Tab Combs @DrTCombs@transportation.social
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Transportation resilience expert. Studying, teaching, learning, tooting about 🚶♀️🚲 🚌 & 🛣️, with occasional outbursts about dogs, kids, & gardening. Searchable on tootfinder. Opinions my own.
Not anti-car, just anti-carbrain. A person, not a data point.
Support local communities affected by Hurricane Helene in Western NC: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RR5HML5ni83NdVodRGp2NZvyDJ_HtiAgw3J-IlMtPuA/edit?usp=sharing
Joined Nov 2022
#Helene #HowToHelp thread:
If you're in the NC Triangle, 2 locations to drop supplies off to be delivered by Day One Relief (likely by air):
- Carrboro: Back Alley Bikes, 100 Boyd St. Open Tues/Sat 11-6
- Durham: Art Post, 718 Iredell. Open Mon-Say 12-6
(I'll add more as I learn; feel free to add your own information)
#Helene #MutualAid thread:
* If you can get to #Boone, #AppState has power, internet, and food. You do not need to be a student.
I'm posting information as I find it; please feel free to add your own.
Tab Combs
boosted
NC peeps! We are looking for 501(c)3 charitable orgs to send donations for #Helene cleanup in WNC and across the state. Already have Day One Relief (https://dayonerelief.org/about-us/) on our radar thanks to @DrTCombs - any other good recipients?
Prefer effective local / regional #MutualAid type orgs vs big national groups (but I'm open to being convinced otherwise if you feel that's short-sighted...)
Update: also Mutual Aid Disaster Relief (https://mutualaiddisasterrelief.org/) national mutual aid group supporting local & regional efforts... h/t @beckett & @devin_ceartas for that one!
Hey NC Triangle folks -- if you are looking for ways to help our mountain neighbors, One Day Relief is a top notch organization operating out of RDU and Durham.
dayonerelief.org/about-us/
The news coming from Western NC is unfathomably devastating, and many rivers haven't crested yet. There's very little cell service; most people have no power, no fresh water, no food, no comms, no transportation. Entire towns wiped off the map.
The impacts from #Helene will be generational.
UPDATE: evidently the damn is holding! whew.
Catastrophic failure of the #Waterville Dam on the Pigeon River in Newport, TN. This is a life threatening situation. Evacuate to higher ground NOW.
Pictures I'm seeing from friends and colleagues in #WNC are incredible...and horrific.
The flood risk is in no way over, and tens of thousands of people remain in harm's way. I-40 is washed out, I-26 is inundated, and hundreds of local roads are likely buried. This is going to be a long, hard recovery.
Keep our mountain folk in your thoughts.
There are widespread power, internet, and cell phone outages across #westernNC. Most of the information I'm getting and relaying is from NCWX authority (https://www.ncwxauthority.com/?), Day One Relief (on FB only), and the politically-endanged National Weather Service.
...Emergency Shelters Open:
McDowell County Senior Center
100 Spaulding Rd.
Marion, NC 28752
Glenwood Baptist Church
155 Glenwood Baptist Church Rd.
Marion, NC 28752
end thread.
...The main priorities are to rescue citizens who are still trapped in flood waters and within structures. The priority will then quickly transition to get major roads open and attempt to gain access to isolated communities. Please be patient as we attempt rescue fellow citizens who remain in a life threatening situation. Stay away from floodwaters and off the highways unless you are moving to higher ground...
...McDowell County Emergency Management has requested air support from NC Emergency Management to rescue trapped citizens who emergency personnel can't reach. Air support will not be available until weather conditions improve. Every available first responder is working to respond to emergency calls. Numerous cell towers are down and major infrastructure damage has occurred....
#Helene's catastrophic impacts are ongoing in western NC. This just announced from McDowell County:
“McDowell County has experienced significant damage due to Hurricane Helene. Swift water rescues and emergency responses to people trapped in houses continues. Nearly all locations in McDowell County are without power. Emergency personnel are unable to access multiple areas.... (see below for shelter information)
Many of the communities who made staff available to assist in our research are now devastated. Inundated with flood waters, buried under feet-thick mud, with supply lines completely cut off.
It's just breathtaking to be revisiting those conversations right now.
I was so caught up in #Helene that I didn't connect the dots between the report I'm attempting to finalize today--on how #NCDOT can better help cities and towns prepare for and recover from major disruptive events--and the fact that NCDOT has declared the entire western NC transportation system closed until further notice.
I actually gasped.
This report I'm finalizing today--the product of a years' long research effort--might actually help someone tomorrow.
#DayOneRelief is a fantastic organization that gets supplies and other resources to people in need across #NorthCarolina in the days immediately following a disaster (and #Helene is one hell of a disaster).
If you are on FB please check them out. They are actively seeking volunteers. Going off past experience, they'll be flying supplies from #RDU to tiny airstrips across #WesternNC as soon as they get clearance to fly. If you're anywhere near the NC Triangle and able to help, please do!
Sharing fron Operation NC Day One Relief:
The Crisis Cleanup number for registering for TS #Helene damage assistance is 844-965-1386.
The Crisis Cleanup number for registering for Southeastern NC's No-Name storm/flood damage assistance is 910-218-1569.
Please also report damage to your local emergency management office or the state's NC Emergency Management at 984-220-3763.
ok y'all. the dogs are sleeping, the skink that was sheltering in our sliding door has moved on (or been eaten by the dogs?), the neighbors are poking around the garden, and the yahoos are running the stop sign with reckless abandon.
so we're back to normal here in #ChapelHillNC, it seems.
Time to put my 'transportation researcher with a deadline' hat back on.
Stay safe, y'all.
- Pronouns
- She/Hers
- Sponsors
- https://ko-fi.com/drtcombs
Transportation resilience expert. Studying, teaching, learning, tooting about 🚶♀️🚲 🚌 & 🛣️, with occasional outbursts about dogs, kids, & gardening. Searchable on tootfinder. Opinions my own.
Not anti-car, just anti-carbrain. A person, not a data point.
Support local communities affected by Hurricane Helene in Western NC: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RR5HML5ni83NdVodRGp2NZvyDJ_HtiAgw3J-IlMtPuA/edit?usp=sharing
Joined Nov 2022
