Hurricane Helene

CW- Flood, destruction, and swearing

Believe it or not, I had grand plans to make this October a revamp of my community support, a better plan to connect with y’all more, and a plan to release all the podcasts I have ready to go.

Then Hurricane Helene came through.

Don't worry about me; I am in Durham, NC, and we just got a storm and a tornado warning. Thanks to people who have checked in, but we're good.

My hometown is tiny Banner Elk, NC. Usually when people talk about my hometown they're talking about the southern ski resorts it's nestled between, or the quaint mountain hillbilly autumn event, the Woolly Worm Festival. But now, more people than ever know my hometown as the one with all roads into town being gone. They're just washed away. All of them.

My dad and stepmom still live in the house I grew up in. They still have a roof over their heads. I know the basement flooded but I don't know how badly. I know my dad's backyard has become one giant mud pit.

In Banner Elk, we don't have backyards like the suburbs; my childhood backyard was a field and pond down the hill from our house. Wanna see it? It was surreal to find a TikTok drone view of my dad's land. Check the video below: from about :39 to :50, my family's land is the wreckage on the right side of the road.

@brysonbrothersaerialHighway 197 in Banner Elk, NC. #drone #hurricanedamage #helena

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Banner Elk is fucked. I even had a childhood friend* who now lives in Mountain City, TN call me yesterday and say, "I had no idea Banner Elk was so fucked." (He just tonight texted with another photo saying "Banner Elk is fuuuuuuuucked." He is a biology professor, not an English prof/writer. I still love him.)

I've heard there are places like Land Harbor that has lost its sewer and water system. The whole system. There are places like Biltmore Village in Asheville that was under water. Oh and don't even think the power will come back anywhere any time soon. My dad said he heard this second hand, but someone said it might be two months before the power returns to Banner Elk.

I want to go to my hometown and check on my family, bring them water and food and stuff. I have beloved friends from high school who are sprinkled around the area and I want to help. But the NCDOT is saying don't go up there unless you're emergency services. So I'm just kind of here watching the news and hoping I hear from I hear from my family** and find a day that I can go help out.

So, yeah, I've been distracted.

I'll let y’all know about the plans for my community support tomorrow, if I can.

BUT if you want to support any of the relief efforts, there is info here. And if you have to cancel your support of me in order to give support to these efforts, do it.

[UPDATE: heard from dad and stepmom toninght, complete with video of helicopters delivering food and water. They're fine for the moment, so I'm able to unclench. This doesn't mean the efforts don't need your support.]

*Friend has lost a lot of trees, had some roof damage, and the power lines ripped directly from his house; even if power comes back, someone has to literally re-connect his house to the grid.

**I mean, I've heard from them, they're alive, I just want to hear how they're doing and what they need now.