Guys,
Thanks a lot for those who reached out. Cliff, Dirk, a few others. Wow man, we got rocked.
It's hard to imagine you will go to bed one night and it rains so hard that many of your favorite places are washed away
We are safe and sound, but it will take a while to build us back whole. My house mercifully was spared, a thousand thanks to Buckminster Fuller and the power of the dome!
We had perhaps 15-18 trees down on my little 2 acres, at least from what I can see. My wife's beloved little Toyota didn't make it (2 trees across the roof) but my new Polestar was unscathed
this pic was before the second tree fell on it
THURSDAY 9/26
The Volvo dealership where I work got completely flooded. I was there till 8pm Thursday night moving cars up on the hill to the WNC Ag Center-- They are great neighbors and on high ground with big parking lots. It was a staging/muster point for the line crews before the storm and is still an active Red Cross shelter now. We had all the employees out moving cars all day, put about 420 up the hill and saved as many as we could. By the evening, just me and about 4 other managers were still shuttling cars up when we started having issues locating keys and such and eventually had to call it quits with about 75-80 still on the lot- all were flooded and lost.
Here's my beloved V60 Cross Country Wagon that I traded in about 3 days before the storm- I think one of the reconditioning techs had the keys in locked in his toolbox, we never could find them and the car is toast.
FRIDAY 9/27
Woke up to the storm going nuts, looked out the window for trees down everywhere. No power (thus water) and no cell to be had. Sat around all morning listening to trees crash and hoping the next one didn't come thru the roof. Very stressful. I have a spring-fed creek that trickles down behind/beside the house, have never seen it more than a couple inches deep. This morning it was raging and churning and had swelled up the banks, probably 8' deep while the rain poured. Later I would learn we got over 35" of rain in less than 48hrs Thurs/fri
Storm had subsided by mid day, so went out and started trying to clear a way out of the driveway in the afternoon. Of course my chainsaw bar/chain are old and tired, so threw the chain repeatedly and seeing chips in the bar, I elect to knock off the work and go get some supplies the next morning.
SATURDAY 9/28
I grab a backpack and ride my mountain bike down the mountain and see if I can get a bar & chain at ACE and maybe catch some signal. I foolishly thought we probably 'got the worst of it' and things would be fine around town, probably a lot of power outage but some things will be open and I can get the driveway cleared today. I was not prepared for what I found. Massive mud slicks all around, areas you would not ever suspect as flood prone covered in debris and 10 inches of slimy mud. Trees down on every road, shattered utility poles, flipped cars in the roadway, sheds and furniture and roofs washed up in the medians. Huge washouts and full roads carried down the mountain and in the bottom of ravines. You can't go 50 yards without crossing downed power lines or trees in the roadway.
There were just a smattering of people out, everyone looking shell-shocked and NOTHING open. No power anywhere. Cars driving up and down the roads or parked on the side full of people searching for cell signal. Rode to ACE, they are not even open, the entire East Asheville business area is a ghost town. Rode over to Home depot, there are hundreds of people in the lot, everyone looking depleted. The store has lights running on generator, but cash only and the line to get in reported over 3 hrs long. People coming out saying 'don't bother, everything you need is already gone'
Still have not caught enough signal to check the news, people are murmuring that Chimney Rock and Lake Lure got completely washed away- the entire town is now in the lake. Someone said the Swananoa river clobbered Black Mountain, there are bodies in the streets- Biltmore Village was under 15+ feet or water, and the entire River Arts District of Asheville was wiped clean. This all seemed too farcical to believe.
Rode my bike right down I240 around debris piles and disabled cars to the bridge over Swananoa River road and saw the river had swelled at least 30-40 feet over its banks and clobbered everything in its path. There's a dead horse in the road in front of the Uhaul building.
I have a fair bit of food and water (we lose power & thus water quite a bit and have no cell signal where we live in the best of times, so I'm not a 'prepper' but I am prepared).... So I just ride home, taking a circuit route home. The other road up the mountain back to the house (Rose Hill) is half washed out, with the right lane now at the bottom of a 150' ravine and the guard rail swinging in the breeze.
SUNDAY 9/30
Some of my neighbors are out, walking our dirt road and you hear chainsaws everywhere. Someone has a chainsaw I can borrow, and I give them a 2gal can of gas I drained out of the CX100 and some 2-stroke oil to borrow it for the day. I buck trees all day and we drag branches for hours (Bright side- my waddle fence/berm thing I have been constructing around my property is FINALLY bulked up how I want it
). Driveway is clear and my wife's car is uncovered + possibly driveable so we start prepping to GTFO of town. Still no cell/news/comms but occasionally my cell will ping with texts of frantic people trying to reach us and see if we are ok. I reply but I know the messages aren't getting out. We put on the radio and hear that the entire region is pummeled, but can't get a sense of how far the destruction extends.
By late afternoon, we are loaded up in my EV charged maybe 60% with coolers and bags and plans to just drive east and see if we can find a hotel and a hot shower and supplies and some cell service to contact people. Greensboro? Raleigh? Charlotte? we don't know. We get on I-40 east and start off. Car has maybe 130mi range, but surely 2hrs east things will be intact enough to grab a hotel and find charger. We haven't seen anything pumping gas anywhere.... We make it maybe 20min before I-40 east is closed. People are parked and huddled around the final exit, haven't seen much emergency services, highway patrol, or cops... but here are some signs and cones blocking the road. Someone tells us I40 is closed for mudslides across the roadway around Old Fort and the Billy Graham center. Get spotty cell signal for just a few moments and call my dad in SC. They are happy to hear from us and say the news is sickening. It's even worse than we had imagined.
We get on I40 west and drive back thru Asheville, I get a DM on Instagram from a friend in Knoxville who says they didn't get any damage, so maybe we will head there. We don't even make it to Waynesville before we find 40W is closed, the radio says the entire interstate thru the gorge was taken by the river. No hope of using the backroads- there are barely any in the first place- and those routes have to be trashed as they are steep, winding, and heavily tree covered. Someone tells us that 26 up to Johnson City/East TN is closed.... No routes out of WNC, Return home and wait for help? (Not my style)
We roll back thru town, car has maybe 80mi of range. We find a few stores open but no gas anywhere.
MONDAY 9/30
I take my wife's car to the dealership around 7am. Of course she had no gas and I had used most of my paltry charge. We have an above ground fuel tank I can access that probably didn't get fully submerged. I go in the shop and get a hand pump out of an oil drum and purge it. The fill port is unlocked, so I pump out a qt of gas and let it settle for 15min- awesome, no water in the fuel! Pump out 5 gallons and put it in her car. There is a Red Cross shelter next door with an emergency cell tower/hotspot. I do a couple hot laps around a side lot and let the car idle for 20 minutes to make double sure the fuel isn't compromised. I call my dad from the shelter and tell him I need a generator- I am driving to your house and that may take from 3-10hrs, I just dont know how I will get there. Go home and ask the wife if she wants to go or stay. I am leaving and will not be back until I have propane, generator, a cooler full of ice, filled gas cans, more water, BOOZE, and food. I won't be able to reach her and could be back by dark or it might be tomorrow. I will drive until I find services and fill up, then I will keep heading south/east until I can gather all the supplies on my list. Could be Charlotte, Columbia, Fayetteville, or Florence... She doesn't want to leave the house & animals, but doesn't want to stay alone with no way to contact each other.
We hit the road on I-26 east after hearing there is gas and power as close as Shelby. Dad found a generator in SC and has it waiting for us. He can't find a L14-30P anywhere but he had all the cable we need already. Pretty uneventful drive to Fort Mill SC aside from the usual Shelby shitshow stop and go traffic and the fact our windshield is smashed, the back door is partially open, and the rear glass has been swapped out for a shower curtain and packing tape. Worst thing that happened was that both Bridges BBQ Lodge AND Alston Bridges BBQ were closed. Man I needed a good hot meal after 3 days of granola bars and chips and ramen.
We were in SC by late afternoon, loaded up the generator and took a quick shower. We were ready to head home, but spent hours more trying to find a 14-30 plug so i could run the well off the generator. BTW- Lowes and Home depot websites/phone customer service is terrible. No way to call and find these things. The zombies on the phone can just tell you 'it says we have 2 in stock' but they won't go actually check. We went to almost 10 home improvement stores from Rock Hill to CLT to Matthews, all the ACE stores and electric supply places were closed by now. Eventually threw in the towel, ate terrible mexican food, hit the ABC store and went back to dad's to sleep in a warm bed.
TUESDAY 10/1
Got up early and started calling electric supply houses. Found a plug 4 miles from dad's house and bought it. We started back to Asheville and stopped for ice, groceries, water, gas fillup, propane, ATM, etc
Arrived home and ran the generator- Fridge, a couple lights, put all the 20oz water bottles in a chest freezer. Threw out 90% of the fridge food but the stuff in the freezer (which I wouldn't let my wife open for 3 days)
was still solid.
Wired up my plug with 60ft of heavy cable and spade terminals, killed the well breaker and now I can pump water if I pull all the 120v plugs and power the 240v/40A side.
Set up the camping kitchen in the driveway with propane burner, canopy, coffee setup, etc. Took some ceiling tiles out of the downstairs bathroom and put a hook up in the rafters. Cobbled together a bucket shower with a gardener sprayer. 2.5gal cold water and 2.5gal of near-boiled water mixed in the bucket and hung in the ceiling yields plenty of shower for 2 people.
WEDNESDAY 10/2
Daily rhythm starts. Wake up early to the chorus of the generator. Goddamn that thing is droning loud. Go outside and kill it for an hour while I make coffee, sit in a camp chair, read a bit, and wake up. Gas the generator and fire it back up. Put on the well, fill flush buckets & drinking jugs, wash dishes and flush toilets. Put the power back on fridge/freezer, a couple lights, and aquarium. Work on cleaning up the yard, stacking wood, shoveling gravel and trying to fix the driveway.
Work has a disaster team in place, they are mucking it out (all buildings flooded 3' or more) and they want to get open ASAP. Offered hours to anyone who wants to come in and help.
THURSDAY 10/3
Work is back open. We are actually selling and servicing cars. Many lost vehicles, so business is brisk. Working off folding tables and chairs. No phones but power is back on and we have internet thanks to our proximity to airport and Ag Center/Shelter next door. Everything is annoying and takes extra time. Everyone's desk and contents washed away or went in the dumpster. there's no walls in any buildings, sheetrock was all cut out for flood/mold remediation. I am hanging doors for the restrooms because right now they are basically outhouses enclosed with black plastic sheeting. Catelouging the loaners/inventory/customer cars that got flooded. Dealership sends direct deposit for 5 days bonus PTO for all employees- maybe 1/2 the staff is able to make it in but we are operating.
10/4- NOW
Everything is either annoying or heartbreaking. Everywhere you go, so much destruction. Roads are open, closed, then open again. Some biz are back, some will never return. Everything is limited or closing early. Most have their power back but half the city still lacks running water. A lot of infrastructure at the reservoir including main supply line was destroyed. Luckily Avl provides a lot of the region's water so there are multiple treatment points. We ended our 15 days stretch of no power/water last week and were honestly surprised it came back so quick. 2/3 of the roads into our mountainside hollar here are closed.. there is one way in/out... that will probably persist into next year. You are hard pressed to find any single road in the region that doesn't need millions in repair or restoration.
Things are improving here. The level of community, friendliness and collaboration has been incredible. FEMA, state agencies, the National Guard, and community based help from fire departments/churches/charity groups and individuals has been incredible.
I am kinda running out of steam here, but I guess I really needed to type this out.
Thanks for the well-wishes guys. Please come back to WNC when you can, and spend money. Our Hospitality economy needs you.
If anyone has any questions, I'll be happy to answer what I can
