Hurricane Helene Hits us with its Best Shot

Hello friends and readers.  Apologies for the absence.

I have been told that NASA released a nighttime image of the Eastern U.S. before Hurricane Helene and a matching image showing dark trough up the middle where there had been lights until the storm knocked out power to several states.  We are in that trough.  Because we live in the middle of nowhere, on the side of a mountain, at the end of a six mile road, we may not have grid power restored for months.

Let’s start with the good news:

• We are alive and well
• We have running water
• We have plenty of food
• The dog, cat, chickens and bees all lived
• The house did not leak or flood, but it sustained some very minor damage in a landslide
• We have enough electricity generated by our solar panels for mission critical things like refrigeration
• It isn’t too cold yet, but if it gets cold, we have a year’s supply of firewood

Now the bad news:

• Grid power is out and may be for months.
• Half our solar panels, one string, stopped working before the storm, our system is producing only half the power it should be.  Repairs were scheduled for the Monday after the Hurricane. Not surprisingly, the repair crew either did not show, likely because of washed out roads.  No idea when they will be able to come back and get it fixed.
• We have no internet access or cell service.  In addition to towers that blew over, many have generators that cannot be serviced or refueled because the roads are impassible or the fiber optic cables that carry their signal are not working.
• Because we have no internet access, we have limited control over our solar power system and cannot plug our generator into it to recharge the whole-house batteries on cloudy days.
• Parts of the mountain behind the house slid down. Not all at once, but in sections over 12 hours.  The last landslide knocked out one of the supports of the carport.  I can’t repair it until we remove three feet of dirt.
• I brag about having lots of streams on our property and ample water; in this case, that worked against us.  Massive rainfall caused small streams to become raging rivers which caused significant damage up here in the mountains and serious flodding in the river valleys for miles around. 
• On our road, the flood of water ripped out a culvert, making it impossible to cross.  Below it, the ford we usually drive through is now more than two feet deep and impassible.  Further down the road, the bridge survived, but the road on either side washed out.  Net result: We are trapped in the house, possibly for weeks, until someone with heavy equipment rebuilds the road. 

We walked down the road and borrowed a neighbor’s truck to go into town and get Wi-Fi so we could make calls and send texts and update the blog.  I just ordered a Starlink, but it may take two weeks to get here.  I had to send it to a friend’s house since we can’t get deliveries.  Once we have it up and running, I will post more frequently. 

Our Preps Pay Off

Many of the things we did to prepare have paid off.  For example, I have three gallons of bar and chain oil and have been refiling quart bottle for neighbors who need it.

Our gravity-fed spring water is a real boon as we have running water when most don’t. (Our neighbor below does not, so we have offered him water and 5-gallon containers.  He is using creek water to flush.) 

Despite producing only 50 percent of our potential solar power output (with only 10 of the 21 panels working) we are better off than many.  We are using power only for food preservation (fridge and freezer), preparation (induction stove top, microwave, coffee maker, and bread maker), and then for recharging our battery-powered lamps, lanterns, and headlamps.  Only on sunny days does the system produce enough power that the hot water heater kicks on or we can run the washing machine. I am pissed at our solar provider for not fixing our system sooner, but it is far better than nothing.

Like the one-eyed man in the colony of the blind, we are in doing great compared to most of our neighbors who have no electricity at all unless they run a generator. 

Between the two of us, my wife and I are using four headlamps, and I lent another one to a neighbor.  I cannot emphasize how important it is to have headlamps and a way to recharge them in your preps.  Also, it’s amazing how quickly you get used to no or low-light conditions.  I am proving to myself that bright, room-filling lights are nice, but not necessary.  A 13-watt LED, which produces as much illumination as an old 60-watt bulb, is bright enough when it is pitch black.

We have plenty of food and are eating well. Our uphill neighbor, who is 88, had four days of food.  We would have fed him, but he was evacuated by search and rescue because of his health and the need for some surgery.  They were going to send a helicopter, but after the water level dropped, he was able to walk partway down the mountain and go the rest of the way in his rescuer’s four-wheeler.  They tried to get us to leave, but we refused.  Still, having search and rescue show up with 48 hours of the storm ending was pretty impressive. 

Neighbors are helping neighbors and a great deal of aid has poured into the area.  Still, this is especially hard on the elderly, people who are on oxygen or have medical conditions, and people like us who are cut off from civilization by the road damage.

Could, Woulda, Shoulda

Here is what we wish we had more of:

• Fresh vegetables; all of ours except the red and green peppers from the garden were consumed within two or three days of the storm. We should have made one last shopping trip the day before the hurricane.
• More chicken feed and scratch.  I had to open a #10 can of cracked wheat and another of oatmeal to give the chickens a treat when the scratch ran low.
• More gasoline.  I had 27 gallons on hand and two empty containers.  I can’t believe I didn’t think to refill them, but we didn’t think this storm would be that bad.  (Famous last words, eh?)

Here is what we wish we had done:

• Purchased Starlink two months ago.  We considered it when it became clear our solar power system worked best when it had an Internet connection, but because it was twice the rate of our normal internet service, we held off.
• Had a larger generator.  My small unit with 3,500 running watts is working fine, but I was waiting for a large one, closer to 8,000 watts, to go on sale.
• Purchased a side by side.  These are damn expensive, but they sure are handy when the roads are in bad shape.  I have borrowed my neighbors Polaris on a couple occasions and friends visit on their John Deere Gator.  My hope is that someone buys one for this emergency and then sells it used afterwards.  I don’t need speed, I need ground clearance and the ability to climb steep hills.
• My biggest mistake was not parking my truck a quarter mile down the road, below the ford.  That wouldn’t have cost anything.

Stay or Go

If we had no running water or solar power, I think my wife would have gone to her sister’s by now, leaving me to haul water, cut down trees, and care for the critters.  So far, at least, she is quite comfortable.  Otherwise, this is a pretty good test of our preps, and a demonstration of how prepping pays off.  For 30 years, I have prepped and only now am I using my preps, but it confirms that prepping is worth it.  Without prepping, I’d be sleeping in a cot in a high school gym with 300 other people.

Keep prepping, and check back once or twice a week for more updates.