AT in North Carolina

[Monte Masterson]

Needless to say with over 400 roads impassable in western NC, resupply is virtually non-existent. Of course the trail is covered with countless downed trees. Bridges are washed out everywhere.

I have a friend in Asheville who no one has heard from, all cell phones are dead. I have another buddy east of Elizabethton, TN who says he’s basically trapped with all the bridges destroyed. Electric is out everywhere and won’t be back on for weeks. He has generator power and satellite phone so can make calls. He’s also somewhat of a prepper so he’ll be fine, but thousands of others are stuck in place without much food stock. Even if you could walk or ride a horse to a store there probably wouldn’t be anything on the shelves.

[Alex H]

The highest recorded rainfall I have seen is right at 30″, it is going to take weeks before power is restored to many places, months to fix roads, years to rebuild.

[Monte Masterson]

AT communities from Damascus, VA to NE Georgia flooded.

[Ray J]

Just a note meant with kindness….the cell phones are “Dead” only because the cell towers are knocked down, cut off from electricity and such.

I’ve seen a lot of damage in a lot of towns like Damascus and Hot Springs.  It is going to take a lot of time but perhaps by next spring the trail might be passable.

Seems like from the southern terminus north for a short distance, the trail might not have much damage.  On another forum, someone was going for a few days hiking north from Springer.  I posted to keep notes or GPS locations of downed trees, trail blockages and washed out areas and report to the local AT club.  The people are going to be very busy getting their own property open, their neighbors, but eventually knowing “At this location on the AT, there’s a big tree down/washed out trail” will be helpful.

There is also some miss information about.  There were early reports that Uncle Johnny’s was destroyed as in washed away.  The bridge by him is gone.  UJ does have damage possibly bad as the water line looks half way up the walls.  But the main buildings are still standing.

We have some friends in St Pete Beach FL.  They had their first floor completely flooded.  The second and 2.5 floors were fine.  A car completely submerged.  It went down quick but there will be a lot of time getting supplies to begin repairs.  They are safe so that is the best news.

 

[Jeff McWilliams]

Some of the posts I’ve seen elsewhere suggest:

People running generators had limited fuel and with the extensive road damage, may be unable to acquire more.  One guy posted on Reddit asking for help repairing the carburetor on this generator because it had clogged and he had no way to acquire a replacement.

One guy who had rooftop solar and a whole home battery appeared to be in the best position to ride out the extended outage until service could be restored.  He also had an EV, so he could charge his EV from his home solar system.

This has certainly given me food for thought.   I live in SE Michigan and our area is notorious for storm related power outages that last 1-3 days.  I have a portable generator.  These storm related outages are usually fairly isolated and acquiring gasoline is relatively easy.  I do not have a hookup (yet) that allows me to tie my generator into my breaker panel so that I can power my AC unit, etc.  I run a series of extension cords to critical appliances (the refrigerator, the cable modem and laptop, fans, lights, etc).

Hearing about the situation in Western NC has me thinking I’m probably more prepared than some, but still not as prepared as I could be.  Maybe I should get a Ham Technician’s license and a couple handheld HAM radios.  Perhaps I should get some portable Solar panels and a larger battery based power station (Jackery, Anker SOLIX, etc)

My heart goes out to all the people affected by Helene.  I’ve been rock climbing in Pisgah Forest just south of Asheville with a local guiding company (Fox Mountain Guides) on two separate occasions, and camped at the Davidson River campground in the National Forest while there.

 

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