Hurricane Helene decimated mountain towns in North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee. Towns like Chimney Rock, North Carolina in the photo above, and Hartford, Tennessee, for those who liked to raft on the Pigeon River. For your situational awareness, Joe Biden was tanning his hide in Delaware while Southern Appalachia was being devastated.

We are all used to hurricanes hitting the low country, the lands below sea level in Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana and Texas, and the coastal areas of Georgia and North Carolina. We are used to the hollers getting washed out by rains in Kentucky and Tennessee. We are most decidedly NOT used to hurricanes destroying the low-lying areas in the mountains. What? Hurricane Helene surprised everyone this weekend. Miss Helene tore through mountains like Sherman through Georgia.

Our Nina told you this morning just how bad it is. You can read her post here. Everyone who knows me knows how I kvetch when I have to take I40 through the mountains to Asheville and further on to Fort (Bragg) Liberty. Those mountain passes are beasts, especially with all the long-haul truckers there. But nothing prepares you to see this:

Glad I’m not traveling on I40 in Tennessee and North Carolina, like I was all last week; got home late Wednesday. Have been worried about rock/mud slides, besides the flooding. #Helene https://t.co/R6B47hATSa

— Denise Van Patten (@DeeVP) September 27, 2024

I hate to whine, when so many others are so badly off, but I40 through the mountains has needed to be reengineered for a long time. Here in West Knoxville, we didn’t flood, and that’s a mercy, or lose power, and that’s a miracle, but East of us through Ashville the bridges are gone:

The Tennessee Department of Transportation plans to move quickly with repairs to infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Helene, notably the collapsed potion of Interstate 40 near the Tennessee-North Carolina border and the handful of bridges that have washed away.

The storm left 14 state bridges on state routes closed, and five of those are “completely gone,” TDOT Deputy Commissioner Will Reid said during a Sept. 29 news conference. That means not just repairs, but entirely new builds will be necessary to reconnect communities.

TDOT has inspected more than 100 bridges over the course of 36 hours, the department said in a 5:30 p.m. social media post on X, formerly known as Twitter. Officials still have hundreds more to check.

In Greene County, Reid said, Bridge 107 is compromised, as well as bridges on state routes 340, 350 and 351. Some local bridges in the county are compromised as well.

TDOT wants to begin awarding repair contracts as early as Sept. 30, Reid said.

“We are still in the debris removal and assessment phase,” he said.

Further East of me in Western North Carolina it is surreal:

The rushing water rose five feet higher in the Swannanoa River than anyone had ever seen.

The ground disappeared on South Tunnel Road, leaving a giant sinkhole full of asphalt soup.

Houses floated away from subdivisions. Bridges crumbled. The flood waters flipped semi-trucks into mangled piles. Mud and tree branches and food from local grocery stores flowed into the streets.

Survivors traipsed through muck to find drinking water, power, wifi and cell service.

Gov. Roy Cooper called Tropical Storm Helene a “catastrophic” and “historic” event with “life-threatening floods and landslides.”

The Biltmore is up on a high spot so it is fine. The backside of The Biltmore, best seen from horseback:

Biltmore Village built in a low spot is decimated.

https://t.co/JrPykth47X
'Drone video shows historic Biltmore Village under water after flooding in North Carolina
The Biltmore Village was originally constructed in the 1800s for workers of the Biltmore Estate. George Vanderbilt, a historic collector, built the Biltmore Estate'

— KV (@vacca65071) September 30, 2024

What do Joe Biden, Kamala Harris or Tim Walz care about this devastation? It’s mostly poor, mostly White folks who aren’t going to vote their way. Donald Trump stopped in Valdosta, Georgia. North Carolina is too damaged for Trump to visit now, but he promised he will.

Right now 153 people are missing in East Tennessee. About 600 are missing in Western North Carolina, mostly Buncombe County. Don’t try to drive into the affected areas on your own. If you would like to offer assistance, please call your state emergency management authority or donate to Samaritan’s Purse.

Featured Image: Tariq Scott Bokhari/X/Screenshot