Hurricane Helene's Impact On EWS

Craig and I have lived in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia all our lives. Last Friday, Hurricane Helene and the subsequent flooding catastrophically impacted the areas we call home. We are alive and well, which is more than many of our neighbors can say. Craig and Beth’s beautiful mountain property has at least 50 trees down. They stood in a clearing for 45 minutes while they fell all around them. Their home and lives were spared. They’ve been without power since Friday and will likely continue for a few more days. The last count was 5 broken poles on their road alone. This is an image from his road.

My home about 35 minutes away was not impacted, we’ve maintained power and water throughout the storm and afterward. We were extremely fortunate living only around 5 mins from a mandatory evacuation order due to imminent dam failure.

My husband Cody works for the State of TN and visits these counties on a regular basis, he was supposed to work in Newport, TN today (like he does most weeks). This is his office space, completely ruined by a flash flood. There were two deaths in this neighboring county.

There are many more deaths and missing persons that have yet to be reported. FEMA has been authorized to provide emergency protective measures for our counties in East TN. This didn’t hit too close to home, it hit our homes. East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, and Western North Carolina are among the most beautiful places in the world.

Hot Springs, NC is near and dear to my heart as my honeymoon location and a favorite getaway. It has been completely destroyed.

Limestone, TN is home to David Crockett’s Birthplace. A favorite camping location for my family. Pregnant with my daughter in 2021, I took this photo of the Nolichucky river which runs right alongside the campground. The Nolichucky Dam recorded record level water flows, the previous level was in 1977 and was 613,000 gallons per second. The recorded water level Friday night - Saturday was 1.2 million gallons per second.

This flow and subsequent flooding caused the water treatment facility in neighboring Greeneville, TN to be completely ruined. The water pumps washed away. These neighbors are expected to go at least a week without any water in the county. Hospital patients were moved to neighboring counties due to water outages.

This article and the image below give an idea of just how much rainfall was recorded.

This is a brief explanation of the tragedy that occurred. There are many other areas I didn’t mention, and still more areas that the complete damage has yet to be assessed. We are heartbroken but blessed to have our families and homes safe.

We are currently running on backup power and backup internet and have been since Friday. We may get power back today and it's hard to guess when the fiber internet has been restored. We do have additional backup Internet on the way so there shouldn't be any issues there but our replies may take a little longer than usual.  We do have family in Florida, my sister and Craig’s daughter live in Ocala, and were thankfully unaffected by the storm.

If you’d like to learn more about the specific areas impacted, this article is more comprehensive.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can help, here is the most recent press release from the Red Cross regarding Hurricane Helene.

Here are additional ways you can help, in addition to monetary donations, spreading awareness about the severity of storm to those outside of the region is appreciated.

• Save The Children - They work to get child-focused supplies into the hands of families including hygiene kits, diapers, wipes, and classroom cleaning kits. You can donate directly to this effort here.
• Operation Blessing - They work with emergency management and local churches to bring clean water, food, medicine, and more supplies to those in disaster areas. You can donate directly to this effort here.
• Americares - Their focus is medical aid. You can donate directly here.
• World Central Kitchen - This organization focuses on serving meals to victims and responders. You can directly donate to their cause here.
• Salvation Army - You can donate directly here.

Thank you for allowing us to serve your business and we appreciate your patience during this unprecedented event.