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How You Can Help with Hurricane Helene Relief 

As Florida braces for the Category 4 Hurricane Milton to make landfall tonight, thousands are still recovering from Hurricane Helene, whose storm path brought destruction across Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, East Tennessee, and Virginia. It has killed more than 200 people, and hundreds are still missing. 

In the wake of such devastation, Memphians have come together to offer their support. “Asheville you have loved me, clothed me, danced with me, painted me, fed me, and lifted me up,” musician Louise Page writes on her Instagram. “Now let’s lift you up in return. … Asheville is home to my brother, my sister, my cousins, and so many amazing artists, musicians, and humans who have treated me like a sister without a second thought. It is a beautiful community of beautiful people, and right now they need our support.”

On Sunday, October 13th, Page, along with several local musicians, are raising funds to support those affected by Hurricane Helene in a benefit concert organized by Graham Winchester. Proceeds go to Rafi’s Farmers Relief, Arts AVL (Asheville Area Arts Council), and IamAvl (Independent Arts & Music Asheville). Performing and donating their time are Oakwalker (1-1:40 p.m.), Turnstyles (2-2:40 p.m.), Hope Clayburn (3-3:40 p.m.), Lina Beach and Uriah Mitchell of Royal Studios (4-4:40 p.m.), Louise Page (5-5:40 p.m.) as mentioned earlier, Laundry Bats (6-6:35 p.m.), Rachel Maxann (6:50-7:25), Found Harmonium (7:30-8:05), and Jack Oblivian (8:15-8:45 p.m.). The concert will be hosted at Railgarten. 

Meanwhile, Memphis Made Brewing is hosting a donation drive for Eastern Tennessee through Saturday, October 12th, with guidance from the Appalachian Voices, an environmental conservation organization. They are asking for cold weather items, PPE, medicines, and personal hygiene items (full list here). The drive also coincides with the brewery’s first Oktoberfest, so you can drop off donations and enjoy the festivities on Saturday starting at noon. The day includes the new Gebirge Bier (German for “the mountains”), a benefit beer for hurricane relief, and a pumpkin toss, with the $25 participation fee going to Asheville. Other drop-off times for donations are Wednesday to Friday, 4 to 10 p.m., and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Over in Collierville, IMC Logistics has partnered with Northeast Tennessee Disaster Relief (NTDR) to fill a shipping container with supplies. Once the container is full, an IMC driver will be taking it to the NTDR Distribution Center in Bristol, Tennessee, for those affected by Hurricane Helene. Supplies needed include generators, charcoal grills and charcoal, flashlights and batteries, battery-powered lanterns, blankets, propane grills, propane heaters, baby formula, diapers, tarps, empty (new) gas cans, tents, sleeping bags, solar charging stations, and HotHands packets. Drop off donations at IMC’s office, 1305 Schilling Blvd. West, through the end of the business day on Friday. (Details here.)

Area law-enforcement agencies are also asking for donations for East Tennesseans. They are asking for flashlights, batteries, water, empty gas cans, baby items, hygiene products (shampoo, soap, feminine products, etc.), and medical supplies. All items must be new and unopened. No clothing is being accepted at this time. Drop-off sites are Shelby County Sheriff’s Office Substation, 11670 Memphis-Arlington Road, Arlington; Shelby County Sheriff’s Office Training Academy, 993 Dovecrest Road, Memphis; and Bartlett Police Department, 3730 Appling Road, Bartlett. Donations can be dropped off from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Friday, October 11th. 

Through Friday, October 11th, City & State is donating 5 percent of net sales (both in-store and online) to the Equal Plates Project, which is providing meal aid at their two Asheville kitchens through partnerships with local initiatives. You can also make donations directly at checkout. City & State’s goal is to raise $1,000 by the end of the week.

If you have a donation drive or other hurricane relief effort that you would like added to this list, please email abigail@memphisflyer.com and/or add it to our calendar at events.memphisflyer.com.

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At Large Opinion

Hurricane Blues

Someone created a meme that went viral last Friday, as Hurricane Helene was proceeding to devastate portions of six states. It was a photo of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on a cell phone standing near some trailers and overturned chairs. The caption read: “Hello, President Biden, it’s Ron! May I please have some socialism?”

The meme was being enacted in real life as Helene churned relentlessly across the Gulf of Mexico toward the southeastern U.S. The governors of five of the soon-to-be affected states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina) had declared a state of emergency two or three days in advance of the storm, asked for federal help, and quickly got it approved by President Biden.

The sixth state? That would be Tennessee, where our cosplaying Christian governor, Bill Lee, decided to take a bold alternative course of action. None of that damn socialism for Bill, nosiree. Last Friday morning — the day the Category 4 hurricane made landfall — Lee asked Tennesseans to participate in a “day of prayer and fasting.” Give me a G—damn break. What criminal incompetence!

Friday afternoon, after flood waters in eastern Tennessee had destroyed several towns, threatened dams, and put tens of thousands of people out of their homes, 54 patients and staff huddled atop a hospital in rural Unicoi County, Tennessee, awaiting help. Fortunately for them, Virginia and North Carolina rescue workers were able to provide lifeboats and helicopters and get them to safety. Good ol’ Rocky Top? Not so much. Governor Lee finally got around to declaring a state of emergency Friday night. Guess he was hungry from fasting all day?

On Saturday, Lee and GOP Senator Marsha Blackburn surveyed the damage and destruction from an airplane. (Blackburn had spent the day of the hurricane in Michigan, “interviewing” Donald Trump at a rally.) We can only presume she was also fasting and praying after voting to shut down the government earlier in the week.

As the remnants of Helene began to dissipate, millions of Americans were left without power, water, and phone service across the Southeast. Roads, homes, businesses, bridges, and other pieces of the infrastructure were flushed downstream. As I write this, the storm has been blamed for at least 120 deaths across five states, with that total expected to rise as waters recede.

Asheville, North Carolina, which was absolutely destroyed, is 500 miles from the Florida coastline where Helene made landfall and sits at an elevation of 2,134 feet. For reference, Memphis is 325 miles from the gulf and sits at an elevation of 338 feet.

Climate change is here, and all the fasting and prayers in the world aren’t going to fix it. We need credible research and forecasting, and science-based information about what we’re dealing with.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which oversees the National Weather Service, FEMA, Office of Ocean and Atmospheric Research (OAR), and other climatological agencies, is responsible for keeping state and local officials and the public aware of severe weather and other climate-based threats. Without the updates and forecasts from NOAA, Americans would be, well, up a creek.

That much would seem obvious … unless you’re a devotee of Project 2025, the GOP’s 920-page policy blueprint for the next administration. Candidate Trump has disavowed it, but it was written by several former Trump administration officials. Project 2025 devotes a whole four pages to NOAA and the National Weather Service. The section was written by Thomas F. Gilman, an official in Trump’s Commerce Department. The document calls the NOAA a “primary component of the climate-change alarm industry” and says it “should be broken up and downsized.” Project 2025 also says the National Weather Service “should focus on its data-gathering services” and “should fully commercialize its forecasting operations.”

Yeah, that damn climate-change alarm industry is just more socialism! Wake up and smell the ozone, sheeple! There’s money to be made on the weather! Fox News or X or Newsmax will take over hurricane forecasts and monetize ’em. It will be like fasting and praying about weather emergencies, only with opinions and ads. What could go wrong? 

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

As Waters Recede in East Tennessee, Officials Turn to the Long Recovery Ahead

A map from the Tennessee Department of Transportation shows road closures and compromised bridges in East Tennessee.

Four days after Hurricane Helene unleashed devastation across parts of rural East Tennessee, emergency officials are switching from rescue to recovery operations.

Scores of people are still reported missing — a number that has shifted up and down since Saturday — underscoring the immense challenges in accounting for residents in areas with no power, impassable roads, and limited cell service.

As of Monday night, 102 were missing in four counties, according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA), which stressed that the missing may include those cut off from roads and cell coverage. State officials confirmed at least six Tennessee weather-related deaths thus far, according to TEMA. They include three in Unicoi County, and one person in each of the following counties: Knox, Johnson, and Washington.

Thousands of homes and businesses remain without power, and hundreds of roads and bridges can’t be traveled, including nearly every road linking Tennessee to North Carolina. There is no official toll yet on the number of homes and businesses damaged or destroyed. At least four wastewater treatment plants have been thrown offline due to flooding and water utilities in six counties have reported “operational issues,” according to TEMA.

“Search and damage assessments are ongoing and we’re beginning to be able to start to put the pieces back together,” said Myron Hughes, a public information officer for TEMA’s All-Hazards Incident Management Team.

Hotline to coordinate missing person reports: 800-824-3463

Hughes briefed reporters Monday, alongside public officials in hard-hit Unicoi County, where a dramatic and ultimately successful rescue operation unfolded Friday morning to airlift more than 60 staff and patients stranded on the rooftop of Unicoi County Hospital in Erwin.

Unicoi County Emergency Management Director and Incident Commander Jim Erwin said personnel were conducting searches Monday, a task he expected to be complete in impacted areas by day’s end.

Meanwhile, residents and emergency crews continue to grapple with the damage left behind by high winds, rainfall and flooding in hard-hit counties, including Unicoi, Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Hawkins, Johnson, Sevier, and Washington.

At Monday’s Unicoi County press conference, an unidentified man, speaking in Spanish through an interpreter, pressed emergency responders for answers about why his still-missing wife wasn’t rescued as she and co-workers tried to flee rising waters Friday morning outside their workplace, Impact Plastics.

The 911 call system swas inundated and many of the county’s resources were deployed to Unicoi County Hospital, Erwin responded, and noted he was also at the hospital. A crew rescued four people fleeing Industrial Park, where the plastics factory was located, Erwin said, then had to turn back.

“They did not get further because water was already so high,” he said. “Some people were saved and we’re still searching. … We all have hopes that we will find some more alive. Our hearts are deep and we’ll be here to work with families.”

Gov. Bill Lee’s request for a Major Disaster Declaration was approved by the Biden Administration Saturday, activating Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) assistance in 12 Tennessee counties.

The Tennessee National Guard and first responders from outside the disaster region were dispatched to assist in search and recovery efforts.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation established a hotline number to coordinate reports of missing persons: The number is 800-824-3463.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is releasing water from tributary dams like Douglas Dam, shown here, in Sevier County. The controlled release is intended to minimize additional flooding. (Photo: Tennessee Valley Authority)

Roads and bridges

In the first 36 hours following the disaster, the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) assessed damages and inspected 100 bridges across seven counties.

“We still have hundreds to go,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement on Monday.

More than 300 TDOT employees have joined in the inspection efforts, but the task ahead will surpass the capacity of the state agency.

TDOT is in the process of awarding multiple debris removal and construction contracts to supplement state crews, with contracted work expected to begin later this week.

Dams and Rivers

Over the weekend, reports of imminent dam collapses led to evacuations in some areas. But on Monday a spokesperson for the Tennessee Valley Authority confirmed that all 49 of its dams are “stable and operating as designed.”

“We are assessing any transmission infrastructure impacts, which are minimal on the TVA system,” Scott Brooks, an agency spokesperson, said in an email.

Right now, they’re asking for water and people from all over are bringing water to us. Budweiser just brought an entire tractor-trailer full. … Rep. Dan Howell from Cleveland is sending water from his district. When you’ve got 37,000 people and no water, we’re so grateful for everybody doing that.

– Rep. Jeremy Faison, Cocke County Republican

Brooks said most of the damage is on local utility systems. TVA is working with local power companies on restoration and repairs, he said.

State Rep. Jeremy Faison, a Republican who represents hard-hit Cocke County, said thousands are without water after utilities were knocked offline. “So, literally, unless you’re on a well, you have no water in my county right now,” he said.

“Right now, they’re asking for water and people from all over are bringing water to us,” he said. “Budweiser just brought an entire tractor-trailer full. … Rep. Dan Howell from Cleveland is sending water from his district. When you’ve got 37,000 people and no water, we’re so grateful for everybody doing that.”

TVA is monitoring extensive flooding in its tributary dams, which control water movement throughout the power provider’s system. The extensive flooding in reservoirs has prompted record high releases at places, including Douglas Dam in Sevier county.

“We are aware these record releases are causing localized flooding on the Tennessee River,” Brooks said.

River levels monitored by TVA illustrated the enormity of rising water in the region. The French Broad River in Newport, Tenn, reached 23 feet — 13 feet above flood stage. The Pigeon River, also in Newport, set a new record stage of 28.9 feet, 20.9 feet over flood stage. And the Nolichucky River at the Nolichucky Dam in Greene County also recorded record high levels of water.

Senior reporter Sam Stockard contributed to this report.

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and X.