Wal Mart disaster relief.

[EddieWalker]

I'm not trying to kick them while they are down; but GA, Alabama, N. Car, S. Car, Tenn, (and probably your local state if your outside the area), really should take a long hard look in the mirror, and have a real "lessons learned" from this. Sure, it's a 1 in 100 year event, but they didn't seem ready for a 1 in 50; or a 1 in 25 year event.

Maybe a bit biased, but... are people starting to rethink who actually should be considered a "first responder"? Utility workers, road workers, ect have to respond before fire rescue/ems/LEOs; but don't get the hazard pay, "special risk" retirement, or even the dang 10% discount at Bass Pro...

Three states where hit. All where hit really bad. Florida and Tennessee where ready for it, and they have been very good at responding to the damage. North Carolina wasn't prepared, and their response has been very disappointing. FEMA seems to be getting the most blame for the incompetence of North Carolina leadership. The Governor of North Carolina is probably the person most responsible for getting things done in his state, and so far, he's not been up to the job.

 

[Sigarms]

Three states where hit. All where hit really bad. Florida and Tennessee where ready for it, and they have been very good at responding to the damage. North Carolina wasn't prepared, and their response has been very disappointing. FEMA seems to be getting the most blame for the incompetence of North Carolina leadership. The Governor of North Carolina is probably the person most responsible for getting things done in his state, and so far, he's not been up to the job.

May I ask how you came to the conclusion that Tennessee was ready for Helene and NC was not and how the reaction was different from the state government?

Last week driving across the state lines between NC and Tennessee up above Boone, I really didn't see a difference myself between the states as far as clean up and repair.

 

[paulsharvey]

Georgia has and had a lot of damage, as well as inland South Carolina too; although I haven't seen much from S. Car, beyond the initial power outages. I have seen pictures of inland Georgia, and it destroyed a lot of hog barns, damaged a good number of homes, and downed a ton of trees too.

But, yes, 100%, FEMA is a tool, but it's primarily a tool to get things paid for after the fact. Your first group responsible is the state and local. Now, the small towns have no way to really deal with, so the state should have taken a leading roll. They really should have had some emergency contractors already mobilized, road base material stock piled strategically close to, but accessible from outside, near know trouble areas. The water main in Asheville, I don't know enough to comment on. Maybe the dams should have drawn down leading upto it, but the people blaming the dams are fools. Yes, opening the spill ways flooded hundreds, but if they didn't, they would have Killed thousands.

As an example, I thought it was Frances with an E, but maybe it was Mathew, or one if the others, about 7-9 years ago, a Lot of old folks died in nursing homes because of power outages. Turns out, immobile people, in 100 degree weather, stuck in bed, don't last long. Hospitals had back up generators, but many small assisted living places did not. Now they have to; and there was a surge with that new regulation in getting gas service to elder care facilities.

I dont know what the ending death toll from Helene will be, but if we count it with the deaths that were indirectly caused by it, I'm guessing it will be over 1000

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm seeing posts from people on Facebook that live in both states, including my wife's daughters and their dad's family in NC . Tennessee doesn't seem to have anywhere near the same level of need that isn't being taken care of like NC has. I'm sure the damage is worse there, but everything that I've seen is based on how hard it is to deal with all the government people in NC, and in Tennessee, it seems to be getting done without all sorts of government interference.

Also, there is a guy from here that has made three runs to both states to deliver materials. First run was mostly water, food and clothing. This run is mostly a semi flatbed full of heaters, blankets and jackets. He is broadcasting live from his truck going there, and showing what he sees. He only stopped in Tennessee once on his first trip. Now he's going right past there and into NC because he doesn't think they need his help there as much as they do in NC. I'm sure it's because they where hit harder, but you can see in his video that Tennessee is more organized, and there is a lot more stuff in Tennessee then NC.

 

[paulsharvey]

Trust me (or dont), your local state DOT, and your local Public Works departments know where their likely trouble spots are. Sure, 100%, there are always surprises, but they already know, this embankment has erosion issues, bridges that are already needing replaced as part of general upgrades/lifespan issues, ect.

 

[Sigarms]

I'm seeing posts from people on Facebook that live in both states, including my wife's daughters and their dad's family in NC . Tennessee doesn't seem to have anywhere near the same level of need that isn't being taken care of like NC has. I'm sure the damage is worse there, but everything that I've seen is based on how hard it is to deal with all the government people in NC, and in Tennessee, it seems to be getting done without all sorts of government interference.

Keep in mind, there were 6 counties in Tennessee that were affected by Helene, total population of those counties combined around 275,000 people (total state population 7.1 million).

There were 28 counties in NC that was affected by Helene, and Buncombe county alone (where Asheville is located) has at least 275,000 people (total state population 10.8 million).
Wen't up last Saturday to help, going up this weekend again with the church, and no issues.

 

[ultrarunner]

Georgia has and had a lot of damage, as well as inland South Carolina too; although I haven't seen much from S. Car, beyond the initial power outages. I have seen pictures of inland Georgia, and it destroyed a lot of hog barns, damaged a good number of homes, and downed a ton of trees too.

But, yes, 100%, FEMA is a tool, but it's primarily a tool to get things paid for after the fact. Your first group responsible is the state and local. Now, the small towns have no way to really deal with, so the state should have taken a leading roll. They really should have had some emergency contractors already mobilized, road base material stock piled strategically close to, but accessible from outside, near know trouble areas. The water main in Asheville, I don't know enough to comment on. Maybe the dams should have drawn down leading upto it, but the people blaming the dams are fools. Yes, opening the spill ways flooded hundreds, but if they didn't, they would have Killed thousands.

As an example, I thought it was Frances with an E, but maybe it was Mathew, or one if the others, about 7-9 years ago, a Lot of old folks died in nursing homes because of power outages. Turns out, immobile people, in 100 degree weather, stuck in bed, don't last long. Hospitals had back up generators, but many small assisted living places did not. Now they have to; and there was a surge with that new regulation in getting gas service to elder care facilities.

I dont know what the ending death toll from Helene will be, but if we count it with the deaths that were indirectly caused by it, I'm guessing it will be over 1000

As a hospital we have backup generators which for decades tested weekly under load... now they are tested monthly because weekly testing was deemed a pollution source to eliminate.

We also have standing fuel contracts that proved worthless when needed...

When PGE did the powered safety shutoffs our supplier said a week and I said we have a contract and the reply is that's why only a week.

I gathered all my tractor 5 gallon jugs and shuttled back and forth...

The best of plans too often are not worth much in times of need

We currently are cancelling surgery because the Baxter facility Helene damage... 1.5 million daily bottles of solution capacity gone... maybe restored in a few months...

 

[ponytug]

As a hospital we have backup generators which for decades tested weekly under load... now they are tested monthly because weekly testing was deemed a pollution source to eliminate.

We also have standing fuel contracts that proved worthless when needed...

When PGE did the powered safety shutoffs our supplier said a week and I said we have a contract and the reply is that's why only a week.

I gathered all my tractor 5 gallon jugs and shuttled back and forth...

The best of plans too often are not worth much in times of need

We currently are cancelling surgery because the Baxter facility Helene damage... 1.5 million daily bottles of solution capacity gone... maybe restored in a few months...

I gather that the Baxter is much worse than that from my wife who was speaking with Baxter representatives last week. They were predicting years to get back to full production use to contamination from flooding. Imports will help, but aren't a full solution.

All the best,

Peter

 

[ultrarunner]

I gather that the Baxter is much worse than that from my wife who was speaking with Baxter representatives last week. They were predicting years to get back to full production use to contamination from flooding. Imports will help, but aren't a full solution.

All the best,

Peter

The prediction is by the end of the year supply should stabilize…

Other facilities stepping up plus importing from outside the country and conservation through allocation.

The supply on hand reports are gathered daily.

Patients are pushing back because scheduled surgery is being cancelled with no new date offered.

The Ortho Docs are loosing a lot of cases because of the shortage…

3 cancelled today for Thursday and for many procedures a lot goes into the prep and recovery and now we are saying no can do at this time.

 

[California]

Trust me (or dont), your local state DOT, and your local Public Works departments know where their likely trouble spots are. Sure, 100%, there are always surprises, but they already know, this embankment has erosion issues, bridges that are already needing replaced as part of general upgrades/lifespan issues, ect.

Yes they know. But ... my wife worked in the branch that prioritizes the many competing demands for funds, in state DOT. She says the funding and staffing requests from the DOT Maintenance branch always get put second behind the priority of spending gas tax money for new construction, now mostly widening for more traffic lanes. Because reducing congestion is what the motoring public is demanding of their elected representatives, and this demand filters down to the budget decision makers.

So, Maintenance is left to get by with whatever they can accomplish with less funding than they requested. This leaves them with after-the-fact mess cleanup instead of the preventive maintenance they know is needed.

And - in the broader perspective - more lanes and other means of improving capacity, encourages developers to build new housing farther out from where jobs are, because now the commute time from out there has become reasonable. Then a decade later all the new commuters from out there demand more capacity because the congestion they caused has made their commute unreasonably long. So they put pressure on the legislature to make them a priority. This has been the model ever since the beginning of the California freeways. Your Tax Dollars At Work!