Hey folks!
A few of you may know this already, but the last few years I have been splitting my time between France and Asheville, NC as my wife and I cared for her parents in France and juggled various work commitments. I’m back in the States for the next 10-12 months to earn more money while my wife goes to grad school. This past week most of WNC was utterly wrecked by the remnants of hurricane Helene. My parent’s home of more than 40 years and my childhood home was literally lifted off the foundation by a river and torn apart as it went downstream. It was not in a floodplain. I have lived through numerous floods of the Swannanoa River and this was like nothing I’ve ever seen, basically a tsunami in the mountains instead of the ocean. Out of about 28 homes that the river could reach in our neighborhood, 22 are just empty foundations and most of the others will be condemned.
Here are some videos from the day of the flood and the aftermath on my Instagram page:
Another KKF member, Kaleb, also lives in the area (Updog_128) and suffered some damage to his property, luckily somewhat minor I believe. I haven’t had the chance to go and check in with him in person, but we have messaged with each other. I hope any other members in the path of Helene managed to make it out on the other side in okay condition!
In terms of lost possessions, I personally got off somewhat lucky as some of my worldly belongings are still in France. (Sadly though, most of my rarer knives and my entire jnat collection I had been storing in Asheville, so they are now all somewhere along the riverbed.) My parents, on the other hand, lost everything. We got away with our cars, a small box of food, and a basically a single change of clothes give or take some random things. Unfortunately, they had no flood insurance (due to not being in a floodplain) so we’re unsure what FEMA’s disaster assistance will amount to in the end. That said FEMA have been super prompt and very helpful for us and I’ve heard the same from every neighbor we’ve talked to.
While some other family members set up a GoFundMe on our behalf, I'm still a little uncomfortable with the whole idea. If that's your jam, this is the link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-...amp1c&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=facebook.
Mainly though I’m just reaching out to ask that if anybody has any old or unwanted kitchen utensils and equipment, baking sheets/bread tins/pyrex, pots/pans, coffee equipment, cutting boards, cheap or unwanted knives, etc, cluttering their attics, basements, or kitchens and can find an affordable shipping option, my parents would be eternally grateful. I will disperse any extra donations into the community.
If folks are in the NC/GA/SC/VA nexus, I could potentially try to arrange a collection trip to come pick things up too if they’re too bulky or numerous to ship, but my work should be opening back up this week so I'd have to plan it out a few weeks in advance.
DM if you have something you’d like to donate, as I'm not totally set on what address to use, it might end up being my work address. There's a UPS store I can hold packages at, but PO boxes are hella expensive in WNC at the minute, where they're available at all. Internet and cell is still a bit unreliable in WNC, so I may be slow to reply to people.
For anyone else in the southern US, keep an eye out for each other, hurricane season is looking to be fierce this year.
-Todd
A few of you may know this already, but the last few years I have been splitting my time between France and Asheville, NC as my wife and I cared for her parents in France and juggled various work commitments. I’m back in the States for the next 10-12 months to earn more money while my wife goes to grad school. This past week most of WNC was utterly wrecked by the remnants of hurricane Helene. My parent’s home of more than 40 years and my childhood home was literally lifted off the foundation by a river and torn apart as it went downstream. It was not in a floodplain. I have lived through numerous floods of the Swannanoa River and this was like nothing I’ve ever seen, basically a tsunami in the mountains instead of the ocean. Out of about 28 homes that the river could reach in our neighborhood, 22 are just empty foundations and most of the others will be condemned.
Here are some videos from the day of the flood and the aftermath on my Instagram page:
Another KKF member, Kaleb, also lives in the area (Updog_128) and suffered some damage to his property, luckily somewhat minor I believe. I haven’t had the chance to go and check in with him in person, but we have messaged with each other. I hope any other members in the path of Helene managed to make it out on the other side in okay condition!
In terms of lost possessions, I personally got off somewhat lucky as some of my worldly belongings are still in France. (Sadly though, most of my rarer knives and my entire jnat collection I had been storing in Asheville, so they are now all somewhere along the riverbed.) My parents, on the other hand, lost everything. We got away with our cars, a small box of food, and a basically a single change of clothes give or take some random things. Unfortunately, they had no flood insurance (due to not being in a floodplain) so we’re unsure what FEMA’s disaster assistance will amount to in the end. That said FEMA have been super prompt and very helpful for us and I’ve heard the same from every neighbor we’ve talked to.
While some other family members set up a GoFundMe on our behalf, I'm still a little uncomfortable with the whole idea. If that's your jam, this is the link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-...amp1c&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=facebook.
Mainly though I’m just reaching out to ask that if anybody has any old or unwanted kitchen utensils and equipment, baking sheets/bread tins/pyrex, pots/pans, coffee equipment, cutting boards, cheap or unwanted knives, etc, cluttering their attics, basements, or kitchens and can find an affordable shipping option, my parents would be eternally grateful. I will disperse any extra donations into the community.
If folks are in the NC/GA/SC/VA nexus, I could potentially try to arrange a collection trip to come pick things up too if they’re too bulky or numerous to ship, but my work should be opening back up this week so I'd have to plan it out a few weeks in advance.
DM if you have something you’d like to donate, as I'm not totally set on what address to use, it might end up being my work address. There's a UPS store I can hold packages at, but PO boxes are hella expensive in WNC at the minute, where they're available at all. Internet and cell is still a bit unreliable in WNC, so I may be slow to reply to people.
For anyone else in the southern US, keep an eye out for each other, hurricane season is looking to be fierce this year.
-Todd
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