Mind blown. The filming and music are amazing and very well show the devastation.so sad for the whole area- it has been one of the prettiest places of the Blue Ridge
WNC has always been my happy place, my calming, able to breathe and feel the peace and the timelessness of the mountains. And it will be again. Watching this malignant, brown water flowing, not knowing the poisons, and chemicals, and cars, and entire homes and barns, and businesses, and lives claimed by that water. Seeing it at its worst and then days later seeing it placidly flow along looking clear and safe, but knowing the horror below the surface has kept me wanting to throw up with every video i see. Wanting to be there helping, in some small way and knowing at my age with residual damage from several strokes that i cannot physically help makes me so angry. As a retired RN, that is what i am supposed to do......HELP. Praying does not seem enough, crying does not help. But i have done both those things. I know God willl restore the land and the trees. But the lives that are torn apart and the people that have been lost.........that is much , much harde to bear. I love WNC and willl continue to do so. I will continue to love the Blue Ridge Parkway and will eagerly await its reopening.....however long that may be. APPALACHIA STRONG AND WNC STRONG.
@annemariebouchet1988 I’m a 73 yr old retired LPN - with many years experience in ER/SICU/BURN UNIT/PICU & psych (should have gone for my RN), I’m in total agreement with your comment. With all I’ve seen as a nurse, being an advocate for two of my siblings, that were terminal, being with them to their last breath, was impactful. Like you, I’ve had many health issues as well. I’m not physically able to be there to help, prayer does not seem to be enough, but that is all I can do. I’m concerned by the lack of immediate response by the military bases that are so close to this area. Choppers should be hauling pallet loads of supplies which are being hauled in folks from all over, to those trapped in the areas still not reached, as of 10/22/24. There will be even more deaths because of the lack of support. So many individuals are, many on their own dime, are doing the best they can, but the hurdles keep popping up preventing them from completing their missions. What scares me is what are those that are out there working being exposed to and how will they be impacted by what they have seen and smelled. A trainer of cadaver dogs brought 10 of them in, 4 are dead and the rest are dying. Same thing happened to the dogs utilized in NYC following 9/11. The recovery process for the survivors and those helping will take longer than the infrastructure to be rebuilt. My happy place to help me cope with my medical issues was with my ponies, which I had for close to 38 years, my last was euthanized 9/9/2024, I can’t go into the barn without crying. These folks have lost so much more, many will never be able to rebuild - their land doesn’t exist, but the mortgage does. I pray our God will continue to hold these folks together, they have each other. The song “He’s not heavy, he’s my brother”, just came to my head. Weird, but true and the folks interviewed from there seem to have that grit. Praying your health and mine improves. God bless! ❤️🇺🇸❤️🙏❤️✝️
I am friends with the father of Felix and Lucas. Give him and their families all the prayers and help you can. Those boys were going to grow up to be amazing men. So much loss.
Felix and Lucas were exceptionally special little boys. I live across the road from the boy's grandparents. I cannot beginning to feel the level of anguish they are experiencing loosing their daughter and grandsons. But, my heart is breaking. They need everyone 's prayers.
How many times driving through areas in NC and wishing I could have lived there and enjoying all the beauty but limited by my career choice to live elsewhere. Just unfathonable to see this. So many years and generations shaping the land into what was picture postcard perfect to a landscape no longer recognizable. Along with the loss of life, so sad.
I was planning on selling my he in The WA state in a year or so and moving there to live with my son and his family for the remainder of my years. He lives 6 mi north of Bakersville, NC. His place didn't receive too much damage, but all around him is devastation.
I live in TN near the Nolichucky. The water from this and the Cane river combine to form the Nolichucky river, which wiped out quite a bit over here as well. At one point, the Nolichucky dam was flowing an estimated 1.3 MILLION gallons a second. That's nearly twice the flow of Niagara falls. This was almost an unimaginable event. I am in awe of the power that the water brought. Prayers for all the folks affected.
Yes it was but realize this was a man made , man augmented event with geoengineered weather warfare and join the efforts to expose and stop this madness and murder.
@thomasguitarman9025 I live 60 miles from Niagara Falls and have visited it many times, flown over in a chopper once, been on the Maid of the Mist a few times, the power is unbelievable. That this area received in the 2 days prior to the hurricane even reaching them & then the hurricane “stalls”, was more water than goes over the falls in 2 days. It is just incomprehensible, but should not surprise us. I’m 100% in agreement with your comment. No help for Maui, East Palestine, this and the chlorine gas cloud over Georgia, those are not coincidental. Doesn’t even include the forest fires. We are under attack from our own government, who now have put no fly zones over much of the impacted area and are not utilizing the military chopper’s located in the area to delivery relief to areas still shut out. We won’t even talk about mandated shots, seizure of farm land, killing livestock, shutting down water zones so farmers can’t irrigate crops. We will have nothing and be happy. (My husband of almost 35 years thinks I’m off my rocker, but I gave my rocker to my brother 4 years ago (for him to pass on to the grandkids he has - our dad loved that rocker before he died, so it has to stay in the family). LOL
thank you for taking the time to make this. the way you mixed in "before" video with the peak flood and the devastation after peak flood gives a solid understanding of how bad this was in this location. ughhh. terrible what happened to you folks.
Thank you for your work to document what happened here, especially showing before, during and after the flood, so people can understand the scope of what happened. I hope many people and public officials watch your videos, along with Mark Huneycutt's videos and hikes, and Geomodel's geological analysis, so they can really know what happened without any sensationalism or drama.
@@techlady01 Well said. I am lucky to have saved all that older footage. I bought a drone just because the area is so gorgeous. But I agree that without before footage you cannot get any sense of what you're looking at. Even so, in person is so much bigger and more intense. It can't be captured.
God bless the people from all parts of the country that have come to help us. Thank you so much for your loving compassion. Graditude from Mitchell County
Thank you for taking this. I’ve been out to relief many times since the storm, but seeing a video of the actual flood very emotional. All those places I love. Last year I took my kids by that tobacco field and just talked to the guys who were cutting the tobacco. I don’t have words. It means a lot to see the flood.
These are peoples lives. Politics doesn’t belong here. So many have lost their lives. Babies, young children & entire families. Let’s help & pray for all who have been affected. 🙏🙏🙏🙏😢😢😢
Mother Nature... Loyal to no one or thing. We bow before you as you have alowed us the privilege of occupying this space. 🙏🏼 I'm humbled by the sight of this power.
Thank you for your important video showing me complete devastation from Helene’s flooding along the Toe River. This area is forever changed. 😢😭. It's important to have videos like this for the historical record. My prayers go out to this community. 🙏🙏🙏
The sad reality is that there is no coverage under your homeowners policy for Flood, and most if not all of this area is not designated as a flood zone so Flood insurance isn't been available. This will be people having to start over from scratch. I am here in East Tennessee and it's the saddest thing ever.
Thank you for posting this. It's obvious you thought long and hard before finally deciding to do it. It was such a beautiful place, and can be again, but it will never be the same. I grew up next to a river nestled in the mountains, so I can identify with what it must've been like.
Thank you for having documented this area before the hurricane. It sheds more light on how devastating this is. I’ve been through some of the areas and it’s nearly unrecognizable now. Landmarks are gone, not just buildings but topography.
@matthewmchale5920 This was a crazy storm system, I lived outside Martinsville VA in 1985, and we had a system like this do similar damage from a hurricane all over that part of the state we had to be rescued by our local fire department and the worst of what I remember was at night time. I was 6 years old when that happened. It's most of the reason I had a fear of water for a long time as a kid. I just hate seeing all of this damage and the loss of lives that happened from this one.
My camp is only ten miles from that bridge, clearly I am fine I live in Charlotte, and my camp is 200 feet above the river, but I have neighbors who lost everything. I am going up this Saturday 10/26 to help my neighbors rebuild their bridge. Hard to hold back the tears watching this video.
Looking at that amount of water is just unbelievable. I live in the mountains of West Virginia and I have 8 DJI drones that's pretty impressive flying skills you were pretty high up there in some of those shots. Prayers going out for all those affected by the storm.
This is the most damage I have seen from a flood of this magnitude in the mountains of any disaster, those homes full of water to the roof lines , all lost an people lost , my prayers to all
It's something to see the before and after. I live in Banner Elk. We were hit very hard too. We don't have a big river but we have lots of streams and creeks that turned into them during Helene. Our low water bridge to our house, was completely covered by a lot of water and the creek that is normally about 15 ft across was from the forks of the road below us to mid way the Great Train Robbery near 184. That's 100+ feet across. I've never seen anything like it in the 51 years I've lived here and I do not want to see it again. We were lucky where we live, but so many downstream were not. Businesses and homes. It's going to be a long recovery.
I fished and kayaked some of the rivers in this region. I don’t think that will ever happen again in my lifetime and I’ll never look at them the same again. 😢
The media hasn't said much (that I've heard) about how badly rail traffic has been affected. Obviously in this part of the world, railroads follow the same topography the car roads do and while roads have been washed out and alternate routes have had to be found, the railroads aren't as plentiful, so how are the rail companies (CSX) routing around these destroyed track sections? Many of these are coal-haulers from Kentucky and West Virginia to power stations east of the mountains. A lot of heavy freight also passes across the mountains by rail.
Imagine you were there when this was happening early am... Look at the terrain.. Imagine what the weather was like. Intense rain... major winds... you try to escape the river up but you risk tress falling on you or landslides ... How freaking terrifying that must have been if you were NEAR a river with this kind of terrain.. If ONLY they knew what this crazy weather would have been like.... Growing up in Brevard.... the French Broad/Davidson River goes through there... but we were well away from the rivers... I live out of state and I was freaking out not being able to get through to anyone.. Thank God they were all good. I knew they wouldn't be flooded... but I was mostly worried about trees down and landslides. A giant tree did fall on my dad's house, but ony got the very edge of the porch (not the main house) I don't think I've ever been to Yancey or Mitchell county...that I can remember. Such a tragedy... I wish I had a time machine and I could warn everyone
@@akbychoice I was able to get to where the Cane River meets the Toe River yesterday. So a 1/4 mile downstream from this video. I'll be posting another intense before and after.
I grew up in NC till 2013. Never had i heard of the mountains getting that badly affected by a hurricane. I live in VA now and only got mildly affected by the wind when Helene came through. It breaks my heart to hear or see how badly this storm exactly was.
@@designsinorbit my town in VA half lost power, no cells for 3 days, some streets flooded... I walked to work that day and watched the weather the whole time.
Think of the victims of flood in North Carolina and in Roswell and victims of wild fire in California and victims of Helene and Milton in Florida, too. Maybe some of the super rich shoułd be donating more to those people than the couple mentioned.
I’d agree the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene is of **Biblical PROPORTIONS** but Not to Suggest that ANY of it was caused by the Heavenly Father. Instead, the Word of God says at JEREMIAH 29:11 “I KNOW the Thoughts that I am Thinking toward YOU, thoughts of PEACE and NOT of EviL, to give You a FUTURE and a HOPE”. It’s True the **Scene of this WorLd** is changing. What’s ALSO True is that the Sovereign Lord Jehovah of Armies has a Restoration PLan in which he will RETURN the Earth BACK to its Previous Paradise Condition, and No One will be able to THWART that pLan. God Created the Earth for it to ALWAYS be Inhabited by Peace Loving and God Fearing People. GLORY to God!! Amen 🙏🏽 💜
The entire line from Erwin to Marion is completely destroyed. It follows the river through the Nolichucky Gorge and that entire portion is wiped out, including two entire bridges. They actually are rebuilding the line but it’ll take at least 6 months from what I’m told.
@robj2704 I think Busick , which is many miles upstream of here, saw the most rainfall from Helene & the system that preceded the storm - over 35" in less than 3 days
Other rivers to lakes, then to other rivers, some settling along the edges, to other lakes and rivers. Eventually to the ocean. If you use Google maps or google earth you can look up North Toe River and Nolichucky River and follow the paths.
@@ky.gambler5281 From what I saw yesterday, the river gets much much cleaner the further downstream you go. Less to no debris. I feel like the Relief area filtered most of it. And they are STILL searching the bridge in this video (Relief bridge) today for remains.
@@ky.gambler5281 Although one of our neighbors was washed all the way to Erwin from the Relief Bridge... which is about the most disturbing thing I've ever heard.
@@designsinorbithard to press the thumbs up for such a tragedy. But, yes, it was unbelievable that she was found so far away. So incredibly heartbreaking.
The script at the bottom is small and I can't see but the top half on my tv and it so small O can't read on my phone .. just an fyi many prayers for the whole area.
@@designsinorbit Sorry. My bad. I’m reeling from aftermath myself in W NC- My focus is shot. I’ll watch to end of vid. Again, I’m sorry. Just seen a lot of outsiders hyping their footage for clicks.
Where were FEMA USRTs after the storm and flood? How long before any were deployed? How many were deployed? There are 28 FEMA URBAN SEARCH AND RESCUE TASK FORCES across the country!! How long before military assets were deployed to determine severity of storm and continued threat to life? Seems we have plenty of money to send I to other countries, but no desire or urgency to assist our own citizens?? I’m very disappointed & disgusted. 🤬😡🤬
The response has been unimaginably fantastic and very very fast. They got FEMA, the national guard, and the army here and they are in every crevice of WNC. You should be thankful.
Your use of all caps and a comment with misspellings is quite telling. The President (and/or Vice President) of the USA doesn't have to live in a FEMA tent in the rural mountains in order to support the ongoing efforts to supply Federal aid and funds to help rebuild the affected regions. Just as politicians don't need to visit the southern border in order to understand the issues there. You haven't been living at the Mexico border, yet you are very opinionated about the migrant crisis that is occurring there. If you haven't been there, does that mean your opinion doesn't matter? Does it mean politicians who haven't been to the southern border, or western NC, can't have solutions to help address these problems? No, of course not. That's an absolutely dumb and simplistic way of thinking. So, I guess politicians are now required to solve problems on the ground AND IN PERSON - on the scene!? How bizarre that would be, and counter-productive. I'm glad you are at least getting *some real information* (here on RUclips) from a source other than Facebook, Fox News, OAN, and NewsMax though. Maybe listen to the majority of local NC residents and all of the local NC officials that are providing you with actual facts on the ground, that are 100% inline with what @designsinorbit are telling you. As @designsinorbit points out, the response from FEMA, national guard, as well as many private groups have been phenomenal over the past weeks. Yes, there were people who lost their lives, and some who spent days in their remote mountain homes with no help - due to the inaccessibility from washed out roads, hundreds of downed trees, and living in areas that not even small private helicopters could access. FEMA and the National Guard are simply not designed and equipped for remote mountaintop rescues - no matter which US President is in office. My suggestion to you, Randy Watkins, is to listen to what the VAST MAJORITY of locals are actually saying - not garbage on extremist news outlets. (Also, do you happen to be the "Randy Watkins" originally from the Morrisville, NC area? ... just curious. Your comment is on-par with *that* Randy Watkins )
Busy trying to steal an election .no time for country folk . We are the population they are trying to replace. I absolutely believe in the 2020 steal. Trump was not my candidate in 2016. I wanted someone else.but this man has been through the wringer. Absolute lies everyday about him. Lot of the charges leveled against him the other side guilty of the very same thing. I hate to even print this. Because we need greater than political help. We need almighty GOD. His son Jesus Christ is the truth, the way, and the life.
@@waynesummey5051 FEMA and the National Guard are simply not designed to be able to help people in extremely remote (midway up remote mountains, and the tops of mountains) and cut-off situations where tiny roads are washed out. The helicopters they typically use are Chinooks, which are very large helicopters (which carry a large amount of emergency supplies) as well as FEMA trucks - which do the same. These vehicles require a large and flat landing area (for Chinooks), and of course stable and accessible roads for FEMA trucks. So, yes, for the first several days many of the rescue/help/recovery/wellness-checks, etc were done by small private groups - including private helicopter response groups like "Aerial Recovery Group". That doesn't mean that FEMA and the National Guard were doing *nothing*. They were mobilizing and setting up base camps to be further used to distribute medical supplies, housing services, food & water, and coordinate rescues where and when needed. That doesn't mean FEMA and the National Guard are "SLOW", it just means they are doing what they were designed to do, which is to optimize the help provided for the LARGEST amount of people. I swear, some people want to paint FEMA as somehow non-caring and heartless people who just show up and stare at the sky... I hope you never require aid from FEMA, but I'm sure if you do - you'll be far more appreciative towards them than you sound from your comment.
Those houses and farms are in a flood plane created by previous floods , that is a hint, this area floods, so what is the surprise? They chose to risk this , we all take chances , sometimes we loose. If they discovered gold would they share the good fortune, no, so why should we share their misfortune.
Hey disrespectful, uneducated, moron most of the damage was caused by mudslides and Debrie flows as well as floods. One day you might lose everything and then you can have some perspective.
You do realize lives were lost in this flood? By your comment I take you are of the same attitude to any and all choices made by people regardless of what it is, such as a simple act of crossing a street at a crosswalk and being struck by a hit and run driver. I guess you would say, "hey should have know better than to cross the street because people sometimes get hit."
Mind blown. The filming and music are amazing and very well show the devastation.so sad for the whole area- it has been one of the prettiest places of the Blue Ridge
Hitting the like button is weird, wish there was a sad emoji reaction. What devastation.
@@art23ncsu I've thought that same thing on so many videos.
@@designsinorbit hope you're doing ok. This is Art by the way
@@art23ncsu Hey man. We're doing our best. 19 days without power has been our only problem...which is nothing comparatively. Hope you're well.
@@designsinorbit wow hope it's back soon. All is well here. Hit me up sometime. Stay safe
WNC has always been my happy place, my calming, able to breathe and feel the peace and the timelessness of the mountains. And it will be again. Watching this malignant, brown water flowing, not knowing the poisons, and chemicals, and cars, and entire homes and barns, and businesses, and lives claimed by that water. Seeing it at its worst and then days later seeing it placidly flow along looking clear and safe, but knowing the horror below the surface has kept me wanting to throw up with every video i see. Wanting to be there helping, in some small way and knowing at my age with residual damage from several strokes that i cannot physically help makes me so angry. As a retired RN, that is what i am supposed to do......HELP. Praying does not seem enough, crying does not help. But i have done both those things. I know God willl restore the land and the trees. But the lives that are torn apart and the people that have been lost.........that is much , much harde to bear. I love WNC and willl continue to do so. I will continue to love the Blue Ridge Parkway and will eagerly await its reopening.....however long that may be.
APPALACHIA STRONG AND WNC STRONG.
@annemariebouchet1988 I’m a 73 yr old retired LPN - with many years experience in ER/SICU/BURN UNIT/PICU & psych (should have gone for my RN), I’m in total agreement with your comment. With all I’ve seen as a nurse, being an advocate for two of my siblings, that were terminal, being with them to their last breath, was impactful. Like you, I’ve had many health issues as well. I’m not physically able to be there to help, prayer does not seem to be enough, but that is all I can do. I’m concerned by the lack of immediate response by the military bases that are so close to this area. Choppers should be hauling pallet loads of supplies which are being hauled in folks from all over, to those trapped in the areas still not reached, as of 10/22/24. There will be even more deaths because of the lack of support. So many individuals are, many on their own dime, are doing the best they can, but the hurdles keep popping up preventing them from completing their missions. What scares me is what are those that are out there working being exposed to and how will they be impacted by what they have seen and smelled. A trainer of cadaver dogs brought 10 of them in, 4 are dead and the rest are dying. Same thing happened to the dogs utilized in NYC following 9/11. The recovery process for the survivors and those helping will take longer than the infrastructure to be rebuilt. My happy place to help me cope with my medical issues was with my ponies, which I had for close to 38 years, my last was euthanized 9/9/2024, I can’t go into the barn without crying. These folks have lost so much more, many will never be able to rebuild - their land doesn’t exist, but the mortgage does. I pray our God will continue to hold these folks together, they have each other. The song “He’s not heavy, he’s my brother”, just came to my head. Weird, but true and the folks interviewed from there seem to have that grit. Praying your health and mine improves. God bless! ❤️🇺🇸❤️🙏❤️✝️
I am friends with the father of Felix and Lucas. Give him and their families all the prayers and help you can. Those boys were going to grow up to be amazing men. So much loss.
Felix and Lucas were exceptionally special little boys. I live across the road from the boy's grandparents. I cannot beginning to feel the level of anguish they are experiencing loosing their daughter and grandsons. But, my heart is breaking. They need everyone 's prayers.
As a grown man this makes me cry i can't even imagine.
Ditto.
How many times driving through areas in NC and wishing I could have lived there and enjoying all the beauty but limited by my career choice to live elsewhere. Just unfathonable to see this. So many years and generations shaping the land into what was picture postcard perfect to a landscape no longer recognizable. Along with the loss of life, so sad.
I was planning on selling my he in The WA state in a year or so and moving there to live with my son and his family for the remainder of my years. He lives 6 mi north of Bakersville, NC. His place didn't receive too much damage, but all around him is devastation.
I live in TN near the Nolichucky. The water from this and the Cane river combine to form the Nolichucky river, which wiped out quite a bit over here as well. At one point, the Nolichucky dam was flowing an estimated 1.3 MILLION gallons a second. That's nearly twice the flow of Niagara falls. This was almost an unimaginable event. I am in awe of the power that the water brought. Prayers for all the folks affected.
Yes it was but realize this was a man made , man augmented event with geoengineered weather warfare and join the efforts to expose and stop this madness and murder.
Prayers for you and your area 🙏
@thomasguitarman9025 I live 60 miles from Niagara Falls and have visited it many times, flown over in a chopper once, been on the Maid of the Mist a few times, the power is unbelievable. That this area received in the 2 days prior to the hurricane even reaching them & then the hurricane “stalls”, was more water than goes over the falls in 2 days. It is just incomprehensible, but should not surprise us. I’m 100% in agreement with your comment. No help for Maui, East Palestine, this and the chlorine gas cloud over Georgia, those are not coincidental. Doesn’t even include the forest fires. We are under attack from our own government, who now have put no fly zones over much of the impacted area and are not utilizing the military chopper’s located in the area to delivery relief to areas still shut out. We won’t even talk about mandated shots, seizure of farm land, killing livestock, shutting down water zones so farmers can’t irrigate crops. We will have nothing and be happy. (My husband of almost 35 years thinks I’m off my rocker, but I gave my rocker to my brother 4 years ago (for him to pass on to the grandkids he has - our dad loved that rocker before he died, so it has to stay in the family). LOL
It is beyond anything I could have imagined in a million years years. Glad you made it through!
Ive been researching dams.
there's a pattern
thank you for taking the time to make this.
the way you mixed in "before" video with the peak flood and the devastation after peak flood gives a solid understanding of how bad this was in this location. ughhh.
terrible what happened to you folks.
Amen I Agree Completely .
Thank you for your work to document what happened here, especially showing before, during and after the flood, so people can understand the scope of what happened. I hope many people and public officials watch your videos, along with Mark Huneycutt's videos and hikes, and Geomodel's geological analysis, so they can really know what happened without any sensationalism or drama.
@@techlady01 Well said. I am lucky to have saved all that older footage. I bought a drone just because the area is so gorgeous. But I agree that without before footage you cannot get any sense of what you're looking at. Even so, in person is so much bigger and more intense. It can't be captured.
The end shows how beautiful it is here. We love these mountains.
I want to live there. I can't imagine living anywhere more beautiful and anyplace having better people.
God bless the people from all parts of the country that have come to help us. Thank you so much for your loving compassion. Graditude from Mitchell County
Thank you for taking this. I’ve been out to relief many times since the storm, but seeing a video of the actual flood very emotional. All those places I love. Last year I took my kids by that tobacco field and just talked to the guys who were cutting the tobacco. I don’t have words. It means a lot to see the flood.
These are peoples lives. Politics doesn’t belong here. So many have lost their lives. Babies, young children & entire families. Let’s help & pray for all who have been affected. 🙏🙏🙏🙏😢😢😢
Hello from a neighbor on Bald Mountain Rd...thank you for posting this amazing and painful footage. I hope you and yours are alright. 🤍
Mother Nature... Loyal to no one or thing. We bow before you as you have alowed us the privilege of occupying this space. 🙏🏼 I'm humbled by the sight of this power.
Ditto! 😮
Very well done video for such a sad event . I clicked the like button because of the effort put in and posting the link to help.
Much appreciated
This video does an excellent presentation of the devastating power of the flooding from Helene…So sad for my home state of NC.
Thank you for your important video showing me complete devastation from Helene’s flooding along the Toe River. This area is forever changed. 😢😭. It's important to have videos like this for the historical record. My prayers go out to this community. 🙏🙏🙏
The sad reality is that there is no coverage under your homeowners policy for Flood, and most if not all of this area is not designated as a flood zone so Flood insurance isn't been available. This will be people having to start over from scratch. I am here in East Tennessee and it's the saddest thing ever.
They will attempt to rebuild, if the poisoned land is still there. Either way, the mortgage still will be.
@@margelittleboy😞
Wonder if the FED Govt will REQUIRE flood insurance...driving the price higher
Hearbreaking and surreal. We love you, WNC.
Thank you for posting this. It's obvious you thought long and hard before finally deciding to do it. It was such a beautiful place, and can be again, but it will never be the same. I grew up next to a river nestled in the mountains, so I can identify with what it must've been like.
Thank you for having documented this area before the hurricane. It sheds more light on how devastating this is. I’ve been through some of the areas and it’s nearly unrecognizable now. Landmarks are gone, not just buildings but topography.
The tree damage on the mountainside looks like they must have had a tornado come through also
there has to be 50-100 similar looking areas of knocked down trees that ive seen over the last month doing relief work.
@matthewmchale5920 This was a crazy storm system, I lived outside Martinsville VA in 1985, and we had a system like this do similar damage from a hurricane all over that part of the state we had to be rescued by our local fire department and the worst of what I remember was at night time. I was 6 years old when that happened. It's most of the reason I had a fear of water for a long time as a kid. I just hate seeing all of this damage and the loss of lives that happened from this one.
I pray all of the bodies in the debris piles were found. It breaks my heart to see those images. Praying for their souls and their families. 🙏🏻✝️
My camp is only ten miles from that bridge, clearly I am fine I live in Charlotte, and my camp is 200 feet above the river, but I have neighbors who lost everything. I am going up this Saturday 10/26 to help my neighbors rebuild their bridge. Hard to hold back the tears watching this video.
Looking at that amount of water is just unbelievable. I live in the mountains of West Virginia and I have 8 DJI drones that's pretty impressive flying skills you were pretty high up there in some of those shots. Prayers going out for all those affected by the storm.
Man it was so windy...the Mini 4 just blew my mind.
Our team searched the Toe River from Red Hill to Relief on Day 6. It was horrible.
This is the most damage I have seen from a flood of this magnitude in the mountains of any disaster, those homes full of water to the roof lines , all lost an people lost , my prayers to all
The power of the water is unreal and scary. Prayers for NC and her people!
From the depths of my being I’m so sorry. Where are these people staying. This brings me to tears 😭
The power of water is just unmatched by any thing else 😮
Heart breaking to see the house destroyed and washed away like trash 😢😢😢
Thank you😊very much for sharing this with us all. We will Keep You in Our 🙇🏻♂️💖 Go NC. Strong…💪🏻
My heart goes out to the people of WNC! Watching this from NY is heartbreaking. Our prayers and support are with you!! ❤❤
It's something to see the before and after. I live in Banner Elk. We were hit very hard too. We don't have a big river but we have lots of streams and creeks that turned into them during Helene. Our low water bridge to our house, was completely covered by a lot of water and the creek that is normally about 15 ft across was from the forks of the road below us to mid way the Great Train Robbery near 184. That's 100+ feet across. I've never seen anything like it in the 51 years I've lived here and I do not want to see it again. We were lucky where we live, but so many downstream were not. Businesses and homes. It's going to be a long recovery.
I fished and kayaked some of the rivers in this region. I don’t think that will ever happen again in my lifetime and I’ll never look at them the same again. 😢
So very sad. Prayers to all.
I was there. The aftermath was unreal at ground level.
@@codyryals5301 No matter how hard I try, I just can't capture what it's like in person.
The media hasn't said much (that I've heard) about how badly rail traffic has been affected. Obviously in this part of the world, railroads follow the same topography the car roads do and while roads have been washed out and alternate routes have had to be found, the railroads aren't as plentiful, so how are the rail companies (CSX) routing around these destroyed track sections? Many of these are coal-haulers from Kentucky and West Virginia to power stations east of the mountains. A lot of heavy freight also passes across the mountains by rail.
The Green River quarry is only allowing the NCDOT and railroads access to rock
We've been told they will not rebuild.
@@designsinorbit they have been rebuilding for over a week.
@@allenhughes12hello my fellow hughes
@@mr.christopher79 howdy Hughes!
My neighborhood...still no power but my goodness that was amazing footage.
I Pray 🙏🏽 to Jehovah the **God of aLL Comfort** that he wiLL hear our PLeas and RESTORE your Power this Very Day, in the Mighty Name of Jesus. Amen.
@@renewashington791 🤲🙏💜
Wholly crap! The devastation is incredible. God bless everyone lost and all life involved.
Imagine you were there when this was happening early am... Look at the terrain.. Imagine what the weather was like. Intense rain... major winds... you try to escape the river up but you risk tress falling on you or landslides ... How freaking terrifying that must have been if you were NEAR a river with this kind of terrain.. If ONLY they knew what this crazy weather would have been like.... Growing up in Brevard.... the French Broad/Davidson River goes through there... but we were well away from the rivers... I live out of state and I was freaking out not being able to get through to anyone.. Thank God they were all good. I knew they wouldn't be flooded... but I was mostly worried about trees down and landslides. A giant tree did fall on my dad's house, but ony got the very edge of the porch (not the main house) I don't think I've ever been to Yancey or Mitchell county...that I can remember. Such a tragedy... I wish I had a time machine and I could warn everyone
My friend lives in the north part of Mitchell County, it’s terrible all over. The further down stream the worse it is.
@@akbychoice I was able to get to where the Cane River meets the Toe River yesterday. So a 1/4 mile downstream from this video. I'll be posting another intense before and after.
@@designsinorbit That's were the Nolichucky forms, correct? I hear the CSX bridge is out at Poplar.
@@TreeLBollingTreeMan The bridge at Poplar and the State Line are both gone.
😢I have alots of Friends live alone the river it's sad
It looks like storm season in Mississippi and Louisiana.
I grew up in NC till 2013. Never had i heard of the mountains getting that badly affected by a hurricane. I live in VA now and only got mildly affected by the wind when Helene came through. It breaks my heart to hear or see how badly this storm exactly was.
Yeah we were flooding before Helene even hit the coast. If it had only been Helene we would be fine.
@@designsinorbit my town in VA half lost power, no cells for 3 days, some streets flooded... I walked to work that day and watched the weather the whole time.
7:45-8:15ish is just wow
I can NOT wrap my Brain around this today 10/18
@@pointnozzleaway Man I'm seeing it every day and still can't.
I'm still trying as well on 10/20
Think of the victims of flood in North Carolina and in Roswell and victims of wild fire in California and victims of Helene and Milton in Florida, too. Maybe some of the super rich shoułd be donating more to those people than the couple mentioned.
Maybe we should not send billions overseas, help the folks impacted in any and all disasters, that are legally qualified to get the aid.
They've forgotten Lahaina, Maui.
And this is just one area,so sad
This is something of biblical power. What does the Great Creator have in mind for us from this point?
I’d agree the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene is of **Biblical PROPORTIONS** but Not to Suggest that ANY of it was caused by the Heavenly Father. Instead, the Word of God says at JEREMIAH 29:11 “I KNOW the Thoughts that I am Thinking toward YOU, thoughts of PEACE and NOT of EviL, to give You a FUTURE and a HOPE”. It’s True the **Scene of this WorLd** is changing. What’s ALSO True is that the Sovereign Lord Jehovah of Armies has a Restoration PLan in which he will RETURN the Earth BACK to its Previous Paradise Condition, and No One will be able to THWART that pLan. God Created the Earth for it to ALWAYS be Inhabited by Peace Loving and God Fearing People. GLORY to God!! Amen 🙏🏽 💜
Come Lord Jesus, come.
God will make this right.
What time was it when you first started flying? Just trying to figure out the timeline.
I believe it was 12:51pm.
19:59 is that a portion of a railroad washed out? The water went that high ? Incomprehensible. I’m so sorry.
The railroad is destroyed and not being built back.
@@designsinorbit oh my goodness
they are fixing the railroads in mitchell now.
The entire line from Erwin to Marion is completely destroyed. It follows the river through the Nolichucky Gorge and that entire portion is wiped out, including two entire bridges. They actually are rebuilding the line but it’ll take at least 6 months from what I’m told.
My friends and family in Ukraine knew how bad it was before I could even see because I am Spruce Pine..
Did you get a rain total from anyone there? I live in Asheville.
@robj2704 I think Busick , which is many miles upstream of here, saw the most rainfall from Helene & the system that preceded the storm - over 35" in less than 3 days
TURN ON YOUR CLOSED CAPTIONS!
Relax bud. There are no words to describe this.
@@designsinorbit your selection of music is perfect for this, the images speak for themselves! God bless!
Where did all this water and debris end up going in the end ? Like a large river, the ocean or what?
Other rivers to lakes, then to other rivers, some settling along the edges, to other lakes and rivers. Eventually to the ocean. If you use Google maps or google earth you can look up North Toe River and Nolichucky River and follow the paths.
@@ky.gambler5281 From what I saw yesterday, the river gets much much cleaner the further downstream you go. Less to no debris. I feel like the Relief area filtered most of it. And they are STILL searching the bridge in this video (Relief bridge) today for remains.
@@ky.gambler5281 Although one of our neighbors was washed all the way to Erwin from the Relief Bridge... which is about the most disturbing thing I've ever heard.
@@designsinorbit I hate that. An old friend of mine that I worked with on the railroad was swept down to Erwin. Might even be the same person.
@@designsinorbithard to press the thumbs up for such a tragedy. But, yes, it was unbelievable that she was found so far away. So incredibly heartbreaking.
The script at the bottom is small and I can't see but the top half on my tv and it so small O can't read on my phone .. just an fyi many prayers for the whole area.
It says link in descriptions donations to this community 😢
WHICH DIRECTION FROM BURNSVILLE WAS THIS VIDEO TAKEN
North of Burnsville
The sad thing is they'll never be able to recover everyone and recover all the vehicles lost
What does it look like today?
Should the Mississippi River folks prepare for this?
❤🙏❤🙏❤
😢
Are you gathering footage on behalf of the railroad co.?
@@Circa1905 On behalf of my community... and inducing donations. But I also love trains. Sucks not hearing them all day.
People still think we live on a spinning ball !! This should wake some people up, water will always find it's way level !!
😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
I honestly Can not watch yet
Powerful footage, but not “Peak”. Clearly river was significantly higher - debris in trees now dry are apparent.
@@raymondberry-ux2ed That was peak buddy. You're looking at "after" footage.
@@designsinorbit Sorry. My bad. I’m reeling from aftermath myself in W NC- My focus is shot. I’ll watch to end of vid.
Again, I’m sorry. Just seen a lot of outsiders hyping their footage for clicks.
@@raymondberry-ux2ed Yeah the outsiders are unbelievable
Good civil resolution here. Love to see it.
Where were FEMA USRTs after the storm and flood? How long before any were deployed? How many were deployed? There are 28 FEMA URBAN SEARCH AND RESCUE TASK FORCES across the country!! How long before military assets were deployed to determine severity of storm and continued threat to life? Seems we have plenty of money to send I to other countries, but no desire or urgency to assist our own citizens?? I’m very disappointed & disgusted. 🤬😡🤬
How far can your drone travel. No drone knowledge here
I filmed this from about a 1/8 mile away at the top of our property.
@@designsinorbit wow that’s amazing
Terrible watching various objects floating down and wondering what or whom they were.
Yeah, that haunts me all day every day.
🤬😭😫😖😣😔😞
I have 3 mayor hurricanes and mayor flooding back to back please cry me a River just once
Jesus is coming
WHERE THE HELL IS OUR PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT AT ? "O" THEY DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THE PEOPLE , BUT HELP OTHER COUNTRYS ! FOR SHURE ! 😢
The response has been unimaginably fantastic and very very fast. They got FEMA, the national guard, and the army here and they are in every crevice of WNC. You should be thankful.
Your use of all caps and a comment with misspellings is quite telling. The President (and/or Vice President) of the USA doesn't have to live in a FEMA tent in the rural mountains in order to support the ongoing efforts to supply Federal aid and funds to help rebuild the affected regions. Just as politicians don't need to visit the southern border in order to understand the issues there. You haven't been living at the Mexico border, yet you are very opinionated about the migrant crisis that is occurring there. If you haven't been there, does that mean your opinion doesn't matter? Does it mean politicians who haven't been to the southern border, or western NC, can't have solutions to help address these problems? No, of course not. That's an absolutely dumb and simplistic way of thinking. So, I guess politicians are now required to solve problems on the ground AND IN PERSON - on the scene!? How bizarre that would be, and counter-productive.
I'm glad you are at least getting *some real information* (here on RUclips) from a source other than Facebook, Fox News, OAN, and NewsMax though. Maybe listen to the majority of local NC residents and all of the local NC officials that are providing you with actual facts on the ground, that are 100% inline with what @designsinorbit are telling you. As @designsinorbit points out, the response from FEMA, national guard, as well as many private groups have been phenomenal over the past weeks. Yes, there were people who lost their lives, and some who spent days in their remote mountain homes with no help - due to the inaccessibility from washed out roads, hundreds of downed trees, and living in areas that not even small private helicopters could access. FEMA and the National Guard are simply not designed and equipped for remote mountaintop rescues - no matter which US President is in office.
My suggestion to you, Randy Watkins, is to listen to what the VAST MAJORITY of locals are actually saying - not garbage on extremist news outlets.
(Also, do you happen to be the "Randy Watkins" originally from the Morrisville, NC area? ... just curious. Your comment is on-par with *that* Randy Watkins )
Busy trying to steal an election .no time for country folk . We are the population they are trying to replace. I absolutely believe in the 2020 steal. Trump was not my candidate in 2016. I wanted someone else.but this man has been through the wringer. Absolute lies everyday about him. Lot of the charges leveled against him the other side guilty of the very same thing. I hate to even print this. Because we need greater than political help. We need almighty GOD. His son Jesus Christ is the truth, the way, and the life.
@designsinorbit what I saw was private industry individual people and charitable organizations. Govt slow. Never mind red cross.
@@waynesummey5051 FEMA and the National Guard are simply not designed to be able to help people in extremely remote (midway up remote mountains, and the tops of mountains) and cut-off situations where tiny roads are washed out. The helicopters they typically use are Chinooks, which are very large helicopters (which carry a large amount of emergency supplies) as well as FEMA trucks - which do the same. These vehicles require a large and flat landing area (for Chinooks), and of course stable and accessible roads for FEMA trucks. So, yes, for the first several days many of the rescue/help/recovery/wellness-checks, etc were done by small private groups - including private helicopter response groups like "Aerial Recovery Group". That doesn't mean that FEMA and the National Guard were doing *nothing*. They were mobilizing and setting up base camps to be further used to distribute medical supplies, housing services, food & water, and coordinate rescues where and when needed.
That doesn't mean FEMA and the National Guard are "SLOW", it just means they are doing what they were designed to do, which is to optimize the help provided for the LARGEST amount of people. I swear, some people want to paint FEMA as somehow non-caring and heartless people who just show up and stare at the sky... I hope you never require aid from FEMA, but I'm sure if you do - you'll be far more appreciative towards them than you sound from your comment.
go back see what current state is
Seriously, could you have picked a more depressing song???
@@BJ-gs5lm Try being here. It's effin depressing.
Music is subjective. When I hear the Moonlight Sonata, I see a profound beauty and a sense of reflection in that piece.
I love to see Gods work
Say what? Are you serious? All the people's homes and lives being washed away?😢
Those houses and farms are in a flood plane created by previous floods , that is a hint, this area floods, so what is the surprise? They chose to risk this , we all take chances , sometimes we loose. If they discovered gold would they share the good fortune, no, so why should we share their misfortune.
Hey disrespectful, uneducated, moron most of the damage was caused by mudslides and Debrie flows as well as floods. One day you might lose everything and then you can have some perspective.
Jackass!
@@bestseedorchard1107 lose.
Harsh
You do realize lives were lost in this flood? By your comment I take you are of the same attitude to any and all choices made by people regardless of what it is, such as a simple act of crossing a street at a crosswalk and being struck by a hit and run driver. I guess you would say, "hey should have know better than to cross the street because people sometimes get hit."
32:07 to 32:51; How hauntingly beautiful! Its what I hope those who lost their lives there got to see on their journey to Heaven.😇🕊⛰