Western NC updates (10-02-2024--Hour2)

[00:00:04] [SPEAKER_01]: What's going on?

[00:00:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for listening to this podcast.

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[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_01]: And again, thank you so much for your support.

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_01]: I just saw this on the Facebook that volunteers are needed at Goose Creek Airport.

[00:00:37] [SPEAKER_01]: They have partnered with Hurricane Helene Airlift Relief.

[00:00:43] [SPEAKER_01]: That is the pilot group that was formed at the Statesville Airport that has been the

[00:00:48] [SPEAKER_01]: central hub accepting and flying out donations.

[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Goose Creek Airport is accepting donations, but they need volunteers.

[00:00:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Every item that gets donated needs to be weighed and tagged and then loaded onto the planes.

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_01]: So this is located 2020 Lawyers Road Indian Trail, Goose Creek Airport.

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_01]: They have a Facebook page called The New Goose Creek Airport.

[00:01:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Zoom Room Indian Trail is still a drop off location for donations.

[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_01]: They're gathering them up, organizing them and then transporting to Goose Creek Airport,

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Statesville Airport and Concord Airport.

[00:01:27] [SPEAKER_01]: So if you want to volunteer your time, you can do so again.

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_01]: They're on Facebook as, where did it go?

[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_01]: The New Goose Creek Airport.

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_01]: So they need help tagging, intaking, gathering the donations and then also loading them

[00:01:45] [SPEAKER_01]: onto the planes.

[00:01:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Let's go over now and talk with Mark Starling.

[00:01:49] [SPEAKER_01]: He is the morning guy, although nowadays he's the all day guy at WWNC 570 AM radio in Asheville.

[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Hey Mark, how are you?

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_02]: A little worse for where Pete, but we're getting through it.

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, have you been able to leave the radio ranch yet?

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_02]: So I left the station yesterday and went home and just kind of checked on things and

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_02]: removed a couple of things from the house.

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_02]: Our crawl space was flooded out, but we somehow or another, the water line where the water stopped

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_02]: rising, it stopped about a half inch before it started going in the front door and the back door

[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_02]: of the house. So somehow or another we didn't end up with any water in the house by some strange

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_02]: miracle. Meanwhile, some of our neighbors on both sides of the street from us up the road

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_02]: and down the road, they lost their lives.

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry.

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_02]: We didn't know them, but I mean they were still our neighbors.

[00:02:50] [SPEAKER_02]: It's a horrific scene, Pete. I'll be honest with you.

[00:02:58] [SPEAKER_02]: There's a lot of people hurting right now and there's a lot of people

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_02]: very confused as to what happened, how it happened and what's going to happen now.

[00:03:08] [SPEAKER_02]: I think we're all feeling that a little bit. My wife and son and four dogs,

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_02]: they ended up riding out the storm in the forerunner at a gas station because they couldn't

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_02]: get to the radio station because by the time they reached the bridge at I-40 there was already

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_02]: waves going over the overpass, splashing down on the old highway nine and she knew better than

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_02]: to try to drive down I-40 like that. So she's been evacuated and they've all

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_02]: been evacuated to Atlanta. They're now at my brother's house for however long they need to be

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_02]: there until we can get kind of get things wrapped up here and fixed. We still don't have power.

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_02]: We have cell phone, I don't have water. Depending on who you listen to, the water

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_02]: is the water, the returning water is not going to be measured in days. It's probably going

[00:04:05] [SPEAKER_02]: to be measured in days when the water system in Asheville was destroyed.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_02]: So the destruction was so incredible and it was so swift and so fast that even if it did

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_02]: leave something like a power substation was still there, it still has to be torn all the way down

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_01]: and rebuilt. I had seen a number, I guess it came from, I think it was from state Senator

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_01]: Congressman Edwards now. I had seen a report out of his office that Duke was saying like

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_01]: 360 substations and all of them need transformers and even before last week transformers were

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_01]: hard to come by, let alone now and even if you can get them shipped in, there's nobody

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_01]: to take them off the boats thanks to the longshoremen on strike. Well, in a lot of the areas where

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_02]: these substations are they can get to the area but they can't get to the substation because of

[00:05:10] [SPEAKER_02]: all of the downed trees and the mudslides and the rock slides. All of this stuff is making it

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_02]: just a logistical nightmare. I don't know how long this takes. The electricity is coming back

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_02]: on and I will give Duke energy credit where credit is due. They are working hard to get it out there,

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_02]: they're alignment out there 24 hours a day. Every day we're getting reports of this section

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_02]: is good, this section has power back and this section has power back. The one thing you're

[00:05:44] [SPEAKER_02]: not hearing is anybody getting water back. There are a lot of people who are just

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_02]: throwing in the towel and saying we're out. We're just going to move somewhere else because

[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_02]: we're not going to go through this again. This is too much for us. Not really a shock, right?

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_02]: We live in it. We have to be honest about things and that is the fact that we live in a death trap

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_02]: because that's exactly what the mountains are when a storm like this comes in.

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_02]: There's nowhere to go to run. There's nowhere to go to escape.

[00:06:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, the things-

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_02]: We saw that. The 35 foot wall of water came down the French Broad River

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_02]: and literally destroyed everything in its path.

[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_02]: So I don't know what it takes to move forward from this. I hope Asheville recovers,

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_02]: but being that we are a tourism-based industry or tourism-based area and considering places

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_02]: like the Biltmore Village have been reduced to absolute rubble and the River Arts District

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER_02]: doesn't even exist anymore. Hot Springs was wiped off the map. I don't see where we're given people

[00:06:54] [SPEAKER_01]: a whole lot of reason to want to come here. So I would say this before despair sinks in is that

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_01]: I said this earlier with a lady who had called in, is you deal with the thing that you can deal

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_01]: with that's right in front of you right now and just do that because if you start thinking

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_01]: about all of that other stuff right now, you'll get overwhelmed.

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_01]: And so just right now it's electricity, it's water, more importantly it's water,

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_01]: and it's shelter and clothing. And then after those things, then it's okay, let's take the next

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_01]: step and tackle the next problem. Right. Right.

[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_02]: Right now what I've just been really trying to instill in people when I'm on the air is like,

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_02]: look it's okay to not be okay. It really is and it's okay to ask for help and we're all

[00:07:49] [SPEAKER_02]: going to have to ask for a little bit of help. I went back to the house this morning. I wanted

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_02]: to make sure all the breakers were turned off and all that before the power does come

[00:08:00] [SPEAKER_02]: back on so we don't lose any appliances or anything. And I was driving one of our sister

[00:08:05] [SPEAKER_02]: stations vehicles and it was parked out in front of the house. And as I was getting ready to leave

[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_02]: a family, a mom and a dad and a young son and their two dogs pulled up in front of the house

[00:08:19] [SPEAKER_02]: and he rolled down the window and he asked if I was Mark Starling and I said yeah, I am.

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_02]: And he got out of his car and he just broke down in tears and it just needed to be hugged

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_02]: and he just grabbed a hold of me and hugged me and he just cried. And we both cried together

[00:08:37] [SPEAKER_02]: because it's really hard to see our home like this. Everybody we know is suffering somehow

[00:08:44] [SPEAKER_02]: or another and it's just, it is so overwhelming at times but you know there is good stuff

[00:08:51] [SPEAKER_02]: happening here. There's rescues being made. We have been really successful at helping

[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_02]: people get reunited with people that they're missing. You know every day we start a show,

[00:09:05] [SPEAKER_02]: we start a show with a list of people that have gone missing and by the end of the show

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_02]: we can generally scratch a ton of names off that list because they've been found and they've

[00:09:14] [SPEAKER_02]: been reunited. And people are calling in and they're saying hey I heard you say that there was

[00:09:19] [SPEAKER_02]: somebody missing in the the beetry area. I'm in the beetry area right now where do I

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_02]: need to go? Can you direct me and we'll get the directions from that person

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_02]: and give that to the person that's there and sure enough they go in and they find someone

[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_02]: and they're okay. This is community and this is the best of humanity at the worst times.

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Well it's like Mr. Rogers said look for the helpers. That's right. And

[00:09:48] [SPEAKER_01]: rely on the methods of communication that humans have used for millennia. I saw Black Mountain,

[00:09:57] [SPEAKER_01]: they did a town hall outside just in the town center. The Sheriff gets up on a or the Police

[00:10:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Chief gets up on a picnic table and just you know gives the news and that's really a vital

[00:10:11] [SPEAKER_01]: part of it. I guess I hadn't really understood that either that people have been cut off from all

[00:10:17] [SPEAKER_01]: information. I talked with a mutual friend of ours Bill Forstian this morning and

[00:10:24] [SPEAKER_01]: and he just was he just wanted to know what information I had because he hadn't been able

[00:10:30] [SPEAKER_01]: to get any news from the outside world and it's stuff like that. It's like you know just

[00:10:37] [SPEAKER_01]: keep doing what you're doing and you know one day at a time and fix the problem that's right in front

[00:10:44] [SPEAKER_01]: of you that's the most immediate need and then you know we get through it. And like I said if

[00:10:49] [SPEAKER_01]: you you know just please let everybody up there know that everybody down here is trying their hardest.

[00:10:57] [SPEAKER_02]: We've and we absolutely feel it. We see the donations coming in. We see the cavalry arriving.

[00:11:04] [SPEAKER_02]: There's not up until today there was helicopters flying everywhere. That's all you heard.

[00:11:10] [SPEAKER_02]: Unfortunately there's a 50 mile no fly zone today because the president until 330 so instead of

[00:11:16] [SPEAKER_02]: saving lives and instead of delivering supplies instead of doing the things we need to do

[00:11:21] [SPEAKER_02]: the president gets a chance to take a few pictures from the air. I don't care if it's

[00:11:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Biden or Trump we don't want you here go somewhere else go do something where you can

[00:11:31] [SPEAKER_02]: actually do something but if you can't pass out water if you can't hike up a hill and get to our

[00:11:36] [SPEAKER_02]: people then get the hell out. That's the attitude on the ground here regardless of party. No I know

[00:11:44] [SPEAKER_01]: it is they did the same thing with George W. Bush and Hurricane Katrina and I just it's one of the

[00:11:49] [SPEAKER_01]: worst parts about any of these disasters like they have to fly over and they have to get the

[00:11:53] [SPEAKER_01]: photo up because if they don't they get you know savaged in the media and look at you

[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_01]: you couldn't even go look at it and this is what happens though is you know you now have this

[00:12:03] [SPEAKER_01]: cleared airspace because it's Air Force One and now all of these rescue operations are put on hold

[00:12:09] [SPEAKER_01]: for hours and that could cost lives and it's just it will cost lives. It absolutely will cost

[00:12:15] [SPEAKER_02]: lives when we have helicopters flying diabetic insulin syringes up to elderly people and

[00:12:21] [SPEAKER_02]: diabetic patients in the hills because that's the only way to take and get it

[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_02]: that is going to end a life if that chopper can't take off and get those needles up there.

[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_02]: There's people with oxygen that need oxygen tanks and for God's sakes like could you not just

[00:12:36] [SPEAKER_02]: wait another week? Right. What did it what did it have killed him to wait another week? It's

[00:12:39] [SPEAKER_02]: not like we're going to have the place cleaned up right I mean yeah it's just unbelievable.

[00:12:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah it's still going to look bad also you're not running for reelection so like why why

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_02]: why are you even doing this? Well apparently we're getting a candidate coming this way as well

[00:12:54] [SPEAKER_02]: of Mrs. Harris has announced that she will be in town at some point. I don't know when that is but

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_02]: I just ask that for politicians please just stay away and please stop trying to use our people

[00:13:08] [SPEAKER_01]: for political pawns. Right if you're coming to help help and I appreciate anybody that can

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER_01]: pull any strings to get stuff where it needs to go more quickly I have refrained from attacking

[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_01]: people and government agencies and that sort of stuff. I am aware of some of the stories people

[00:13:28] [SPEAKER_01]: keep sending me some of these stories I have held fire because you know I don't know how much of

[00:13:33] [SPEAKER_01]: this stuff is true I'm you know a hundred miles away so I don't know but some of the stuff I've

[00:13:39] [SPEAKER_01]: heard is concerning but right now again focusing on getting water, getting medicine, getting people

[00:13:46] [SPEAKER_01]: saved and getting food and shelter these are the priorities right now so if you can help with that

[00:13:52] [SPEAKER_02]: then help with that. Absolutely that is a hundred percent right and we as I said we truly feel all

[00:13:59] [SPEAKER_02]: of this help we truly feel all of this love if people if people want to make a donation

[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_02]: they can make a donation to heartswithhands.org that's heartswithhands.org it is a local organization

[00:14:10] [SPEAKER_02]: here this is what they normally do for other people in other states and now they're having

[00:14:15] [SPEAKER_02]: to do it for not only themselves but all of our neighbors and somehow or another

[00:14:21] [SPEAKER_02]: that storm destroyed everything around the hearts with hands warehouse but it didn't touch the

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_02]: warehouse. Isn't that amazing? It is.

[00:14:34] [SPEAKER_02]: I've been through so many these storms I've just never been through anything like this before

[00:14:40] [SPEAKER_02]: yeah just when I think I can't shed another tear

[00:14:45] [SPEAKER_02]: it's just you just get to a point where you just have to let it out

[00:14:48] [SPEAKER_02]: yeah and you feel better for a little while afterwards but it's like a battery it recharges

[00:14:57] [SPEAKER_02]: itself and then you have to let it all out again well if you stop drinking water I think that

[00:15:02] [SPEAKER_01]: limits the tear production. No I'm kidding don't stop drinking water. I mean considering that when

[00:15:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Tank Spencer who was your old producer here and he's now my producer on Friday morning we

[00:15:14] [SPEAKER_02]: realized that the only thing we had to eat here at the radio station was chili and that was really

[00:15:18] [SPEAKER_02]: good that was really going to be a problem I don't know if it was a sick joke from God above

[00:15:24] [SPEAKER_02]: that was the only thing in the emergency pantry was the chili. Well actually it didn't even

[00:15:30] [SPEAKER_02]: come from the emergency pantry we made a bet with our top tech stories of the week correspondent

[00:15:34] [SPEAKER_02]: in Washington DC that if the commanders lost to the buccaneers and they did he sent us a

[00:15:43] [SPEAKER_02]: gift pack from Ben's Chili Bowl in Washington DC and it literally arrived on Thursday so we ate half

[00:15:51] [SPEAKER_02]: smokies and chili that night and we had some stuff here at the station and I said to Tank I said I don't

[00:15:57] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't think we have anything like meal wise it's just all kind of snacks and stuff

[00:16:01] [SPEAKER_02]: and he said are you kidding me he said there's a gallon and a half of chili that Jeremy Green

[00:16:05] [SPEAKER_02]: made in the fridge and I thought well this is a sick joke because this is just this is not right

[00:16:11] [SPEAKER_01]: right which then would probably require the interior of the radio station to be listed as a quarantine

[00:16:18] [SPEAKER_02]: toxic zone so that's pretty gross all right it basically needs to be condemned so maybe we'll

[00:16:25] [SPEAKER_01]: get those new studios after all yeah well let's not get crazy um mark I appreciate it I'm glad

[00:16:30] [SPEAKER_01]: to hear you're okay stay strong we'll touch base with you again soon thank you so much

[00:16:35] [SPEAKER_02]: Peyton thank you so much to all the listeners in Charlotte we absolutely feel the love you

[00:16:40] [SPEAKER_01]: guys are sending this way yep let us know we can help thanks be our buddy all right that's Mark

[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Starling from WNC in Asheville you know stories are powerful they help us make sense of things to

[00:16:50] [SPEAKER_01]: understand experiences stories connect us to the people of our past while transcending generations

[00:16:55] [SPEAKER_01]: they help us process the meaning of life and our stories are told through images and videos

[00:17:01] [SPEAKER_01]: preserve your stories with creative video started in 1997 in Mint Hill North Carolina

[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_01]: it was the first company to provide this valuable service converting images photos and videos into

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[00:17:18] [SPEAKER_01]: video will go over all of the details with you to create a perfect project satisfaction guaranteed

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[00:17:51] [SPEAKER_01]: updates from western north carolina want to welcome back to the program cori valencourty

[00:17:55] [SPEAKER_01]: is a reporter for the smoky mountain news the website is smokymountainnews.com Cori uh first off

[00:18:02] [SPEAKER_01]: how are you doing?

[00:18:04] [SPEAKER_06]: oh man i'm doing i'm doing fine i'm doing better than a lot of folks and i'm really fortunate but

[00:18:10] [SPEAKER_06]: obviously our focus is on people who have been affected by this just unbelievable destruction

[00:18:16] [SPEAKER_01]: where so where uh i guess where are you located where do you like where do you live and for

[00:18:21] [SPEAKER_01]: people who are not familiar with the area and the coverage area for the smoky mountain news

[00:18:26] [SPEAKER_01]: where is that in relation to say i guess ashfield the biggest population center out there

[00:18:32] [SPEAKER_06]: sure so uh we're based in haywood county which is the next county west we're about 25 miles from

[00:18:37] [SPEAKER_06]: downtown ashfield uh the smoky mountain news is based in wanesville i live in maggy valley at the

[00:18:44] [SPEAKER_06]: the western end uh the more mountainous end of haywood county uh most most folks will probably

[00:18:49] [SPEAKER_06]: know it as where ghost town uh the amusement park used to be um we so we cover haywood

[00:18:55] [SPEAKER_06]: jackson making swain and the koala boundary and our reporters have been all over this region

[00:19:01] [SPEAKER_06]: since this storm began trying to make sense of everything we've seen uh in a region that's

[00:19:07] [SPEAKER_01]: the size of connecticut i was not aware that that's a good that's a good way to think of it um

[00:19:13] [SPEAKER_01]: so the uh the the reporter crew the reporting crew are they all they're all doing all right

[00:19:19] [SPEAKER_06]: they're all safe yeah we all made it through again we were very fortunate um i never actually lost

[00:19:27] [SPEAKER_06]: power uh well we have had some some crippling communications breakdowns here especially at

[00:19:33] [SPEAKER_06]: the height of the storm uh we published our paper comes out on wednesdays and we have not missed

[00:19:39] [SPEAKER_06]: an issue in 25 years and we were not going to let this storm stop us because the way we look at

[00:19:45] [SPEAKER_06]: our job is this is a public service we're here to serve the public and they need that more than ever

[00:19:51] [SPEAKER_01]: right now that really is the thing um in talk with people is the lack the lack of communication

[00:19:57] [SPEAKER_01]: you know everybody's so relying on uh cell phones nowadays uh and abandoning sort of the older

[00:20:04] [SPEAKER_01]: tech um whether it's you know uh the written word or its radio um and you know i have a friend

[00:20:10] [SPEAKER_01]: in the ardent area ran out and bought a hand cranked radio off well yeah off amazon but um

[00:20:17] [SPEAKER_01]: but he had to because he couldn't he couldn't get information otherwise um and that's really what people

[00:20:24] [SPEAKER_01]: want to know and need to know and um and so what are you as you kind of make your way around the

[00:20:30] [SPEAKER_01]: area where have you been to and uh and what have you what have you witnessed so personally my

[00:20:38] [SPEAKER_06]: beat is haywood county so i haven't left haywood county since the storm began uh again those municipalities

[00:20:45] [SPEAKER_06]: haywood camp um uh meggy valley canton clide and wanesville i've been to all of them um many times

[00:20:53] [SPEAKER_06]: the the destruction is just uh it's difficult to put into words p it really is uh of course

[00:20:59] [SPEAKER_06]: canton was hit with deadly flooding in 2021 killed six people they got it worse than uh

[00:21:05] [SPEAKER_06]: 2021 and in uh 2004 there was even worse flooding but we've topped that mark as well

[00:21:12] [SPEAKER_06]: one of the things i saw in canton that surprised me that was different than 2021 is the amount of

[00:21:18] [SPEAKER_06]: broken glass everywhere and what that actually means is water levels were higher water force

[00:21:23] [SPEAKER_06]: was greater there was more debris shattering windows it was just uh uh just unbelievable

[00:21:30] [SPEAKER_06]: i don't even i'm still struggling with words to describe it and it's my job to describe things

[00:21:35] [SPEAKER_01]: with words right now i i i i get it um so what is the immediate need that uh is there is there water

[00:21:45] [SPEAKER_06]: service is their electricity yeah mom most of those things have been coming back and uh have come back

[00:21:53] [SPEAKER_06]: in the last day or so uh what we have now is we still have a communication issue internet is

[00:22:00] [SPEAKER_06]: sporadic for many um but it's not existent for most spell services slowly coming back provider

[00:22:07] [SPEAKER_06]: by provider but as you know uh cell service in the mountains is sporadic on a good day right so

[00:22:14] [SPEAKER_06]: that's kind of inhibited um not only our ability to learn information and pass that along

[00:22:21] [SPEAKER_06]: to people who might need it but it's also uh inhibited first responders and somewhat i think

[00:22:27] [SPEAKER_06]: inundated them because if you can't if you call if you call me ma up on the mountain and you can't

[00:22:34] [SPEAKER_06]: get a hold of her you call 911 well if we had a functioning robust cellular infrastructure you

[00:22:40] [SPEAKER_06]: would have gotten a hold of me ma and you wouldn't have to call 911 and then a bunch of bubbles

[00:22:44] [SPEAKER_06]: wouldn't have to go out and risk their life to check on your grandmother so uh there's some

[00:22:50] [SPEAKER_06]: real uh i think some national security implications here uh it just in the entire scope of this

[00:22:56] [SPEAKER_06]: thing um i told cnn yesterday i was in southern ukraine two years ago in a town that had just

[00:23:04] [SPEAKER_06]: recently been liberated from russian control after eight months and we were in the same situation

[00:23:10] [SPEAKER_06]: that those ukrainians were in water personal hygiene items prescription things for infants

[00:23:16] [SPEAKER_06]: things for seniors uh they were uh they were not flowing into the county initially

[00:23:21] [SPEAKER_06]: and even if they did people had no way to learn where they were and in some cases were cut off

[00:23:27] [SPEAKER_01]: and had no way to get to them what is the infrastructure picture look like there are there

[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_01]: roads that are uh are there a lot of roads i guess that are washed out or gone uh yeah but

[00:23:41] [SPEAKER_06]: they are mostly smaller private roads you know these mountain communities where people cut roads

[00:23:45] [SPEAKER_06]: up into the mountains they're not meant to withstand this type of extreme weather event

[00:23:50] [SPEAKER_06]: so we do have some communities that are cut off um we still haven't heard much out of cru

[00:23:55] [SPEAKER_06]: so which was hit hard in 2021 it's uh down a narrow mountain valley towards the blue ridge

[00:24:01] [SPEAKER_06]: parkway uh haven't been able to pay a lot of attention to places outside of our coverage

[00:24:06] [SPEAKER_06]: area but i understand ashville has similar situations may or ester manheimer told cnn

[00:24:12] [SPEAKER_06]: just before me they were dealing with that um also haven't heard much out of yancy county

[00:24:18] [SPEAKER_06]: avery county those counties up along the spine of the blue ridge uh because they're isolated to

[00:24:24] [SPEAKER_06]: begin with and they seem to have gotten hit harder than we did so it's uh it's terrifying to think

[00:24:30] [SPEAKER_06]: once some of these roads open up what first responders are going to find yeah i mean that

[00:24:34] [SPEAKER_01]: i said this the other day the the thing that makes the mountains so beautiful makes them

[00:24:39] [SPEAKER_01]: dangerous um absolutely yeah and uh i mean this is a thousand-year flood event and you know

[00:24:45] [SPEAKER_01]: you don't want to be in the bottom of the valley but for the rest of the thousand years that's

[00:24:50] [SPEAKER_01]: exactly where you want to be because if you're up the mountain then the rest of the time you're

[00:24:54] [SPEAKER_01]: having to traverse up these mountain roads in the snow and ice and whatnot and that's not

[00:24:59] [SPEAKER_01]: preferable so um now it's it's a challenge all around um so is there anything that uh that

[00:25:06] [SPEAKER_01]: you're uh that you're wanting people in the charlotte area to know uh what are your needs uh or

[00:25:14] [SPEAKER_06]: what's your message to people down here yeah the the first thing is don't come here do not come here

[00:25:21] [SPEAKER_06]: we know people want to help but that just complicates the process for first responders

[00:25:25] [SPEAKER_06]: with cellular capacity so low at present everyone that comes in with a smartphone is tapping off

[00:25:32] [SPEAKER_06]: a network that people need to reach loved ones emergency responders need to communicate

[00:25:37] [SPEAKER_06]: with their their fellow responders the other thing i would say is uh certainly people

[00:25:42] [SPEAKER_06]: are going to be hurting from this for a long time i think the quickest easiest way people can help is

[00:25:47] [SPEAKER_06]: to go to the united way of haywood county that way you know your donation is secure and that it's going

[00:25:53] [SPEAKER_06]: to the place it needs to be uh but honestly pete things are coming back uh nicely we're holding

[00:26:00] [SPEAKER_06]: up okay um there are you know gasoline shortages it's difficult everything here is cash only

[00:26:07] [SPEAKER_06]: so you're gonna we're encountering lines at the pump lines at the grocery store but people

[00:26:12] [SPEAKER_06]: seem to be handling it um with good nature and um you know what we're seeing out here is neighbors

[00:26:18] [SPEAKER_06]: helping neighbors and that's exactly what's going on even if you're you're a little angry that you're

[00:26:23] [SPEAKER_01]: waiting in line for gasoline yeah um well if if i can send you back to tell people with a message

[00:26:30] [SPEAKER_01]: just that um we are we you're not forgotten up there we're doing our best down here to help

[00:26:36] [SPEAKER_06]: i can't thank you enough for letting us get this word out pete really can't stay safe quarry

[00:26:41] [SPEAKER_01]: we'll have you on again soon anytime buddy take it easy all right brother take care that's quarry valent

[00:26:45] [SPEAKER_01]: court from the smoky mountain news smoky mountain news dot com all right holiday season approaches

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[00:28:02] [SPEAKER_01]: let's go to the phones here's larry hello larry welcome to the show

[00:28:07] [SPEAKER_03]: hello hey how are you yes i just wanted to give these people here some hope i was in panamol city

[00:28:15] [SPEAKER_03]: i live there almost all my life uh when hurricane michael came through in 2018 we had 176 mile an hour

[00:28:23] [SPEAKER_03]: sustained winds we didn't have the flooding that they had uh east of us mess co beach that wiped out

[00:28:30] [SPEAKER_03]: from the flooding but uh we were without power for a couple months uh and i told my wife and she told

[00:28:39] [SPEAKER_03]: me it's time to leave so we moved to morrisville i said once we get there everything will be fine

[00:28:45] [SPEAKER_03]: then covid hit six months later after we bought our house uh we got hit by lightning but oh my

[00:28:53] [SPEAKER_04]: it will be okay it's going to take a while but just believe it's going to be okay

[00:29:02] [SPEAKER_04]: yeah now it'll get better right it's uh it'll get i'll feel for these people

[00:29:10] [SPEAKER_04]: i know what they're talking about as far as no power and devastation i heard nail guns and chainsaw

[00:29:18] [SPEAKER_04]: for months from daylight to dark every day but like said we didn't have the water damage

[00:29:25] [SPEAKER_04]: yeah but uh we love it here in north carolina

[00:29:31] [SPEAKER_01]: but uh y'all just keep faith it'll get better yeah well i can i can personally attest to the

[00:29:41] [SPEAKER_01]: fortitude of uh mountain folk uh i i have seen it firsthand these are people that can make do with

[00:29:49] [SPEAKER_01]: very little um and uh so i'm i'm confident in that these are very difficult times even for them

[00:29:56] [SPEAKER_01]: though and um i think just knowing that you know there are people like you and and people like our

[00:30:04] [SPEAKER_01]: listeners and people all around the country that are you know sending prayers and words of support

[00:30:11] [SPEAKER_01]: and supplies and money um that it helps to lift their spirits so that's and that's a that's a very

[00:30:18] [SPEAKER_03]: important a very important part of it and samaritan's purse yeah wonderful oh yeah but uh y'all just

[00:30:27] [SPEAKER_01]: keep the faith yes sir larry i appreciate the call and welcome to uh welcome to the carolina

[00:30:34] [SPEAKER_01]: i love it more than i love it yeah all right buddy i appreciate you this is uh mark down in

[00:30:42] [SPEAKER_01]: rock hill hello mark oh sorry this is about the debate hello pete yeah hello pete i see the hands

[00:30:47] [SPEAKER_05]: on the clock on the wall so i'm gonna be short and i said senator vanfler last night to the gun

[00:30:54] [SPEAKER_05]: violence question it's my opinion gave the best response in the entire debate and governor

[00:31:01] [SPEAKER_05]: wallis's reply spotted progressive talking points but i want to concentrate on the governor wall

[00:31:07] [SPEAKER_05]: his phrase is n r a used to teach gun safety classes the n r a was the only known contract

[00:31:14] [SPEAKER_05]: minnesota department of natural resources had for children 12 years of age of up who wanted to go

[00:31:20] [SPEAKER_05]: hunting with their parents for grouse pheasant vermouth such as raccoon duck geese field rest game

[00:31:30] [SPEAKER_05]: and hunting okay larger game deer and if you're financial able to moose he gave a non-answer answer

[00:31:39] [SPEAKER_05]: and by the way the red flag was are close to me as columbia so thank you governor wall

[00:31:45] [SPEAKER_05]: this contemporary is setting the record straight but you sounded like julia louis driffes on an

[00:31:51] [SPEAKER_05]: episode of the beat and the moderators did the right thing by moving on to the next topic

[00:31:57] [SPEAKER_01]: all right mark i appreciate the call uh we mentioned the beginning of the first hour the

[00:32:05] [SPEAKER_01]: vice presidential debate so that occurred last night i did mention it i was not happy with the

[00:32:12] [SPEAKER_01]: moderators i was not happy with the fact that the one question that was framed initially as the

[00:32:19] [SPEAKER_01]: storm uh the worst hurricane that we have seen in a generation was then used as a springboard to

[00:32:28] [SPEAKER_01]: launch into an actual question about climate change and that and then several follow-up

[00:32:34] [SPEAKER_01]: questions about climate change i did watch the debate i've got a i have audio but um

[00:32:42] [SPEAKER_01]: maybe we'll get to it in the next hour or what but um mission hospital which is the major

[00:32:49] [SPEAKER_01]: hospital in ashville they have not had running water for uh four days and patients have been

[00:32:58] [SPEAKER_01]: filling up their emergency room nurses have been working and sleeping overnight in a chaotic

[00:33:04] [SPEAKER_01]: environment that poses serious challenges andrew jones writing at a website called avl watchdog

[00:33:11] [SPEAKER_01]: says water is the biggest barrier against rampant infection and dangerous sanitary conditions

[00:33:17] [SPEAKER_01]: according to three nurses that he interviewed hca healthcare which is the owner of mission hospital

[00:33:24] [SPEAKER_01]: said that their top priority is water and sewer but did not provide a timeline for restoration

[00:33:30] [SPEAKER_01]: i would submit that that is because there is no timeline because unless they're going to be

[00:33:37] [SPEAKER_01]: drilling wells out back they were hooked up to the city's water and sewer system

[00:33:41] [SPEAKER_01]: which have been destroyed we are uh we are having people go in buckets and then we're

[00:33:50] [SPEAKER_01]: getting rid of it according to one of the nurses interviewed for the piece named Hannah

[00:33:55] [SPEAKER_01]: drummond quote we have bottled water but there's no running water so we can't do any procedures

[00:34:00] [SPEAKER_01]: unless they are life-threatening because there's not even water for surgeons to scrub in

[00:34:06] [SPEAKER_01]: hca north carolina division president greg lowe said at a monday press briefing for bunkham county

[00:34:12] [SPEAKER_01]: that missions owner hca health care's top priority water and sewer quote hca health care is supplied

[00:34:18] [SPEAKER_01]: more than 20 tanker trucks daily so that we can maintain clinical operations uh at the hospital

[00:34:24] [SPEAKER_01]: however without pressurized water we are significantly challenged with running many hospital functions

[00:34:31] [SPEAKER_01]: such as hot food preparation toileting and showers i have heard one of the big uh

[00:34:39] [SPEAKER_01]: needs also at this point is portagons in the entire area um he said mission was bringing

[00:34:48] [SPEAKER_01]: in more than 20 water trucks a day with sterilized bottled water to support operations uh they

[00:34:55] [SPEAKER_01]: finally did get porta potties yesterday the hospital ran out of food over the weekend

[00:35:00] [SPEAKER_01]: one of the staff members had to run to engels which is the grocery store to cook for the emergency room

[00:35:07] [SPEAKER_01]: community members have been showing up every day in the ambulance bay to grill for us so that we

[00:35:13] [SPEAKER_01]: have hot food so that's the way it looks at their hospital right now so when i was a kid my grandpa

[00:35:19] [SPEAKER_01]: died with alzheimer's and before he died my mom and my dad and all of us really helped take

[00:35:23] [SPEAKER_01]: care of him as he got progressively worse 40 years ago there were no treatments and not much

[00:35:29] [SPEAKER_01]: support for caregivers and family things are different today because of the work of so many

[00:35:33] [SPEAKER_01]: people including the alzheimer's association of western north carolina it's a great organization

[00:35:39] [SPEAKER_01]: with awesome people they've got huge hearts i've been a supporter for like 25 years this

[00:35:43] [SPEAKER_01]: cause means a lot to me i participate in the annual walk to end alzheimer's and

[00:35:49] [SPEAKER_01]: i am leading a charlotte team this year it's called pete's pack you can sign up and join

[00:35:53] [SPEAKER_01]: the team and walk with me it's on october 19th at truest field in uptown sign up at alz.org

[00:36:01] [SPEAKER_01]: walk and then just look for my team pete's pack and there's also a link in the podcast description

[00:36:06] [SPEAKER_01]: here also i'm going to be mc'ing the gastonia walk on october 5th so make a team and join us

[00:36:11] [SPEAKER_01]: or make a donation to help me hit my goal i would really appreciate it there are a bunch of

[00:36:16] [SPEAKER_01]: other walks around the carolinas and you can go to alz.org for all of the dates and locations

[00:36:22] [SPEAKER_01]: we are closer than ever to stopping alzheimer's uh and if you can help us get there we would really

[00:36:29] [SPEAKER_01]: appreciate it will you come walk with me for a different future for families for more time

[00:36:34] [SPEAKER_01]: for treatments this is why i walk all right that'll do it for this episode thank you so much

[00:36:39] [SPEAKER_01]: for listening i could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses

[00:36:43] [SPEAKER_01]: that advertise on the podcast so if you'd like please support them too and tell them

[00:36:47] [SPEAKER_01]: you heard it here you can also become a patron at my patreon page or go to thepeatcalinershow.com

[00:36:53] [SPEAKER_01]: again thank you so much for listening and uh don't break anything while i'm gone