Sitting at about 4000 ft elevation in a somewhat remote area of the mountains in Western North Carolina we were expecting a few curve balls from Mother Nature. The wind from the North blowing up the mountain gets pretty intense during the winter months and it is not uncommon for trees to come down either blocking the road or taking out power lines. During a home risk assessment with LSDS one of the first things added to our list of must haves was a whole home generator. Definitely a costly investment but something that would ultimately prove to be worth every penny. Among other crucial things on the list were water capture and storage methods along with emergency food reserves and vehicle recovery kits.
When hurricane Helene hit, the preparedness plan we put together with the LSDS team was put to the test. During the night of Thursday Sept 26th our power went out and the generator kicked on. Thankfully we're on well water and the generator kept our pump running without issue. Though if in the event it failed we have 1,000 gallons of water stored under the house in cisterns that are topped up and filtered by our water system. The house was intact and we were good on power, water, and food. When we moved into the house there was a 1,000g propane tank eyesore that we affectionately called the submarine. We wanted to minimize the risk of running out of propane in an event like this and had the old tank removed and a new 1000g tank buried in its place. It felt a little excessive at the time but yet again, this proved priceless as we woke day after day with no power from the grid and no indication of when or if we'd ever get it back on. Not on the initial list but extremely valuable was our StarLink system. Cell service stopped on the 26th as well and with StarLink we were able to get online, let friends and family know we were safe and for better or worse begin to see how our little part of the world had been so badly devastated.
The one way dirt and gravel road running up the mountain connecting our community had numerous trees laying across it and two places where the power lines had come down. The chainsaw I typically keep in my truck along with the tow straps from my vehicle recovery kit made easy work of the downed trees and we were able to avoid the power lines. The community here had done substantial work to replace and clear drainage culverts over the summer and because of this our road was one of few that didn't get washed out. The main road leading into town was badly damaged with one lane completely gone down the mountain in several sections. Half of our little town near the river had been completely flooded or worse washed away. The local market was up and running with very long queues but only for those who had cash on hand. The gas stations were all shut down. We had limited cash on hand so this was a wakeup call that going forward we need more emergency cash available. Given the unavailability of gas our Tesla came in handy since we could charge it up at home off of the generator. This allowed us to get around and give supplies to friends without fear of running out of gas for the truck. Looking forward I'll be maintaining a rotation of gas in cans. We also learned that we need to have a few extra quarts of oil for the generator and replacement fuses on hand, something that could have been crippeling had we needed it and were without.
The investment and planning made with LSDS gave us the ability to continue life at home without any break in continuity and allowed us to extend our support to others in need. We are grateful.
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