Extraordinary

Watching more videos coming out of North Carolina and have to say there are some extraordinary stories covering a raft of circumstances following Helene.

It is easy to relate to the people and what they are going through but in comparison to Gabrielle  there are instances of far greater destruction.

The town of Chimney Rock is completely devastated ,Spruce Pine is destroyed and towns like Swannanoa and Ashville just a total and utter mess.

The death toll continues to rise and is nearing 200.One family lost 11 members. 

It is heartbreaking .

The response from people has been the same as here in Hawkes Bay where everyone is helping out in any way possible and of course the Churches have stepped in bigtime .

I have to note the Cabins for Christ group who within 48 hours had developed plans for cabins to assist with accommodation  and with donations and volunteer help had produced 20 cabins in a few days and aim to build 75 cabins for people of Buncome County schools in the next two weeks.

That is absolutely amazing.

Buncombe is another area totally devastated by the flood.  

Drone footage of the valleys shows the extent of damage and the huge number of trees that came down in the storm.

Those lovely river valleys have felt the wrath of mother nature and the inhabitants lives have been shattered.

Thinking of all those affected at this time.    

 

 Gabrielle vs Helene

I have spent some time watching videos coming out of North Carolina following the devastating Cyclone Helene.

Pretty raw watching a situation one has experienced and certainly brings back many emotions and responses when you see coverage that is parallel to that here in HB.

It is heartening to see how the community reacted in the same way and neighbour helped neighbour and the immediate response was from those closest .

The stories coming out are reminiscent of Hawkes Bay tales and the relating of many close escapes and miraculous rescues are remarkably the same.

Unfortunately it looks like there are many more fatalities in NC and the surrounding  areas compared to here but then the population would have been far greater and the proximity to the rivers was a major factor.

Couldn't help but get upset at the heart wrenching loss of 9 month old twins by a mother of seven. Her youngest washed away in the attempt to escape the water.

I was interested in some who said how fast it happened .I think this is related to different scenarios during a flood where pressure points are reached and dams burst or river banks breach thus releasing large volumes of water that surge through vulnerable sections of the terrain.

I remember watching the water at my place flowing for a long time at a particular level .All of a sudden it started rising quickly and reached the house and never stopped rising.

I now know this was related to major breaches of the stopbank upstream and also the collapse of the Puketapu Bridge.

It is interesting that many residents in NC and surrounds are talking rebuilding although the Mayor of one town said it will not be rebuilt.

People become very attached   to their homes and land and it is natural that they want to stay.

We all can learn from these events and from history and adapt to new circumstances .The houses near some of the rivers were very close and even though it was known there had been flooding in the past this event was humungous and rivers rose up to capture homes that would have been out of reach in historic flood paths.

A particularly interesting video I watched was by The GeoModels .This showed the geography of the mountains at the centre of the downpour and how the rivers had to remove a huge amount of water from the Helene event and down it went through the valleys and on through  settlements smashing anything in its path.

An observation at this point is the demeanor of many involved  in the USA situation . people I have watched have been helpful , concerned and constructive whereas here we had bodies that were absent , cagey, unhelpful and certainly unwilling to listen.

Enough for now.  

 Nonsense

Dramatic coverage in the local newspaper.

"An increasing risk of coastal hazards due to climate change and cyclone Gabrielle threatened the Charitys Clive living premises"

Let's analyse  this comment.

Increasing risk. There is no increasing risk of coastal hazards. The coast is one of those marvelous natural features that is ever changing, moving , eroding ,accreting encroaching.

It has done forever and will continue to do so.

Due to climate change.  The climate has always changed. Always will. But this natural occurrence is not 'increasing' the risk of coastal hazards. There have always been coastal hazards and they come and go .May be even the weather adds to the coming and going.

Due to Cyclone Gabrielle. Yes the weather. From time to time NZ is subject to weather events such as cyclones and they vary in strength.

Cyclone Gabrielle may have been a wake up call for the Charity. I think they were extremely lucky that the adjacent river did not breach its stopbanks this time.

My memory recalls a rain event where the area where Hohepa is housed was subject to flooding and an orchard further along the road was under water. Do we learn from history ?   

I do note that further comment states that the " re-location project started in 2018 driven by Clives' increasingly unstable  coastal environment."

Should this not be interpreted as the re-location was driven by the realisation that the complex was built in a flood prone area and it was wise to move operations?  I wonder who made the original decision to build on the site and what advice did they receive about the suitability of housing vulnerable people in such a risk prone site.

Nature carries on .

Understanding nature is being abused by the environmentally vacant.

 

 

 

 

 North Carolina

What parallels.

I relate to all those in North Carolina and everywhere else that was devastated by Cyclone Helen.

Watching many videos of the destruction and trashing of townships like Ashville brings back memories of Gabrielle. Many similarities and the responses have been similar as well.

The authorities reaction is mimicked as well. Control, control.

While there has to be some organisation and guidelines locals seem to be ignored and even stopped from helping friends and neighbors .

Good to see locals just going about helping and ignoring the bossy britches who know best. Don't look to the Government .They will not help you.

Reach out and help friends and neighbors.

Watched one harrowing video of a house being washed down stream with a lady stranded on the house. A guy went out in a canoe to recue her but fell out of the canoe.He carried on in the current and the lady by now was in the water. Somehow he managed to catch the lady and make his way to safety.   

Another hero.

There are still so many missing which is so sad and the stories to come are going to be harrowing and hard to comprehend.

Any claims by leaders such as Biden , that climate change is responsible, need to be challenged bigtime.

The same area was hit by a similar storm in 1916. This one was much worse and those who remembered the 1916 event indicated that lessons were learned and rebuilding considered levels from that flood but this latest event enveloped a greater area .

It appears only 2% of people had flood insurance. They never expected a repeat and also insurance premiums had risen to an extent that people could not afford flood  insurance. It is interesting that they could opt for such insurance as here everything is lobbed in together.

Insurance in the light of flooding around the world may be an area that needs a whole rethink.

Residents in my area should have been protected from flood waters as stopbanks had been constructed for a 1 in 100 year flood  but they succumbed to the forces of a 1 in 500 year flood event .It becomes a question of who is responsible. Not for the blame game but as a rational discussion given the extraordinary circumstances.

I note one resident  from NC saying that Helene was a 1 in a 1000 year event. These events are beyond past considerations and need careful analysis to plan ahead and learn from what has happened .Playing with computer models is a waste of time.

There is a long way to go for NC and surrounds.

It is life changing. Losing everything you have is such a huge challenge to confront and all I can say is that in the initial stages after Gabrielle I didn't care about material things. It is a shock but  you realise you can replace things.

It's the loss of photographs and irreplaceable items that hit hard .

Dig in there my friends in NC .

Thoughts with you.