Good Morning, Friends,

If you haven’t read my previous posts, here’s the situation in a nutshell: we live in a rural mountain community in Swannanoa, NC, where the bridge connecting us to the outside world was swept away during the 1 in 1,000-year flood event caused by Tropical Storm Helene. We’ve also confirmed that a tornado swept through our valley, which explains the large number of trees down on houses and roads.

Arborists in High Demand

One profession in particularly high demand here, post-Helene, is arborists.

As a community, we worked together to clear our road and driveways within days of the storm hitting—an enormous task. But some trees require professional equipment and expertise, especially those needing cranes.

About 80% of the homes in the upper part of our road had trees fall on them, including our two homes—our primary residence and our vacation rental cottage.

At our main house, three trees fell: two landed on our Subaru, and one hit our roof, damaging two solar panels.

Thankfully, after a thorough two-hour inspection by an insurance appraiser, we were relieved to learn there was no structural damage or water penetration.

The vacation cottage wasn’t as fortunate. A tree punched through the master bedroom ceiling. I attempted to trim the branches around the hole, but the weight and tension of the tree made it too dangerous to cut without risking further damage.

In both cases, we need a crane to safely remove the trees.

I’ve been in touch with arborists we’ve used before, but they’re a small company, and the wait could be up to two weeks. With perfectly clear and dry fall weather right now, we knew we had to act quickly before the rains return.

Most arborists in Western North Carolina are so overwhelmed that they’re only doing “chop and drop” jobs—removing trees from homes, dropping them to the side, and moving on. No debris cleanup or additional work.

After numerous calls, we’ve contracted a well-recommended arborist who may be able to remove the trees from both of our houses and two others in the neighborhood.

I should note that any job involving a crane is incredibly expensive, but neither of our insurance companies raised concerns about the cost.

Fingers crossed that the arborists keep their schedule and safely remove the trees. It will be a relief to stop hearing the tree groaning on our roof and to prevent more water damage in the vacation home!

Grid Restoration

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, we’re incredibly fortunate to have solar power with battery backup. It allows us to live in relative comfort, keeping the fridge and freezer running if we manage our energy use carefully.

It’s now been two weeks without power on our road.

Duke Energy, along with line workers from across the U.S. and Canada, have been working around the clock to restore electricity in Buncombe County.

Yesterday, while we briefly had cell phone service, we received this text:

Duke Energy: We are making more progress than anticipated repairing the considerable damage left by Helene and restoring customers. Of the 50K remaining outages in NC mountains, we estimate restoring about half by Sunday night. The remaining outages will require significant construction of roads, bridges, and/or electrical infrastructure. We will provide you with additional details about your outage as soon as possible. Rest assured we will not stop working until we have restored every customer who is able to receive power.

We’re among those outages that will require major reconstruction of infrastructure.

While we’ve known this from the start, we’ve been holding out some hope as we’ve seen rapid progress on other areas. Some neighbors were thinking we might get power back in a few weeks.

For a few days, hope grew as we saw a parade of line workers along the two-mile stretch of road connecting us to the Bee Tree reservoir and the rest of the world.

Yesterday, while on our way to a 4:00 PM community meeting and potluck, we passed a Duke Energy vehicle on our road for the first time.

One neighbor stopped the worker and asked, “Are you surveying the damage?”

The lineman replied, “I came up here to count how many power poles were destroyed. I stopped counting after ten, further down the road.”

When asked about the timeline for restoration, he said, “I think we’ll be doing well if we can restore power here by Christmas.”

Sobering news, but we weren’t shocked. We’ve all adjusted our expectations, and most of us have some form of backup power. The community meeting and potluck helped keep spirits high.

Ham Radio Workbench

Last night, I had the pleasure of recording an episode of the Ham Radio Workbench podcast. While I’m a regular on the show, this time I was also the guest, sharing my experiences post-Helene and discussing how radio played a crucial role in emergency communication.

It was so energizing to hang out with friends—it was the first “normal” thing I’ve done in two weeks.

Our “priority bandwidth” renewed the previous day, so my connection via Skype was solid. We still have no mobile internet here, only voice and basic texting. So I couldn’t rely on my mobile hotspot as a backup.

The discussion was fantastic, and I feel fortunate we have solar power and satellite internet to make this possible. All other internet here is still down, and it could be that way for a while.

Feeling Fortunate

I was telling George, Vince, Mike, and Mark last night (sadly, Rod was traveling) that for most people, things improve each day after a disaster like this. Recovery is a process. I overheard a Samaritan’s Purse volunteer say to a homeowner whose house flooded, “What happened here was horrible, but you’re a survivor, and your life will improve each day from now.”

It’s a powerful sentiment, but it made me think of those in war zones. For them, there isn’t one event followed by recovery. It’s constant devastation. My friend Wlod (US7IGN) in Kyiv, Ukraine, has lived through years of uncertainty and attacks. Power outages, explosions, and devastation are part of daily life for him.

Natural disasters are tough, but I really feel for those in places where the struggle never seems to end.

Thank You

Once again, we’re overwhelmed by the kindness and support we’ve received. Thank you so much!

I apologize if I haven’t been able to reply to emails and comments—I’m spending most of my energy these days helping my family and neighbors navigate this challenging time.

Have a wonderful week ahead!

Best & 72,
Thomas (K4SWL)

PS: I’ve tagged all of my Post-Helene updates so that you can bookmark this url to read all of them in one collection. Each new update will be included.

Good Morning, Friends,

If you haven’t read my previous posts, here’s the situation in a nutshell: we live in a rural mountain community in Swannanoa, NC, where the bridge connecting us to the outside world was swept away during the 1 in 1,000-year flood event caused by Tropical Storm Helene. We’ve also confirmed that a tornado swept through our valley, which explains the large number of trees down on houses and roads.

No Power Interruptions at Home Despite Grid Outage

Although the power grid on our road is down and likely will be for weeks, if not months, we haven’t experienced any interruptions in power at our home.

Living in a remote, rural community, most of our neighbors have some form of backup power. Many have either 1) whole-house propane generators that kick in automatically during outages, or 2) critical load systems that connect to portable generators for essential power needs. Very few homes lack integrated backup power.

Until March of this year, we relied on the second option: a 7,700-watt portable generator connected to the house via a dedicated 220V outlet. This primarily powered our well pump but also ran essential appliances like the microwave and lights.

We also had a dedicated 490W solar/PV system that powered our DC refrigerator and freezer, which were always off-grid, running on a 360Ah battery bank. When power was out, the fridge and freezer stayed operational, and we could use the generator when we needed water.

This system served us well for 13 years, although I had to frequently maintain the generator and deep-cycle flooded Lead Acid batteries.

The New Solar PV System

In March 2024, we installed a 10.13 KW grid-tied solar PV system, something we had dreamed of since we finished building our home in 2011. We couldn’t afford it back then, but we finally made it happen in 2023, after signing a contract in August.

We wanted to include a whole-house battery backup but were initially hesitant due to the cost. Our installer designed the system to allow for battery integration in the future. Then, in mid-January, while dealing with my mother’s final days battling cancer, we got an offer from our solar installer: a significant discount on Tesla Powerwall Version 2 units, as they were transitioning to Version 3.

Honestly, my wife and I had so much going on in the family, we had no bandwidth to do a cost analysis. We simply decided to go for it. We committed to purchase two Powerwalls, which was the minimum needed (for Version 2 Powerwall) whole-house backup.

Note that we originally preferred a Kyocera LiFePO battery system, but it was too expensive and complicated to install compared to the Powerwalls. Looking back, this decision has been a blessing for us and our community, especially post-Hurricane Helene.

Staying Powered During the Crisis

Thanks to the Powerwalls, we’ve had no power interruptions at home during this disaster. These two batteries have kept the lights on, the water pump running, and our satellite internet operational.

It’s worth noting, though, that our system wasn’t designed to keep us fully off-grid for weeks. Additionally, two of our solar panels were damaged when a tree fell on the house, reducing our PV system’s output to about 60%, likely because the failed panels also affected other panels in the same series.

By managing our energy consumption carefully, we’ve kept everything running.

Managing Power Consumption

Right after the storm, I shut off the circuit breakers for our HVAC system and water heater, the biggest power users apart from our well pump. I also appointed one of our daughters, “Phantom Load Czar” and gave her absolute authority to hunt down, turn off, and unplug anything that wasn’t necessary.

If we didn’t reduce our usage—if we ran the HVAC, water heater, and cooked all our meals on the electric stove—we’d only have 8-12 hours of battery life. But by cutting out those heavy loads, we can stretch that to nearly 48 hours.

The Advantages of Solar

Unlike our neighbors with propane generators, who have to ration fuel, our system recharges every day thanks to the sun. Even though our output is lower on cloudy days, we still get daily “fuel deliveries” from the sun.

Keep in mind that our road is in rough shape and most propane delivery companies will not refuel customer tanks at present.

When solar production is lower–when it’s overcast or cloudy–we scale back by skipping hot water, cooking on a camping stove, and using minimal lighting. So far, we haven’t dipped below 50% battery capacity.

This week, we’re expecting clear skies, so by early afternoon, our batteries should be fully charged, allowing us to use excess solar energy to heat water for showers and run the dishwasher—true luxuries during a crisis like this.

Helping Our Community

As I mentioned, many of our neighbors with whole-house generators only run them for a few hours each day to conserve fuel. They’ve been bringing their devices to our home to charge, and because we have satellite internet, we’ve opened up free Wi-Fi. We’ve jokingly renamed our porch the “Witherspoon Internet Café,” where neighbors use our internet for everything from filing FEMA applications to contacting loved ones.

One big advantage is Wi-Fi calling, which has been crucial since cell service remains unreliable. While we now have some mobile voice and texting capabilities, the connection is unstable and frequently drops. Wi-Fi calling bypasses these issues, making it easier to deal with complicated phone trees and long hold times.

Challenges and the Road Ahead

We’re preparing for the possibility of being without grid power for another two months—or longer. The road to our home, with a 1,000-foot elevation gain, was severely damaged, and nearly all the power poles are down. Some transformers are wrecked, and our local substation was wiped out by flooding.

Duke Energy will have restored power to 90% of its customers by next week, but we’re in the 10% that will take much longer. Our entire power delivery system needs to be rebuilt, and the road might need to be repaired first to make this possible.

With winter approaching, we’ll have shorter days and more overcast skies, which will further reduce our solar production. We plan to repair the damaged panels and hope that gives us enough output to make it through the colder months. Otherwise, we’ll have to be even more conservative with our power usage, possibly shutting off devices like our satellite modem during the day.

Before you ask: don’t worry about our heating during the winter. Our house is passive solar and we also built it around an efficient RAIS wood stove. We can typically heat our home on less than two cords of wood per winter. We’ve got plenty in stock and, in fact, will have a nearly unlimited amount starting in a couple of years when our sawed up wood has cured.

Change in mindset

We now know that we can live comfortably off-grid, and while we’d consider making it a permanent arrangement, our main reason for staying connected to the grid is to sell back our excess solar energy.

As long as our solar system continues to function, we should be in good shape until the grid is restored.

Four Words…

Thank you so much!

We feel so incredibly fortunate compared to many who have lost their homes, their businesses, and members of their family.

Once again, our family is overwhelmed by the kindness and love you’ve shown us.

We know many who live in Florida where they’ll soon be receiving the full force of Cat 4 or 5 Hurricane Milton. Know that we’re here for you too.

Have a wonderful day.

Best & 72,
Thomas (K4SWL)

Good Morning, Friends,

If you haven’t read my previous posts, here’s the situation in a nutshell: we live in a rural mountain community in Swannanoa, NC, where the bridge connecting us to the outside world was swept away during the 1 in 1,000-year flood event caused by Tropical Storm Helene. We’ve also confirmed that a tornado swept through our valley, which explains the large number of trees down on houses and roads.

Community

The reason why I, along with all the households on our one-mile stretch of road, now have egress is because our community came together to make it happen. As I mentioned in previous posts, when I first surveyed the number of downed trees on my driveway and on our road, I thought we would be blocked from the rest of the world for at least a week. Instead, our neighborhood mobilized and cleared everything ourselves.

People we barely knew 10 days ago now feel like family. We all feel this way.

On Saturday at 13:00, we gathered for another neighborhood BBQ. This time, we enjoyed barbecued ribs, and they were exquisite—three different types: blackened, jerk, and extra spicy, both dry-rubbed and marinated.

These neighborhood barbecues give us a chance to relax and have casual conversations, rather than just focusing on work like fixing chainsaws and coordinating home repairs. It’s also practical: sharing meats that were thawing out in our freezers ensures everyone enjoys them before they spoil.

We had so much food that we also invited neighbors from the lower part of the road, as well as the National Guard, FEMA, and others working on our road. Of course, they declined, not wanting to take any resources from us (plus, they had packed their own lunches).

My wife spoke to a neighbor who joked that he wants to print T-shirts that say:

“I Survived Hurricane Helene and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt
(And a Tighter Community)”

That pretty much sums up how we all feel.

We did have a little drama at lunch. One of the National Guard’s RSVs (Re-Supply Vehicles) developed a flat tire. They had to deploy the outriggers and lift the truck to replace it, which completely blocked the road for a while.

Evidently, there’s no easy way to replace a tire on one of these, and each tire must weigh over 200 lbs. Unfortunately, one of the soldiers helping to maneuver the tire fell unconscious, and the tire hit him in the chest as he collapsed.

Fortunately, one of our neighbors is a trauma nurse and jumped into action. The soldier was stabilized and re-hydrated. They quickly finished the tire replacement and took him into town for a proper medical checkup, but fortunately, he appeared to have no major injuries.

We are incredibly grateful for all the hard work of the 5th Battalion 113 Field Artillery. They’ve been amazing.

Coordinated Efforts and Misinformation

Speaking of outside help, we’ve received and been offered more than we could ever take. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s been humbling to be on the receiving end of so much generosity.

Lately, I’ve had almost no time to catch up on messages or news because I’ve been so busy. Yesterday, however, I checked in on Mastodon and a few news and social media sources.

There are rumors going around about major clashes between government agencies and private organizations, groups, and individuals trying to help out here in western North Carolina. This simply isn’t true—not in the way some on social media are portraying it.

Keep in mind that fear, anger, and drama fuel likes, views, and search algorithms, which is why these “news” sources tend to paint everything in the worst possible light. It’s in their best financial interests to create drama where there is none.

Here on our road, we’ve met and worked with our rescue task force, four different FEMA teams, the Sheriff’s Department, the Forest Service, the National Guard, a private-sector ex-military helicopter team, church groups, numerous NGOs, arborist companies volunteering, and countless individuals, friends, and families.

In fact, they’ve all been working together, sharing ATVs and trucks, to get up and down our road. They’ve even coordinated and shared their observations and findings.

Anyone who has been monitoring the N2GE (Mount Mitchell Repeater) will hear coordination efforts between both public and private entities.

The only issues that arise, and where volunteers are turned away, happen when people try to enter areas en masse where access is limited, and their vehicles block the way of search and rescue teams or supply deliveries. Many of our mountain communities only have two-lane access roads, and when these are blocked, it creates serious problems.

Authorities have also asked some individuals to leave when it’s clear their intent is more about disaster sightseeing for their YouTube channels than helping out.

There’s also concern about looters targeting abandoned homes and businesses. If someone shows up in an SUV, ATV, or motorcycle without any sign of delivering supplies or assistance, they’re likely to be turned away. We actually requested law enforcement presence on our road to minimize the number of vehicles traveling across our precarious, temporarily-repaired road. Some groups have shown up in high-performance ATVs just for the thrill of navigating our damaged road. Seriously.

All this to say: don’t believe what you see on social media. It’s not telling the full story. The only people being turned away are those who aren’t really here to help in the first place. Genuine volunteers being refused would be an extreme rarity and likely only because they would be interfering with search and rescue ops.

SITREP (Situation Report)

As of now, our neighborhood feels like it’s in a semi-stable place. We have egress and ingress, we’ve cleared our road and driveways, and we’re working together to overcome the challenges we’ve faced.

At our community meeting yesterday, we even discussed how we could help others who still need their roads or driveways cleared. We have a tractor and a dozen people with chainsaws and ATVs.

Thankfully, most communities around us have already been cleared, which is wonderful news. There’s still months of debris cleanup ahead, but most places around us now have access in and out.

We’ll find other ways to give back to the community.

The power grid is still down, and I imagine it will be for weeks. Duke Energy announced that most people in urban Asheville neighborhoods will have power restored within a few days or by the end of the week. My buddy Vlado (N3CZ) had his power restored last night in south Asheville, which is a good sign.

However, there’s still a lot of electrical infrastructure to rebuild, and rural communities like ours will likely be a lower priority because the work needed benefits only 40 or so households instead of hundreds.

And none of us here take our road for granted. One heavy rain could wash out the temporary repairs or the makeshift bridge that connects us to the rest of the world.

The road is currently a one-lane, steep, and curvy path with no guard rails and steep drop-offs. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s what we’ll have to live with for months until the DOT can properly repair it.

We’re lucky to have fresh water, unlike many urban neighborhoods. We rely on well water, and as long as our well pumps have power, we have water. Additionally, we have a creek running through the valley that we can use to flush toilets or even drink from (with proper filtration).

Those on city water aren’t sure when service will be restored. Asheville’s water treatment facilities and reservoirs were all damaged by the storm, with two suffering severe damage. The North Fork facility, which supplies water to about 80% of Asheville, requires rebuilding a 36-inch bypass line that was destroyed. Access to the damaged areas has also made progress slow.

Water service restoration is the top priority, but there’s no estimated timeline yet. Thankfully, water distribution sites are available across Asheville, so getting drinking water hasn’t been difficult for most.

Updates

In my next update, I’ll explain the details about our solar power system here at the QTH. Many of you have asked for information, so I’ll dedicate a post to it.

Thank You

Once again, our family is overwhelmed by the kindness and love you’ve shown us.

Thank you so much!

Have a wonderful week ahead!

Best & 72,
Thomas (K4SWL)

Good Morning, Friends,

If you haven’t read my previous posts, here’s the situation in a nutshell: we live in a rural mountain community in Swannanoa, NC, where the bridge connecting us to the outside world was swept away during the 1,000-year flood event caused by Tropical Storm Helene. We’ve also confirmed that a tornado swept through our valley, which explains the large number of trees down on houses and roads.

It’s Been One Week

Honestly, time has no meaning these days as everything blends together. At our community meeting yesterday, someone asked what day it was, and we all looked at each other for a few seconds before someone finally chimed in, “I think it’s Friday.”

That said, it’s been one week (and one day) since the remnants of Helene hit our region of western North Carolina. Looking at the progress we’ve made together—along with generous outside help—it’s hard to believe we’ve accomplished so much in such a short period of time.

Egress

Yesterday morning, it was confirmed: a construction crew came up our road with special equipment (like track hoes and a dump truck that can dump over the cab) and patched it up. They’ve made temporary repairs, allowing vehicles with reasonable ground clearance to pass.

We are over the moon about this.

The day before, the Sheriff’s department had knocked on all our doors advising us to evacuate, warning that our road would soon be gone. Being the proactive community we are, we scouted out an old Forest Service road to see if it could serve as an alternate egress. Unfortunately, that road was a no-go—it had been hit hard by the winds and would have been a monumental task to clear.

So discovering yesterday morning that the road had been repaired enough for us to drive out was a huge morale boost. It’s nice to know that getting off and on the mountain no longer requires a two-mile hike with a 1,000’ elevation change!

That said, the repair work is temporary. FEMA has labeled it “unpassable” because it doesn’t meet any DOT standards and is not for the faint of heart. One neighbor managed to convince a propane truck to fill his tank yesterday, but the white-knuckled driver said the company wouldn’t send any more trucks up our road until it’s permanently repaired by the DOT.

In our family, we’re aware that portions of the road could disappear again due to weather and/or heavy use.

Still, we’re so relieved to have egress again.

Amateur Radio: A Superpower in a Disaster

Using amateur radio, we had arranged for a helicopter drop of supplies to the upper part of our road. The team behind this effort was absolutely amazing. They’re mostly ex-military volunteers who use their skills to get aid into areas quickly.

This was all arranged with one call on the Mount Mitchell repeater on Wednesday evening. Dennis (N4DIN), stationed at the Swannanoa Fire Department (our local command center), put in the call, and Ed (N4EDX) arranged for Mike and Jay from the team to hike up our road and survey a potential landing site.

Arrangements were made for a Friday helicopter delivery.

However, since our road was patched up late Thursday, we felt the helicopter delivery of aid would be better used elsewhere, as so many other communities are just as bad off—or worse—than we are.

I mention this because, during our Wednesday evening neighborhood meeting, we agreed a helicopter drop would be ideal, as most aid was being delivered at the bottom of our road, and we had no idea when or how it was coming.

Someone asked, “How do we even request something like this?” I told them I’d ask net control on the N2GE repeater. By the time I got back to the house, everything had been arranged—within 30 seconds of my request on the N2GE (Mount Mitchell) emergency net.

Since our amateur radio emergency communications team is directly connected to our local emergency services command center, you can make requests for aid directly to the source. There’s no email, text message, or phone call to get lost in the shuffle—it just happens, without hesitation.

As it should.

FEMA

This week, two FEMA teams also visited us. They documented the damage at each property, accounted for everyone living here, and even brought a K9 team in case searches were needed.

I spoke with four different FEMA personnel, and they all commented on how self-reliant our neighborhood was compared with so many others they had surveyed—especially those in more urban areas. I’ll admit we’re lucky to have neighbors with so many practical skills. As I’ve mentioned before, preparedness is a way of life in a mountain community like ours.

One small example: I don’t know a single person on our road who doesn’t own at least one chainsaw and know how to fuel it, sharpen it, and service it. It’s a necessity. A tree can fall any day of the week and block a road or driveway. Chainsaw skills are essential and that’s why we so easily worked together to completely clear our road in short order.

5th Battalion 113 Field Artillery

Speaking of sawing, yesterday a crew from the Army National Guard showed up with three RSVs (Re-Supply Vehicles) and a Humvee, asking how they could help.

They used the artillery crane on the back of one of the RSVs to remove a massive, splintered tree from a neighbor’s driveway.

They also helped clear the road, and when I got home, I found a team clearing the mass of trees blocking our carport and one of our cars.

They were incredible, and we are so grateful. What they accomplished in a few hours would have taken me days.

1,000-Year Flood Event

According to Jordan McLeod on Facebook:

“In the map below, locations covered by dark blue shading observed 3-day rainfall totals associated with Helene that exceeded an annual recurrence interval of 1,000 years. In other words, there is less than a 0.1% chance of these rainfall totals occurring in any given year. Pretty much a worst-case scenario in many areas of western North Carolina.”

While we were prepared for flooding in low-lying areas, we never expected what actually unfolded.

Donations

Many have asked where they can donate to help with relief in the areas affected by Helene. Here are a few NGOs that I’ve personally seen at work here in Swannanoa. There are many more incredible organizations, private groups, and individuals making up the relief efforts, but I feel confident your donations will be put to good use by these organizations:

• World Central Kitchen
• Samaritan’s Purse International
• Crisis Response International
• American Red Cross

There are many more local non-profits helping as well.

Continued Updates

I will continue to update and try to answer some of your questions. As of this morning, I have about 250 emails in the inbox. I’m reading them all, but my time is so limited that I simply can’t reply to each one.

Know that I appreciate every message and offer of assistance.

I had planned to cover a few more topics this morning, but I’ll save them for Monday. I’ve got some tasks to get started on this morning.

Again, we’re all safe and doing well. We have plenty of food, and thanks to our solar system (installed earlier this year), we even have power to keep the internet, fridge, and freezer running. We’re grateful for this, as our satellite internet has become a community resource—two neighbors are using our Wi-Fi as I type this.

Warmest regards & 72,
Thomas (K4SWL)