I put this in it’s own from the other Helene thread because of the politics.
This is just to show what happened. If anyone is wondering why help isn’t getting to the area, it’s mostly because it can’t.
Please observe, this isn’t a time for politics. There’s a reason why Appalachia historically hasn’t had many people living there. It’s very rugged country. Think steep drop offs and related. The water reacts like it does in the slot canyons of the SW. Then if you get a lot of water, you get what Helene did.
We have friends who live in Western NC. We haven’t heard from them. We can only hope an pray that they’re ok.
When and if you get to the tornado that hit Rocky Mount, and we’re roughly 300 miles from Asheville, to give you an idea of how wide the storm was. Fortunately there were only a few serious injuries, no deaths, and several minor injuries. It hit approximately 8 miles to our north. That was a bit spooky. We were in a zoom meeting, and had to bail because of the tornado warning. Obviously we’re ok, I’m writing this.
I do not have suggestions who to send money too, except may the Red Cross, but aside from local Red Cross, they can’t get there to help. They may be able to fly supplies in but as of right now I don’t know if that’s the case.
Again, this isn’t for politics. This is a time to come together, and do what we can to help.
We have friends who live in the areas that were most impacted. Fortunately we’ve heard from all but 1. Since he is known to go radio silent for long periods we expect to hear from him eventually.
One of our friends gave us an update on one of the best areas to donate:
If you are near Charlotte, there’s another concert to help benefit hurricane relief, check back to the WRAL story to get that ticket info in the next day or 2.
If you are in the Raleigh area on the 27th Old Crow Medicine Show is doing a concert to benefit CFWNC. Here’s a link to that story:
I’ll sign off with one of Old Crow Medicine Show’s best known songs (this one always hits me hard, now it has more meaning):
The consequences of such a huge storm are sobering. My wife spent the night in the ER last weekend and three liters of IV fluid probably saved her from serious complications. (She’s fine now.)
More than 86 percent of healthcare providers surveyed across the US are experiencing shortages of intravenous fluids after Hurricane Helene’s rampage took out a manufacturing plant in western North Carolina that makes 60 percent of the country’s supply.
The problem with “Merger Madness” is the inevitable elimination of supplier redundancies to increase profits. We have seen these effects numerous times in recent history. Manufacturing of consumable medical supplies like IV fluids should be decentralized simply to avoid the risk of a localized major emergency event kneecapping medical services throughout the nation.
Don’t get me started on corporate America, and its continuous shortsightedness, as well as interlocking governing boards. A system that doesn’t seem to function as intended.
