Hurricane Helene Update 8

Editor’s note: republishing with permissions. Triangle Mutual Aid is the boots on the ground community responders doing the heaving lifting post-Helene. Please do not give the bloated non-profit industrial complex any of your money find grassroots Mutual Aid networks instead! Dontate here: https://www.patreon.com/trianglemutualaid/posts or https://www.trianglemutualaid.org/

by Devin M. Ceartas and the Triangle Mutual Aid publishing collective

Please be extra kind to each other in this moment. We are working through collective trauma in solidarity with many, many people who have been subjected to personal trauma. Local firefighters and others cleaning up debris and muck are pulling bodies out with the tree limbs. If you take supplies there, volunteer to help, or speak with people, go gentle. Consider what they may have seen or heard. Many families in the mountains have lost someone or have someone missing.

Even here in the triangle, people have lots of connections to pain right now. Today, for the second day in a row, I initiated a sharing circle at the Hillsborough warehouse where our operations are currently centered. People shared about how the systems there were working, what improvements they perceived as possible. Several people spoke through tears about their personal connections and the grief they are carrying. A lot of people expressed thankfulness for having a material way to plug in, saying that being able to contribute was giving them a much-needed outlet. We will continue to weave taking care of each other into the fabric of what we are doing. It is who we are.

One emotionally uplifting thing for people has been when the dispatch crew hears from the drivers that a load has successfully reached its location in western North Carolina (WNC) and announces this to the warehouse crew. There is always a cheer from the crowd.

The national Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) organization has (appropriately) appointed the local triangle chapter as the “point” on their response to the devastation in WNC. Again, adding DSA to our growing list of collaborating groups is frictionless because Triangle Mutual Aid has worked with the local DSA on several projects in the past, including successfully collecting and dispersing over $80,000 in direct aid in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, which involved priority outreach to out-of-work service workers and the local refugee community. We had a late-night bar meeting last night and have established priorities and a communication channel. DSA will be raising funds into their account and collaborating on identifying larger-ticket infrastructure items such as generators, family-size tents for the displaced, cisterns, solar power systems, and communication systems. The DSA membership also contains many people who may be mobilized to cleanup and repair projects initiated or identified by Mutual Aid.

On last night’s check-in call, the need for goggles and masks, as well as other personal protective equipment (PPE) was repeated. The receding flood waters are leaving lots of fine silt and dirt which is turning into dust and people report coughing hours after being exposed.

Sadly, the government program to shut down free food has continued. There are health department regulations which require restaurants to have running water. So even restaurants which have been supplied with ample clean water from other sources who were opening up to serve their communities are being shut down and threatened with fines. What I would rather see is the adoption of the mantra I have learned from Mutual Aid circles and have been integrating into my personal life. Rather than replying with “no” when there are situations like this were two good things (public health and feeding people in need) bump into each, answer with “let’s see if we can figure out a way to make that happen”. In some alternative universe where running water wasn’t a thing and we were always bring well water up in containers, the regulations wouldn’t require running water. That’s an over-specific requirement to a general problem. A creative, flexible, appropriate answer would be to use the resources the health department has available to get water testing out to where it was needed and work to get filtration systems to where they are needed.

That’s what we have been doing. Yesterday we were able to facilitate the placement of a dozen or so larger filtration units, on loan from Life Straw, in places where they can serve communities.

People operating chainsaws without appropriate safety gear (or in some cases, training) is creating a significant injury situation diversity medical attention from the primary need. MADR is placing orders for the needed protective gear.

Here’s a list of the response sub-groups I’m aware of and show up on my phone at this point (probably missing some):

• Trees/chainsaws
• Hillsborough Warehouse
• floor crew
• logistics
• dispatch
• trash
• food
• Medics
• WNC drivers
• Local drivers
• Supply drop locations
• Comms
• Mapping
• Regional supply lines

A MADR person coming down from Virginia confirmed that the VA counties in the far southwest of the state are facing a situation very much like what we are aware of in WNC.

See yesterday’s update for Needs List and Drop Off Locations. Here’s a few specific needs I’ve seen in the last 24 hours:

• size 6 and up diapers
• TP & Paper towels
• muck & gut cleanup supplies
• chainsaws, esp. 16” & up, helmets, premixed fuel/oil
• block & tackle gear, wenches
• generators
• gloves.
• cat litter
• family size tents or yurts
• beans & rice, hominy, tortillas
• camp stoves
• poison ivy treatment