Do you ever over-organize your life?

I’m a planner. A list maker extraordinaire. The trouble is, I tend to think I can do more in a day than I actually can accomplish. Every. Single. Day.

Several inexpensive and two free online writing courses came along at the same time, and I took the bait.

As if that weren’t enough… along came Hurricane Helene.

I had a full schedule of webinars to participate in and other writing-related things I wanted/needed to do.

The rain poured on Thursday, and that was from a whole different weather system. They said it had nothing to do with Helene… that Helene’s winds and rain bands would arrive overnight and last most of the day Friday.

I got up early Friday morning to listen to the news and weather reports. It was still raining, but I thought we were probably going to be all right. Just as I started to put a pot of water on the cooktop to boil for a nice oatmeal and blueberry breakfast… the power went off.

I forget how addicted I am to writing at the computer… until the power goes off.

I’m trying to take the high road and not whine about the power being off for 14 hours. I live out in the country and have a well so when the electricity is off I don’t have any water. Things get interesting fairly quickly. However, this was a minor inconvenience compared to the widespread flooding and devastation that has and continues to occur in western North Carolina.

I live about 500 miles from where Hurricane Helene made landfall on the Gulf coast of Florida. It was hard to grasp that Helene would still be packing such a punch when she got to North Carolina, even though meteorologists warned that this could be a rain event of historic proportions in the mountains of the state.

Hurricane Helene and her remnants caused devastation in biblical proportions over hundreds and hundreds of miles. What I experienced here in the piedmont doesn’t hold a candle to what happened in the Appalachian Mountains 100 miles to the west.

Asheville, North Carolina is getting the bulk of the media coverage, so you might not be aware that the entirety of western North Carolina is in a world of hurt right now. Some areas received over 25 inches of rain from Helene.

Chunks of I-40 were washed away by flood waters while other sections are under mudslides. Virtually every highway and country road in the mountains were or still are impassable. (That total was 400 on Friday and Saturday, but dropped to 280 yesterday.) Town after town after town in addition to Asheville experienced record-breaking flooding. Not to mention all the nooks and crannies that aren’t towns but tiny communities. Many areas have not been accessed yet as I write this.

Roads are gone. Communications are down or spotty at best. The situation is dire and becomes more dangerous by the day.

Two weeks ago I blogged about my visit to my alma mater, Appalachian State University, in Boone, North Carolina (Who says you can’t go home again? Revisiting a university campus). Seeing aerial pictures of the Town of Boone under water has been gut wrenching the past days. The 21,000 students must be shell-shocked! I would have been if this had happened while I was a student there.

If you have subscribed to my monthly e-newsletter, earlier in September you read about my “field trip” to Swannanoa, North Carolina. I gave some of the history of the construction of the Western North Carolina Railroad through Swannanoa Gap in the 1870s. Sadly, the sketchy reports coming out of the Swannanoa/Black Mountain/Montreat/Old Fort area a few miles east of Asheville indicate that those particular towns are suffering severely from the flooding and landslides caused by Hurricane Helene.

The quaint small town of Chimney Rock was practically wiped off the map. Isolated communities and small towns are scattered throughout western North Carolina. The death toll is rising as search and rescue operations continue. Even the interstate highways are steep and winding.

Almost every one of the mountain towns I can think of was flooded on Friday. Cell, landline service, and electricity were knocked out. I’ve seen pictures of almost every town I can think of being under water.

Although served by two interstate and several US highways, on Friday and Saturday the city of Asheville (population 95,000) was only accessible by air.

I’m afraid the news cycle will transition to the fighting in the Middle East and back to the coming US elections. The public will soon forget Hurricane Helene. Or, there will be another natural disaster that needs our attention.

The devastation from Hurricane Helene covers hundreds of square miles in western North Carolina.

As the area slowly recovers over the coming months and years — when you know you won’t be in the way of first responders and second and third responders — visit the area and patronize the small businesses. Eat at the diners instead of the chain restaurants. Shop at the little shops and independent bookstores instead of at the big-box stores.

Western North Carolina’s economy depends on tourism. Autumn is the biggest tourist season as the native hardwood forests put on a colorful show. Tourists will not be visiting the area this fall because so many of the roads are in shambles.

Western North Carolina is famous for its apples. This is the beginning of apple season. Many orchards were severely damaged last week, but if you have the opportunity to purchase apples from North Carolina this fall or any time in the future, do so to help the farmers get back on their feet.

Western North Carolina is also famous for its Christmas trees. Many of the fir and spruce trees that have graced the White House through the years were grown in North Carolina. If you can buy a tree from North Carolina in December, do so.

Western North Carolina is known for its artisans. Quilt makers, glass blowers, textile artists, weavers, woodcrafts people, painters, musicians, potters, makers of corn husk dolls, knitters, and crocheters depend on tourists to purchase their wares. But now many of their retail outlets are gone. Seek them out online on marketplaces such as Etsy.com.

Mountaineers are sturdy, intelligent, talented, resilient, resourceful people. They roll with the punches during winter blizzards and hard times, and many of them are about as self-sufficient as a person can be in the 21^st century. But when they experience a 1,000-year flood followed by the remnants of a hurricane all in the span of three days that affects every community in the region, they need a hand up. They don’t want our pity. They need our support.

If you are so moved and are able, do what you can to help the hurting people of southern Appalachia. Donate what you can to a reputable charitable organization of your choice.

Since my last blog post

I got to visit a veteran of World War II and the Korean War last week who celebrated his 100^th birthday this weekend. How many people get to do that?

Until my next blog post

I’m writing this on September 29 and scheduling it for September 30. A fiber optics cable is being moved a couple of miles up the road and my internet service is going to be interrupted any minute now for an undetermined length of time. Not that Windstream gave us any warning. If not for word-of-mouth, we would have been blindsided. On second thought, I think I’ll just go ahead and hit the “publish” button and not rely on the “schedule” button! So much for my best laid plans for tomorrow!

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a good book to read.

Don’t take your family or friends for granted.

Remember the people of Ukraine and the people of western North Carolina.

Janet