NC Day Nine

 

I was fortunate to be able to visit yesterday with a friend who escaped the disaster of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina.  I do not mean that she "got out of there" just in time, before the storm hit.  No.  Not knowing how horrible the event was going to be, she and her friend went through the storm in their rental Air B&B and woke up the next day to the devastation.  

She new then that she had to get back home to Michigan as soon as possible, so she and her friend loaded up their stuff into their Jeep and drove... through the iconic, apocalyptic scenes that we've all been seeing on these videos I have been posting.  "It was terrifying," she said.

She drove with no GPS through mud and debris.  She drove on roads that were crumbling, washed away, unstable and just not there.  Under power lines, around downed trees.  She back tracked and diverted, not knowing where the road would lead.  

It took her 12 hours to get from NC to Southern Ohio and she did eventually make it home to Michigan safely.  Talk about bravery, I have such high regards for what she endured.  It makes my little car camping adventure feel like a picnic.  It was.

What a wild coincidence, a wild story.  I still can't believe it.  She said she got to visit Chimney Rock and the Flowering Bridge and all the charming places of what was once that popular tourist town just the day before the storm came in.  I'm flabbergasted, and so grateful she made it through safely.

That said, here are the latest stories I have seen today coming out of interior NC.  This movie doesn't end tomorrow.  Remember.  These people will need help for a while.  There are still people missing.

I don't know how things will be in Greensboro when I get home.  We're 3 hours away from Asheville.  I hear that the towns an hour or two outside of the affected area are getting depleted of resources.  My hope is that resupply will get there regularly and soon.  

I-40 being closed makes for some difficulties with the supply chain.  And people are buying things up fast... think toilet paper.  I saw a comment on a YouTube post yesterday that a person from Greensboro was going to Costco to get supplies to donate.  The line was out the door of others waiting to purchase toilet paper and supplies to donate too.  

We are a generous people.  This is a generous community... humanity.  That part warms my heart.  Stay loving.  See you again soon.