Southern Appalachia Desperately Needs Your Help

Yesterday, Kathy and I returned from our trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. As some of you may know, we moved to to a small community just north of Great Smoky Mountains National Park in East Tennessee a little over three years ago. If I remember correctly, news that Hurricane Helene was approaching the Florida coast reached us on Thursday, and that the track of the storm was expected to pass near our home. Naturally, we were more than a little concerned. Though we expected some damage to the area, we never dreamed that it would become one of the most devastating natural disasters in American history. Fortunately for us, the storm spared our small community. However, several towns in our immediate area were completely devastated. I'm writing this blog in hopes that some of you will help the people in this region whose lives have been turned upside down. Many of these people have lost everything - their homes, businesses and jobs. Some have even lost their lives. There are still homes, communities and towns that are completely cut-off from the rest of this world. Numerous roads have been washed out, including both I-40 and I-26 near the TN-NC border (on either side of Asheville, NC). Numerous bridges have also been destroyed. Power is still out for millions of people in TN, NC, SC, GA and FL. I just read an AP story that volunteers are using mules "to deliver food, water and diapers to hard-to-reach mountainous areas".

Most importantly, at this very moment, there are immediate needs, such as water. Our community has organized at least two truckloads of bottled water that have been sent to Greeneville and Newport, TN. I'm sure we'll be doing much more over the next days, weeks and months. For those who can't physically provide relief, donations are also extremely appreciated / needed.

As the region waits for FEMA and other Federal agencies to respond en masse, there are many ways you can help right now. The Tennessee Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster is taking monetary donations. Second Harvest of East Tennessee is accepting monetary donations to provide food relief. The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina also seeks donations for relief in western NC. Samaritan's Purse is already on the ground in five locations. And of course, the Red Cross is the most well-known organization. These are just some of the ways you can help. There are many more here, here and here.

To possibly personalize the story a little more for this audience, I wanted to provide some additional information from the hiker perspective. Several Appalachian Trail communities ("trail towns") have been virtually destroyed. This includes Hot Springs, NC, Erwin, TN, Roan Mountain, TN and Damascus, VA. As you may have guessed, the Appalachian Trail has also been devastated. Right now, the southern third of the trail, from Springer Mountain, GA to Rockfish Gap, VA is effectively closed. That's 865 miles of trail that were impacted. You can visit this ATC page for ways you can help.

Several roads, and likely much of the trail system in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is currently closed. On their website, the park states, "outdoor recreation is currently discouraged due to park staffing being stretched and visitor safety concerns." On another page, they posted this statement:

"Hiking and backcountry travel are not recommended in the park following Hurricane Helene impacts. Park staff are assessing trail conditions and addressing damage, but unpredictable creek crossings, potential downed trees, and other hazardous trail conditions remain. Emergency response times may be delayed with staff stretched thin and resources limited."

High On Leconte is reporting that Mount Leconte received 10.35 inches of rain during the storm, with maximum winds clocked at 65 MPH. They are also reporting that the TN side of the park seems to have escaped much of the damage. However, that side was on the lee side of the storm, and was protected by the crest of the mountains. My guess is that the NC side, and the eastern portion of the park is in very bad shape right now.

Though their website hasn't been updated since September 26th, I would imagine much of the Blue Ridge Parkway is closed. Mount Mitchell State Park, Gorges State Park and Grandfather Mountain are all closed. Much of Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests are also closed as well.

Here are a few stats from the storm, provided by NOAA:

* MOUNT MITCHELL reported maximum winds of 106 MPH.

* BUSICK NC received 30.78 inches of rain.

* MOUNT MITCHELL STATE PARK received 24.20 inches of rain.

As you can see from this map, western NC received the brunt of this storm once it reached inland:

There are likely thousands of pictures of destruction from the storm. All of them tell a story, but none tell the full story. I'll post one from Hot Springs, a town that we visited just a few weeks ago as we were training for our hikes in Colorado: