. Garred up the gen. and just before 7AM our power came back on. Still started the generator to let it run for a few minutes and picked the fromes that came down out of our 2 palms. Shut off gen. and put everything back away. We were blessed again. Friends lost everything on the West side of 19. They came down and stayed with us while they were tossing things out and getting ready to get their home livable again. Thet has 2.5 Ft of water in their home and a Caddy SUV in the garage they lost. It was a real mess over there.

 

[Azrael]

Sorry to hear about your issues Mr. Blume and Mr. Contender. We share a common problem. I'm sitting at my sons house since he has electricity and I don't, of course my house is under several feet of water which means no electricity (and no house). I celebrated my 80th birthday trying to salvage whatever from the soaking mess. And I was thinking it was time to move back to my childhood home in Spartanburg. There is no safe spot.

 

[rugerguy]

more has been said here on the forum as to "damages & loss" in the above posts than has been shown, said about or reported on ANY evening news,,,,,,, damn media........
and as I said above so very ,very sad, tragic , and for the most part "ignored" by the rest of America,, did I say SAD???

 

[blume357]

Have you met with FEMA? Were they easy to deal with? Have you received your $750 and what else are you eligible for from .gov. What charities have contacted you?

As I understand it the $750 is for any food one lost due to the power being out...
Who has $750 worth of food in their refrigerator, come to think of it?
Heck, even if we had a while cow in the freezer I don't think it would add up to that.
Since we did not lose one speck of food we are not qualified for the $750.
Now if Allstate does not come through for the $58,000 it cost to remove the trees and the probability $200,000 it will cost to fix the house and yard maybe then we will be calling FEMA... but I suspect I know what they, FEMA, will say to that request.......

Side story,.... back in 2019, two weeks after my massive heart attack (100% blockage for two hours). a guy came by the house from some orgazization to see if they could help with my medical bills... my wife spoke with him for about 2 minutes (I was out working to a degree).... he quickly realized we were not qualified for any assistance.... I don't think I've ever been qualified for anything.... heck, up until Covid I was not qualified for unemployment and then when I was I couldn't collect it because I was too busy WORKING.

 

[ProfessorWes]

Wow. Glad you made it through that mess.

 

[JackBull]

As I understand it the $750 is for any food one lost due to the power being out...
Who has $750 worth of food in their refrigerator, come to think of it?
Heck, even if we had a while cow in the freezer I don't think it would add up to that.
Since we did not lose one speck of food we are not qualified for the $750.
Now if Allstate does not come through for the $58,000 it cost to remove the trees and the probability $200,000 it will cost to fix the house and yard maybe then we will be calling FEMA... but I suspect I know what they, FEMA, will say to that request.......

Side story,.... back in 2019, two weeks after my massive heart attack (100% blockage for two hours). a guy came by the house from some orgazization to see if they could help with my medical bills... my wife spoke with him for about 2 minutes (I was out working to a degree).... he quickly realized we were not qualified for any assistance.... I don't think I've ever been qualified for anything.... heck, up until Covid I was not qualified for unemployment and then when I was I couldn't collect it because I was too busy WORKING.

After Storm Sandy, the gov decided to reimburse people from the cities, most on welfare, for the lost food. The remuneration was $950(?)per house hold. There were long lines to get this free money. I could not remember my ever having that much food in my house, let alone someone on assistance.

BTW FEMA also allowed the state to distribute disaster aid to repair million dollar homes damaged in the storm.

 

[Kevin]

Blume, good luck with the insurance. It’s a hassle for sure, even if they do pay the full amount, just going through the process is a headache.

It’s uplifting to hear what Contender says about how people are helping other people. And this is a SHTF scenario if there ever was one. It’s nice to hear that people haven’t lost their humanity towards each other.

As for the videos, oh my! Yeah there are some on YouTube. One guy had to walk down the hill into Chimney Rock. I guess that’s from Bat Cave.

How will it work with the property owners if they have to re-route the (new) highway? Especially if they go through private land?