Everyone in Brevard, my home town, is unscathed—just inconvenienced. Out in the county the damage is much greater and many are without power for a week or more. They are not unscathed in the counties east, north and west of us. Poor people. Unspeakable suffering. Hundreds have died and many are missing. Thousands and thousands have lost everything. Some schools are closed indefinitely. Towns and a city will not have running water for a month or months. Iconic mountain communities are wiped from the face of the earth. The towns of Chimney Rock, Hot Springs, and much of Marshall are gone. The town of Chimney Rock is now splinters floating on the surface of Lake Lure, which miraculously survived.
It is a week later now and the news business is relaying this information to you, I hope.
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The day after.
My doorbell works again, after months of on again off again, it’s on again. My young neighbor and his mom rang it late yesterday going door to door with pumpkin spice muffins in the soft breeze and partly sunny aftermath. At the same time my cell phone and internet stopped working so no TV.
The doorbell is my primary communication device. After around 30 inches of rain in about 36 hours there is no internet or cellular service (no television) and I don’t own a radio. After too much communication for too long, now there is none. No social media, texting, email, or internet news. No word from the world outside is reaching inside to us… my next-door neighbors and I…and sirens are frequently piercing the calm.
Wonder of wonders, without the virtual community of social media, people have spilled into the streets face to face and formed a real community.
It's surreal…no wait…it’s dystopian.
The result of climate extremism.
I went out in the car for the first time—to check on other Old Ones who have no electricity. The streets of Brevard are bumper to bumper with people burning what gas there is with nowhere to go. There is no more motor fuel, no groceries, all of the big box stores are closed. Brevard and Asheville are cut off. You can get into Asheville by plane, but then you can’t get to Brevard from there.
There is a small 94.9 FM station nearby operated by Anchor Baptist Missions and it is providing vital relief information. But there is not much information available. Best advice is just to stay home and wait. There is said to be a small pocket of limited Verizon Wireless service near the US 276 gate to Pisgah National Forest, and one on the walking trail at the City Recreation Area. But traffic is gridlocked. I may try it in the middle of tonight if traffic thins out.
8 PM to 8 AM curfew stymied that idea.
Another day and the horror of it all is coming out. 99.9 FM is on the air now with full time Asheville local news. The transmitter in Asheville is powered by a generator and the staff is on the air from the studio of a sister station in Greenville, SC. WSQL in Brevard is on the air. But most folk don’t own radios anymore, but for the one in their car.
The death toll rises every day.
Now sirens and helicopters.
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There is no need for me to detail what the news is telling you now and will tell us later but it is bad. At least a quarter-million individual horror stories.
FEMA is here taking names. Resources are pouring in from outside. People helping people is a major resource.
And food and fuel are becoming available again in my town.
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If you would like to see my collection of Carolina Lowcountry memories—"Magnolia Elegy: Place In the Edisto Fork," you can view the book trailer here, and see the book page here on the publisher's website. The book is also available from Amazon, B&N, and your independent local bookseller.
