OT: 7 Months Out

[JustInTime]

I’ve mentioned previously I’m driving Uber while trying to land my next contract. Might end up semi-retiring 5 years earlier than planned and drive and do Rover to subsist until dipping into retirement funds.

Today I got a fare in Swanannoa. Name might not be as familiar as Asheville or Chimney Rock but the impact of Helene was similar to what was broadcast on the national news. Maybe worse I had heard. Parts of downtown Asheville still look like a bomb went off every couple blocks. Half the River Arts District is gone but at least it’s been tidied up a bit.

About a half mile from my pickup I turned on a road marked with a hand painted sign reading “Thoroughfare Closed Local Traffic Only”. I pressed on.  Kinda wished I hadn’t. To my left was a river, to my right shells of what once were modest ranch houses. Debris everywhere. Mud everywhere. Zero signs of work being done or even equipment to do so.

Quarter mile from my pickup I drove up a steep hill. When I say steep I mean a 15% grade. It looked like I had teleported to a different location. Grass. Homes intact. Trees not uprooted, leafy. Normal. Whatever that is. 

Picked up my fare. Older, somewhat frail woman. Bohemian. Exchanged the typical pleasantries and we were off back down the hill. She thanked me for picking her up as a lot of Uber drivers would accept a fare and then cancel. 

I mention the Hurricane damage and she started to recount the storm. She felt blessed to have missed the worst of it but the destruction to her neighbors was still fresh in her mind. “This house was moved completely off its foundation. Two of the six apartment buildings were destroyed and swept down river. This bridge was just gone. Two people died”. I pretty much could only nod in response. 

Dropped her off at her art studio in Black Mountain. Turned off Uber and headed back towards home. Spent the time counting my blessings. We’re right in between Asheville and Chimney Rock but were pretty much spared from the bulk of the destruction. Huge trees uprooted. No power for nearly 6 days. No consistent cell service for about two weeks. Same for internet. Basically we were inconvenienced as opposed to having the course of our lives completely altered if not worse.

Hurricane Helene is far removed from our 24 hour news cycle but the devastation and recovery are still very real to the folks of western North Carolina. Matching federal funding was ended a month ago and an appeal to reinstate was denied. Still lots of work and years to go in the recovery.

[MaroonBells]

Good reminder about how tragedies all over the world, though measured and fitted by their impact on the news cycle, have large scale, mostly unseen consequences for the people who live there. Meanwhile, the rest of the world moves on to the next hurricane or wildfire or earthquake.

[Montana Tom]

Thanks for sharing...we forget how bad it can be. It's tragic that FEMA has been cut off at the knees. I could go on, but we have 3 1/2 more years of this disabling of any semblance of a safety net that the Federal government once resembled.

[purplefaithful]

I'm sure there are PLENTY of good intended people who work there...But the truth is that FEMA has been a shit-show for decades now - just go back to Katrina.

That said, nobody has really fixed it much - at all.

[MaroonBells]

I'm sure there are PLENTY of good intended people who work there...But the truth is that FEMA has been a shit-show for decades now - just go back to Katrina.

That said, nobody has really fixed it much - at all.

I thought Brownie did a heckuva job.

[JustInTime]

Thanks for sharing...we forget how bad it can be.  It's tragic that FEMA has been cut off at the knees.  I could go on, but we have 3 1/2 more years of this disabling of any semblance of a safety net that the Federal government once resembled.

I get daily reminders so it stays pretty fresh in my mind.