Hurricane HELENE updates.

[kenemoore]

Hey folks.
Helene has brought havoc down upon the Carolinas. Worst storm since HUGO.

Me and Charley Poodle are surviving. I have a small generator, large enough to run my fridge and a hot plate or coffee maker. Good enough to get by.
I don't have enough gas jugs for a multi-day outage. Had to siphon some out of my truck last night. Got a mouthful of gas, brought back some memories from my ill spent youth.

Took a ride this morning, trees down every where, major flooding. One whole village washed away (Chimney Rock, NC). I26 closed, big mud slide on I40.

Took a cold water shower this morning, least amount of water I've used since leaving the Navy.

Rumor has it we will have power back by midnight tonight.

Hope all are doing well.

[Bawanna]

We're for sure doing better than you. Hope they get your power back up and running. I'm sure it'll take some time to get all the other stuff cleaned up and semi back to normal.
We don't have those here but being on a community well, when our power goes out, we don't have water either. Not good.
Funny how we really miss things that we normally take for granted. Flipping light switches when the power is off. Duh?

[Armybrat]

Having lived in some third world countries and Texas, I can sympathize about the power failures.
Hope things get back to normal for you.

[dao]

Hang in there Ken!

[jeepster09]

Glad overall your okay.

[getsome]

We were living in Charlotte NC when Hugo went through and took down so many giant oak trees, many on peoples houses…..We were lucky then and only lost a few trees in the far back yard……Helene did a lot of damage in Atlanta and I was worried because we have lots of trees close to the house but God was with us and there was no damage done…..Thank you Jesus!…Hope you get the A/C back on soon Ken, glad you and Charley made it through ok otherwise…..

[AJBert]

My wife, son, and grandson went through Katrin while we had the house in Gulfport, MS. I was stationed out in Mayport, Fl at the time. Came home the next day and couldn't believe the devastation. First time I had seen anything like that. As many downed power lines and substations I figured we would be without power for over a month. I took my wife and grandson back to FL with me after a week at home to get my wife in the a/c. Went back a week later and about an hour before we got home the power was on. I did have a generator to keep the freezers and fridge cold. Even hooked up the tv and sat dish to watch the news. The only being covered was the levees failing in NOLA, of course.

I feel you pain in what you are going though, Ken. Hopefully, you get power back soon. We had well water, thankfully, and I had made up a pigtail for the water pump. I'd fire up the generator from five to six pm everyday I was there for the neighbors. Told our son to keep doing while we were gone. In times like these that you are facing, you'll find out who are your true neighbors are. This not to misconstrued for those who evacuated. Something like this brings the best out in most people, but the worst in a few.

[wyntrout]

Good luck, Ken. We lost power at midnight and got it back a little after 10 AM the next morning. I did have a large power supply that's going into my van that was sitting in the garage. I ran an extension cord into the house to power a few small fans and to alternate between the fridge and freezer all night to keep things frozen and cool. Thankfully, it wasn't hot... just 80 or less, so we were comfortable.
I got a new generator to replace my old one that blew the head gasket back the beginning of December, but don't have the new shed installed for it. It came with two left sides and wasn't able to get back to it after the replacement right side came in, so have to make a base to support that then assemble the shed, heat proof it, and install the new gen'.
We're expecting another hurricane this Friday... similar to Helene!
We saw winds over 52 MPH, but lost power and couldn't see what was happening until the next day when I got the inside part of the weather stations working. The sensors on the chimney cap are battery and solar powered. We had no damage except for a lot of tree debris from our neighbors' trees. We had all of our bothersome trees cut down 3 years ago so that none were threatening us anymore.

[kenemoore]

Update:
Well, color me lucky. Power is back on. But still over 150k in county without.
They are saying most back on by Friday. Since my little town was one of the first with power back, the gas stations are swamped, lines like back in the 70's.
Local grocery stores are throwing away all the spoiled food, dumpsters everywhere.
I am good to go on gas and groceries for a few days, going to wait on the panic to settle a bit.
Still no internet. Using my phone as a hotspot, but it only works decent in the early morning. Too much traffic in the daytime.
Stay safe.

[skyler]

I'm glad to see that you are okay. I hope you can get back to your life soon.