(Editor’s note: Former Palisades resident Stewart Slavin responded to this editor on October 6 and said it’s their 10th day without electricity. After Hurricane Helen, made landfill in Florida on September 26 and moved up the coast, North Carolina was hit hard, more than 100 deaths have been recorded in the state. Slavin and his wife live in Asheville, which is in Bluncombe Countey, which has reported 72 deaths, the most in the state. According to CCN, more than 200 people are still unaccounted for.
More than 300,000 people remained without power in Georgia and the Carolinas Sunday evening, with more than 140,000 customers impacted in North Carolina alone, according to poweroutage.us.)
By STEWART SLAVIN
October 5, 2024
I want to say a great big thank you to everyone who bought my books, “Memory-Go-Round” and “With Or Without Camel.”
It’s boosted my morale as our ordeal continues in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Helene that devastated Asheville and other mountain communities in Western North Carolina.
Our situation is little changed. Now into the ninth day since Helene struck, my wife and I are still without power or water.
We’re able to find drinking water as well as hot meals and some other necessities at various churches and distribution centers. We have to carry back water from the local creek to flush toilets and of course there is no running water for showers or washing clothes.
More gas stations are opening without lines and emergency cellular service is improving although we still have no WiFi.
One of the greatest things to see is neighbors on our block joining to help each other and sharing emergency supplies. Some have generators so we can power up our cell phones and other devices.
I have also had several visits from volunteers checking on the safety of residents. Today, a group of four young women came to our house to see if we were OK and delivered water, paper products and baby wipes for sponge showers. They also asked if we needed to refill medication and said they would revisit us in a couple of days. The quartet even took one of our 5-gallon buckets down to the creek to get flushing water.
But it still looks like a war zone in much of Asheville, especially around the Swannanoa and French Broad rivers with all the visible destruction and relief and rescue trucks and helicopters. Most of the roads have reopened but a major artery — the I-40 — is closed indefinitely near the border with Tennessee. The Blue Ridge Parkway, the most visited of all national parks, is closed in its entirety, from North Carolina through Virginia.
In our own neighborhood, we saw National Guardsmen yesterday assist in what appeared to be the recovery of a body or bodies from down the hillside.
We are making arrangements to leave Asheville and move to Central California in the next couple of weeks. My three brothers are assisting the move. Stay safe everyone!
Hi Sue, Thanks for covering this again. I lived in Northeast Tennessee for 25 years before moving to the Palisades. Northeast Tennessee bumps Wester North Carolina.
My wife and I have many family members that were devastated by this disaster and are still recovering. My Father in Law just got his power and water back on. I have ex-coworkers from Poga TN that were just able to respond to me today saying they are ok but that they got hit bad. At least there is one road from North Carolina that can they can be reached through. They also are still without water and power. Prior to that road opening they were getting supplies by helicopter air drops. This will not be over for a long time. My friend Johnny in Poga said they needed prayers more than anything. These are hard working people and some of the toughest I’ve ever met. They love God and family. They will get through this. I assured him that they are in my prayers.