Hurricane Recovery Update from Western NC

[00:00:00] Hey y'all, I just want to give you an update on what's going on with Hurricane Recovery here in Western North Carolina.

[00:00:10] As most of y'all know, if you've listened to my show before or heard me speak before, I live in the mountains of North Carolina in Avery County.

[00:00:19] Very rural, very small county. You may know it if you've been to the NC, you may know it as where Grandfather Mountain is.

[00:00:27] Or you may have seen the Lynn Cove Viaduct like 10,000 times in car commercials.

[00:00:32] That's actually the road behind my house, so that kind of gives you an idea of where I live.

[00:00:37] We got hit really hard, okay?

[00:00:41] If you've been watching the news, you probably haven't seen a thing about Avery County.

[00:00:46] I think there was like one small report on one of the Charlotte news stations and one of the Greensboro news stations,

[00:00:54] but they're mainly showing the cities of Boone and Asheville.

[00:00:58] Both got hit very hard, but what you need to understand is that Boone's a fairly large town.

[00:01:04] It's a university town.

[00:01:06] Asheville's fairly small city, I mean basically.

[00:01:09] It's a medium-sized city.

[00:01:11] I mean for North Carolina, it's a pretty big city.

[00:01:13] These are places with, you know, four and six lane highways.

[00:01:17] Asheville, of course, has interstates running through it.

[00:01:21] But they've recovered a lot better than we have now.

[00:01:25] According to the state NCDOT site, all roads in western North Carolina are closed.

[00:01:34] All roads.

[00:01:35] That means you can get to the foothills.

[00:01:37] You can't go any further.

[00:01:38] They're only open to local traffic, people trying to get some groceries or something,

[00:01:42] and to emergency services.

[00:01:47] But Boone's doing pretty well, especially, I mean not great.

[00:01:50] I mean I know a lot of people have trouble, but they got the power on in a lot of places,

[00:01:55] and Samaritan's Purse is based right there, so they're getting a lot of assistance.

[00:02:00] Like I said, Asheville's getting like all the attention.

[00:02:04] I, well, the power came on at my house yesterday, so we were almost a week without power.

[00:02:09] And that's only because there's a new substation.

[00:02:12] They built maybe two miles from my house that also serves the county hospital.

[00:02:16] So that's the only reason, like, I'm one of the only people in the entire county that has power.

[00:02:21] So I'm able to do this today.

[00:02:24] Almost all cell towers are down.

[00:02:26] I can maybe get one or two bars if I need to send somebody a text.

[00:02:31] That's it.

[00:02:32] Unfortunately, most people don't have landlines anymore.

[00:02:35] Landlines would still work.

[00:02:37] You know, they run on very low voltage.

[00:02:38] They're not connected to your power source, really.

[00:02:44] I mean, when your power goes out, a landline will still work.

[00:02:46] So I just want to remind people, you may think it's a good idea to have your landline out

[00:02:50] and just go purely on the cell phone.

[00:02:53] Really not.

[00:02:56] They did not evacuate.

[00:02:58] Like, okay, so like another mile from my house, there's a large community called Linville Land Harbor,

[00:03:02] which is mainly retired people from up north.

[00:03:05] Maybe 1,500 old folks live there.

[00:03:08] In a low-lying area.

[00:03:09] They did not evacuate them before the storm.

[00:03:13] Their lake flooded.

[00:03:15] The roads flooded.

[00:03:16] And those people are stuck.

[00:03:18] As far as I know, still, because the roads are closed, I can't really get out.

[00:03:23] The air dropping food and water to these people.

[00:03:25] I finally was able to speak with somebody with the county emergency management yesterday afternoon.

[00:03:33] And you could tell this person was just like shell-shocked.

[00:03:36] And he said the National Guard just got on the ground yesterday, so nearly a week later.

[00:03:43] And their focus is recovering bodies.

[00:03:47] They're also closing roads.

[00:03:49] We'll get into that in just a minute.

[00:03:52] The numbers you're seeing on television of the dead in western North Carolina are ridiculous.

[00:04:00] I mean, they're saying 160 people dead.

[00:04:02] And then they'll say, but, you know, that number's going to rise.

[00:04:05] Yeah, that number's going to rise.

[00:04:07] There are entire towns that are gone.

[00:04:08] If they report things accurately, there are thousands dead here in western North Carolina, especially in the remote towns.

[00:04:18] We have these small valleys that are called hollers.

[00:04:22] They're very steep little cuts kind of in the mountain.

[00:04:25] Anybody that lives in one of those, their house is gone.

[00:04:28] I mean, the water just...

[00:04:29] Okay, so here's the deal.

[00:04:30] Like, the last bad hurricane flooding we got was from Katrina and then the tropical storm that came right after it.

[00:04:36] You know, left New Orleans and went right over us in the mountains of North Carolina.

[00:04:40] The rivers, I think, rose 12 feet.

[00:04:43] It was very bad flooding.

[00:04:44] I mean, it was really awful.

[00:04:46] This time, last I saw, the river had risen over 30 feet.

[00:04:50] Now, I mean, this is not...

[00:04:51] You cannot prepare for this.

[00:04:53] I mean, I was as prepared as I could be.

[00:04:55] I grew up this way.

[00:04:57] Food stored, water stored, kerosene, firewood.

[00:05:01] I can get through just about anything with a pot of soup and wait it out.

[00:05:06] People on any kind of medical device, people, older people, people with young children.

[00:05:12] This is absolutely devastating.

[00:05:17] Absolutely.

[00:05:17] And it's not being reported.

[00:05:19] I mean, what they're showing on TV is...

[00:05:22] It's like that scene from Naked Gun where the fireworks factory is exploding and the cops out there talking to people.

[00:05:29] There's nothing to see here.

[00:05:30] Just move along.

[00:05:31] Just move along.

[00:05:31] There's nothing to see here.

[00:05:33] Well, you know, truthfully, Joe Biden doesn't care a thing about Western North Carolina, even though Asheville and Boone are very liberal college towns.

[00:05:41] Okay.

[00:05:43] We don't vote Democrat in North Carolina.

[00:05:46] And he doesn't care about us.

[00:05:47] He doesn't care about South Carolina.

[00:05:48] He doesn't care about Georgia.

[00:05:49] He doesn't care about Florida.

[00:05:51] I mean, he gives a little lip service.

[00:05:52] And our very corrupt Democrat governor who was, in my opinion, illegally elected on stolen votes doesn't care at all about Western North Carolina either.

[00:06:03] Okay.

[00:06:03] And our news is all, like, entirely mainstream liberal news.

[00:06:08] You're not getting the truth.

[00:06:10] So I want to just kind of tell you what's going on and how you can help if you want to.

[00:06:14] First of all, when I say the disaster, I mean, this is devastating.

[00:06:19] I mean, entire towns are gone.

[00:06:22] Neighborhoods are gone.

[00:06:23] Houses floated away down the river.

[00:06:25] On the street outside, like if I walk down to the main highway, cars are buried in mud and turned upside down, propped up against trees and such.

[00:06:35] That's how high the water was, and that's how fast it was.

[00:06:38] As the water went down the mountain to, I'm about almost 5,000 feet, right?

[00:06:44] As the water went down to lower communities, devastation like you cannot imagine.

[00:06:49] One of the first things I got was a message from Forrest Garvin.

[00:06:53] Now, you may know Forrest Garvin as the owner of PrepperNet.

[00:06:58] He owns several businesses.

[00:06:59] He grew up in Spruce Pine.

[00:07:00] His family owned the hardware store.

[00:07:04] Spruce Pine is a small community in Mitchell County.

[00:07:06] The road in front of my house leads to Spruce Pine, okay?

[00:07:09] So this is one of those areas you're not hearing about.

[00:07:13] By Thursday, the entire town was underwater.

[00:07:16] I mean, the water was up to roof level, okay?

[00:07:21] He said a classmate of his had gotten in touch, and he said things are really bad.

[00:07:26] He says, as a native of Spruce Pine, I want to let you know that we're organizing four or five teams to provide for the area.

[00:07:33] If anyone's interested in going, please let me know.

[00:07:35] They're in desperate need of help.

[00:07:36] There is absolutely nothing left.

[00:07:39] And another friend in that area, I think she's more in Bakersville or Burnsville, has been putting up pictures.

[00:07:45] I'm going to give her Twitter handle here in a minute so you can see what we're talking about.

[00:07:50] These towns are gone.

[00:07:52] There are, I mean, they're digging bodies out of the mud.

[00:07:56] But this is as of Thursday he sent this email.

[00:08:00] It could have been Friday morning, okay?

[00:08:02] If you want to help him out, it's preppernet.com, I think it is.

[00:08:07] Preppernet, just Google it.

[00:08:08] But I want to keep reading this so you understand what's going on.

[00:08:12] First of all, he says his friend Daryl Sutherland has a nonprofit ministry called Rice and Beans.

[00:08:17] 100% of your donations will help those in need, particularly those in Spruce Pine.

[00:08:22] That's just one community out of several counties.

[00:08:24] But that's riceandbeans.org, so you might want to look into that.

[00:08:28] He said, if you plan to visit for any reason, wear full battle gear and protection with AR-15s.

[00:08:36] You must treat this like a war zone.

[00:08:38] We are getting bad reports about looting and random stops on roads by, he said vigilantes.

[00:08:44] He means basically highway robbers.

[00:08:46] It was already that bad.

[00:08:49] So, when the National Guard came in, and like I said, they just got to my county yesterday.

[00:08:54] First thing they did was start closing roads.

[00:08:59] They're trying to help out, okay?

[00:09:00] The National Guard's doing their best.

[00:09:02] They're trying to clean up the roads.

[00:09:03] They're trying to get access for people to food and hospitals.

[00:09:08] But the looting started, and the violence started very quickly in many communities.

[00:09:15] Yesterday, I listened to the radio, and they said, you know, people are trying to get supplies up from the foothills to the mountains.

[00:09:24] This is actually from Hickory, so I'm assuming they're going up through Lenore or trying to get up to the Boone area.

[00:09:30] And they're being stopped and turned away.

[00:09:31] And people are getting frustrated that they can't help.

[00:09:34] Well, it's so bad that somebody was trying to bring insulin to somebody up there, and they were blocked.

[00:09:41] National Guard wouldn't let them up the mountain.

[00:09:43] They actually got mules, pack mules, and took insulin to the person that needed it.

[00:09:52] And I'm going to talk a little bit more about this in a minute, but I'm going to tell you about my parish priest.

[00:09:58] He's actually, you know, he just sent out a message, very encouraging.

[00:10:02] But he has a church in two counties, two churches, one in Avery and one in Mitchell, actually one in Linville and one in Sprucevine.

[00:10:09] And he's getting stopped at roadblocks.

[00:10:12] I mean, they're not even, you know, really letting him go back and forth between his two churches.

[00:10:17] I mean, he has to keep proving who he is and all that.

[00:10:20] It's understandable.

[00:10:21] But when I tell you, this is like a war zone.

[00:10:24] I mean, it's really the worst I have ever seen.

[00:10:30] It's unbelievable.

[00:10:32] People say, you know, why weren't you prepared?

[00:10:33] You're not prepared for 36 inches of rain in about a 12-hour period and, you know, rivers rising 30 feet and everything.

[00:10:42] This is utter devastation.

[00:10:46] I want to give you a couple of, like I said, a couple Twitter handles.

[00:10:49] You might want to, right now, the only way you're going to get news on what's going on in these counties, especially the small towns, the rural communities, is Twitter and Facebook.

[00:10:58] You know, I hate Facebook.

[00:11:00] But actually, the guy with the county said, that's the way we're informing people.

[00:11:04] And I said, well, what if you can't get on Facebook?

[00:11:06] Well, you don't know.

[00:11:08] That'll tell you all the shelters that are opened up.

[00:11:10] For me, it's, you know, it's Avery County on Facebook.

[00:11:12] They're not putting it on Twitter.

[00:11:13] I don't know why.

[00:11:14] They're not even putting it on the county website.

[00:11:18] I have been trying for days to find out what was going on.

[00:11:21] I finally got online.

[00:11:22] I thought, well, I'll go to the main county newspaper, the Avery Journal.

[00:11:25] They had an article saying, Avery Strong, we're going to recover.

[00:11:30] They're not telling me what roads are closed.

[00:11:32] They're not telling me where the shelters are.

[00:11:33] I mean, if you go back through some of their, like, sub stuff,

[00:11:37] yeah, you can finally find links to that information.

[00:11:39] But it was complete, utter BS.

[00:11:41] I mean, I got so angry when I, I don't want to hear about Avery Strong, okay?

[00:11:45] I want to know who's got power, where the shelters are,

[00:11:50] how to get food and water to people, what roads are closed,

[00:11:53] where the National Guard's not letting people go, and what's open.

[00:11:57] And you're not going to get that unless you go to Twitter and Facebook, unfortunately.

[00:12:03] And PrepperNet is really good.

[00:12:04] But if you're not on that, it's, it's, I think the majority of the people on PrepperNet

[00:12:09] are from North Carolina.

[00:12:10] So you're going to get better information there than you're going to get from any news, okay?

[00:12:16] And really, I want to start with my friend Cassie Clark.

[00:12:20] Cassie Clark has a great website and podcast called Where the Dogwood Blooms.

[00:12:26] Her Twitter handle, and she's on everything.

[00:12:28] You know, you can contact her.

[00:12:29] You can see her stuff on, I'm sure, Instagram, Facebook, and all that.

[00:12:32] I mean, she's, you know, really good at putting information out there

[00:12:37] and really celebrating North Carolina.

[00:12:38] She has probably the very best list of charities that are helping in North Carolina.

[00:12:46] I have not seen such a comprehensive resource anywhere.

[00:12:50] And she started this immediately.

[00:12:51] She's from Western North Carolina, lives down in the Sandhills now.

[00:12:58] But so her heart's really, you know, with this.

[00:13:01] And she did a great job.

[00:13:01] Her Twitter handle, that's hard to say, is at Dogwood Blooms.

[00:13:08] At Dogwood Blooms with an S.

[00:13:12] So check her out.

[00:13:13] And like I said, great resource.

[00:13:16] And that's the one I would start with.

[00:13:19] And then this girl name, her handle is Americana Mama, okay?

[00:13:27] At Americana Mama.

[00:13:29] She's giving all kinds of excellent photos from the Mitchell County area.

[00:13:35] There's a reporter for the Greenville TV station.

[00:13:40] She's been doing really, really good photojournalism from Avery and I think Burke County

[00:13:48] and more rural parts of Watauga County.

[00:13:54] By the way, Tennessee got hit.

[00:13:57] But Roan Mountain, the community of Roan Mountain, just across the state line from me, is gone.

[00:14:03] It's gone.

[00:14:06] The, you know, Brick Elementary School, gone.

[00:14:09] Everything's just destroyed.

[00:14:11] Watauga Lake.

[00:14:12] I spoke with a girl who has, her father lives there.

[00:14:15] She just built a cabin.

[00:14:16] They are under the lake now.

[00:14:18] You've probably seen pictures of Lake Lure and Chimney Rock, gone.

[00:14:22] So, do not believe them when they say 160 people are dead.

[00:14:27] There's a good, Amber Lake with WFMY.

[00:14:31] I believe that's out of Greensboro.

[00:14:33] Did I say Greenville?

[00:14:33] I meant Greensboro.

[00:14:35] She's at AmberLakeTV.

[00:14:38] That's her Twitter handle.

[00:14:39] Excellent coverage.

[00:14:41] Coverage.

[00:14:43] The Charlotte Channel's done some good coverage.

[00:14:46] If you want to see what actually happened in my town, look at Dr. D. Scott's Twitter.

[00:14:53] It's at EclipseThis2003.

[00:14:58] EclipseThis2003.

[00:14:58] And you will see our post office is essentially two-thirds underwater.

[00:15:04] And an ambulance trying to drive through that area with water up over its hood.

[00:15:10] And this was really before most of the rain fell.

[00:15:14] So, that would kind of give you an idea.

[00:15:16] There are, there's a guy, at Thomas, what's his, let's see, at Thomas, T-H-O-M-A-S-K-K-S-H-U-M.

[00:15:26] He's posting some information about shelters.

[00:15:30] I think it's in the Limbaugh Falls area.

[00:15:33] People are, we're getting close to starvation.

[00:15:38] That's what's happening right now.

[00:15:39] Now, I know you want to know how you can help.

[00:15:42] And, of course, we appreciate that.

[00:15:45] Unfortunately, the National Guard is making it difficult for people to help right now.

[00:15:52] It's understandable in some ways.

[00:15:54] Okay, we understand, right?

[00:15:55] Again, I wanted to give you that URL for PrepperNet.

[00:15:58] It is P-R-E-P-P-E-R-N-E-T dot net.

[00:16:03] So, it's actually PrepperNet dot net.

[00:16:05] I think I said dot com earlier.

[00:16:09] Samaritan's Purse in Boone is doing, seems to be doing the best.

[00:16:14] Okay?

[00:16:15] They have helicopters.

[00:16:16] They are dropping food and water to people.

[00:16:18] A lot of people have been saying they're getting no help from any government agency.

[00:16:22] And I know the local guys are doing the best.

[00:16:24] I mean, the power crews, the emergency management folks, the cops, they are not slept in a week.

[00:16:29] They're out working as hard as they can.

[00:16:31] Everybody that's got a chainsaw is out trying to clear roads.

[00:16:33] Everybody that's got a shovel is out trying to clear roads.

[00:16:35] It's not their fault.

[00:16:37] Federal government is not helping.

[00:16:39] Now, they're going to supposedly send everybody $750.

[00:16:43] You know, great, wonderful.

[00:16:44] Okay.

[00:16:45] I'll just throw some money at the problem six months from now after everybody's starved to death.

[00:16:49] You know, that's the way the government works, right?

[00:16:52] Samaritan's Purse is really helping.

[00:16:56] President Trump is working with Elon Musk.

[00:16:58] They're getting Starlink communications up in every county.

[00:17:02] And they're not in place yet.

[00:17:04] I'm glad to know that they are in some places.

[00:17:07] Like I said, I think Boone and Asheville are pretty much back online now.

[00:17:12] That's not, you know, Polk County.

[00:17:14] That's not Swain County.

[00:17:15] I mean, where am I trying to think of right now?

[00:17:19] Robbinsville.

[00:17:20] Robbinsville's about as remote.

[00:17:22] That's out near Cherokee.

[00:17:23] I mean, you are not going to hear anything about them, okay?

[00:17:27] There are areas in Buncombe.

[00:17:30] That's the county with Asheville.

[00:17:31] A girl in Watauga County that I know, her family lives out there.

[00:17:36] And they can't.

[00:17:38] They can't get in touch with people.

[00:17:40] And they're just trying to organize getting a bunch of electric generators out there.

[00:17:46] So where do you, where can you help?

[00:17:48] Okay.

[00:17:50] Samaritan's Purse is very good.

[00:17:52] I went to school with the Grams.

[00:17:53] I have my issues with them.

[00:17:54] But they do great charitable work.

[00:17:56] And they have the best network to get this food and water and other supplies to people that need it.

[00:18:05] The local radio stations really do seem to be the heart of the rescue effort along with the churches.

[00:18:12] And they're coordinating.

[00:18:14] WHKY and Hickory is the only talk station that covers my area.

[00:18:18] They used to have a really great conservative talk radio station in Boone.

[00:18:22] But they chickened out after Jan 6.

[00:18:24] And now they just play awful music.

[00:18:29] But that, you know, the local radio stations.

[00:18:32] WHKY and Hickory is coordinating donations and can tell you who.

[00:18:38] If they're not actually covering that area.

[00:18:40] They can tell you who to talk with.

[00:18:42] They're great.

[00:18:42] I've been on WHKY as a guest several times.

[00:18:47] That's WHKY Hickory.

[00:18:49] They're working with Samaritan's Purse.

[00:18:51] They're working with the Southern Baptist Men's Association.

[00:18:53] Even Catholic Charities.

[00:18:55] They're working with a lot of organizations.

[00:18:57] And they're helping to get...

[00:18:59] I think they're covering like Watauga, Ash, Burke.

[00:19:04] You know, that kind of area.

[00:19:06] They're in Hickory and well-called well-catawba.

[00:19:09] You know, they've got several counties that they cover.

[00:19:12] I would say that's an excellent resource.

[00:19:14] Contact them.

[00:19:16] As far as talk radio stations further west, I can't really recommend many of them.

[00:19:23] Because I don't like Asheville and I don't go there.

[00:19:26] I haven't been there in several years when I was last interviewed on a talk radio station.

[00:19:31] It's a real liberal hippie town.

[00:19:34] I mean, it's actually the...

[00:19:35] It's a really, you know, interesting place to say the least.

[00:19:39] When things are good, the entire town shuts down at sunset for like an hours-long drum circle.

[00:19:43] And, you know, pot and lots of homeless and lots of witches and woohoo wicky stuff.

[00:19:50] You know, wacky wicky stuff.

[00:19:52] But those homeless are probably all dead now.

[00:19:55] So, I mean, you know, we're not going to separate along ideological or political lines when we're trying to help people.

[00:20:02] And so I'm going to recommend WNCW.

[00:20:06] WNCW is in Spindale, North Carolina, which is just outside of Rutherfordton, which from what I hear is gone.

[00:20:15] And near Asheville.

[00:20:16] And I think they could give you a list of charitable organizations in the area.

[00:20:21] And they're an NPR station.

[00:20:23] So they're going to be more on the left side.

[00:20:24] But I'm sure they're helping their community because they always do.

[00:20:28] And they play great music.

[00:20:30] It's actually one of the only NPR stations that I enjoy.

[00:20:34] Beyond that, I wanted to tell you a little bit about a message that I just got from my priest.

[00:20:41] First, he handles St. Lucian Catholic Church in Spruce Pine and St. Bernadette's in Newland.

[00:20:48] One priest for two counties.

[00:20:50] So pray for him because he's probably going around giving last rites to who knows how many hundreds of people in a day.

[00:20:57] And he's trying his best.

[00:21:00] He said, my dear parishioners, St. Lucian and St. Bernadette,

[00:21:04] first of all, I apologize for lack of communication.

[00:21:07] Accessing sales service or Internet has been incredibly challenging.

[00:21:11] The road to recovery would be slow and arduous.

[00:21:14] But God is good all the time.

[00:21:17] I'll skip a little bit and just kind of get to the meat of it.

[00:21:20] He said, there's so much I'm tempted to explain and or wish to fill in at this point.

[00:21:26] I would just like to ask you to pray for our devastated community.

[00:21:29] If you're still in the area, you probably share my frustration that the world is relatively unaware of the devastation outside of the precious Biltmore Village and Arts District of Asheville.

[00:21:40] Very true.

[00:21:41] As he says, of course, our hearts go out to those suffering rebuilding there, too.

[00:21:44] But as many of you know, there is an unadvertised reality of loss and suffering experienced in our own backyard.

[00:21:51] If you are currently outside of our community, if you escape the storm or live somewhere else this time of year,

[00:21:58] please know that there has been a truly incredible destruction here.

[00:22:01] Food and supplies for those who can get them are flooding in at an incredible rate from eastern regions of North Carolina.

[00:22:09] And that is true.

[00:22:10] That is wonderful.

[00:22:11] And thanks be to God.

[00:22:12] If anyone needs bottled water or peanut butter, we probably have it all.

[00:22:16] So just come to Avery Mitchell.

[00:22:18] He's a young priest.

[00:22:19] He's got a great sense of humor.

[00:22:20] But he gets a little more serious.

[00:22:23] He says, sadly, those who need those most urgently here cannot get them.

[00:22:29] And that's true.

[00:22:29] I mean, because the roads are closed and the way things are happening, we can't get out to the more rural communities.

[00:22:37] And when we're talking rural, I mean, you know, the county seat of Newland, that's Newland, North Carolina, I think is like population 4,000.

[00:22:46] My town is population 70.

[00:22:49] You know, when you probably can't understand how rural mountain communities can be.

[00:22:55] He says, so many are still cut off from power, internet, cell service, roads, etc.

[00:23:02] We are currently establishing task forces to comb the community as best as humanly possible to establish contact with those who we've yet to hear from.

[00:23:12] Please pray for this arduous endeavor.

[00:23:14] Also, please consider contributing either to St. Lucian or St. Bernadette through online giving.

[00:23:19] Currently, we are unable to establish a specific giving code for hurricane relief.

[00:23:24] But if you wish to give this extremely needed local effort, you can give online by selecting second collection or by sending a check to either church at the mailing address provided on our website.

[00:23:36] This, you know, I want to give you a really reliable place you can donate if you want to donate some money.

[00:23:43] This priest is going to help everybody in the community of any denomination.

[00:23:49] And I'm sure other churches in Western North Carolina are doing this as well.

[00:23:52] It just happens to be my parish.

[00:23:55] And I trust, I trust him implicitly.

[00:23:58] This is who I will be giving money to.

[00:24:01] And like I said, Franklin Graham's organization, Samaritan's Purse.

[00:24:05] I wouldn't hesitate there either.

[00:24:07] Okay.

[00:24:09] Anyway, he gives a mass schedule.

[00:24:11] He's still doing mass every day at both churches, believe it or not.

[00:24:15] But he said, all this schedule he just gave is assuming I do not hit a random roadblock on my commute, a possibility which is now increasing as local, state, and FEMA workers continue to reestablish our infrastructure.

[00:24:30] So, I mean, the government's really making, they're needed.

[00:24:36] You heard my message from Forrest Garvin.

[00:24:39] But in many ways, they're making things very difficult for us right now.

[00:24:44] And they're not exactly interested in hearing your story of why you need to go somewhere.

[00:24:51] They're just saying, turn around or you'll be shot.

[00:24:53] Okay.

[00:24:55] Not blaming them.

[00:24:56] You know, National Guard's filing orders and there is a reason they have to do this.

[00:25:01] But he says, residents here, please keep in mind that this is a logistical nightmare.

[00:25:12] Now, they did, they were able to get one of the Starlink devices.

[00:25:16] So, this is how he's communicating.

[00:25:18] Power's still out at both churches.

[00:25:20] Like I said, I'm in, well, I'm one of the few around here that have power.

[00:25:24] And it's, you know, just because I'm on the same link as the hospital.

[00:25:31] There are, I think, five shelters in the county and the hospital being one of them.

[00:25:37] The large Baptist church in Newland.

[00:25:39] The old school building in Newland.

[00:25:42] But just down the street from Newland is the community of Elk Park.

[00:25:46] Which, if you're familiar with the area, is sort of between Banner Elk and Roan Mountain, Tennessee and Newland.

[00:25:56] And the river runs through there and it's gone.

[00:26:00] As best I understand.

[00:26:02] I can't drive over there, but people are telling me Cranberry.

[00:26:05] Cranberry was the center of mica mining in the early part of the century.

[00:26:10] I mean, the train tracks run through there.

[00:26:13] It's gone.

[00:26:16] This is not, what you're seeing on TV is not the full story.

[00:26:22] And I just want to ask everybody for prayers.

[00:26:24] I'm okay.

[00:26:25] Thank God my family's fine.

[00:26:28] We got cleanup to do.

[00:26:29] There's a little damage, you know.

[00:26:31] But we're alive.

[00:26:33] And we're going to have, you know, several hard weeks.

[00:26:36] But things will slowly get back to normal.

[00:26:39] They're digging bodies out of the mud.

[00:26:42] Just, you know, all over.

[00:26:44] And there are a lot of people that will never recover from this.

[00:26:48] And I want to, you know, I don't want to get too political on this.

[00:26:51] Because like I said, we're all in the same boat here.

[00:26:55] Thousands of people have lost everything.

[00:26:57] FEMA, and nobody has flood insurance in the mountains.

[00:27:00] Because we don't think we're going to have floods.

[00:27:03] We're not at the coast, right?

[00:27:05] FEMA has, I think, a cap of $46,000 they'll give.

[00:27:08] You know, private insurance is not going to cover a lot of this if it's flood damage.

[00:27:13] FEMA will give you like $45,000, $46,000 maximum.

[00:27:17] And, you know, that's going to be a lifeline for a lot of people.

[00:27:21] But houses in the mountains of North Carolina do not sell for $46,000.

[00:27:29] The, there's 10 acres for sale near my house.

[00:27:32] They want $100,000 per acre.

[00:27:35] Houses around here, even small places sell for $300,000, $400,000, a million plus.

[00:27:40] Because it's considered, you know, a resort area.

[00:27:43] There are very poor mountain people that live in mobile homes.

[00:27:47] Their families have been here for 200 years, 300 years in some cases.

[00:27:50] These are the descendants of the over-mountain men that won the American Revolution for us.

[00:27:56] They've been treated badly by the government since the Whiskey Rebellion.

[00:28:00] When they no sooner won the Revolutionary War than George Washington turned the army on them.

[00:28:06] Because they had the audacity to think they could make liquor without, you know, a license.

[00:28:12] You know, they fought for freedom.

[00:28:13] And then, you know, meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

[00:28:16] You know, as the old Who song says.

[00:28:18] Because you drive down the Blue Reich Parkway.

[00:28:21] You enjoy the national forest.

[00:28:23] You're on land that was stolen from these people.

[00:28:25] Whether they're Indians, you know, Cherokee, Catawba, or Scots-Irish and German settlers.

[00:28:30] They were forced off their land.

[00:28:33] Well, now, you know, 11, 12 counties.

[00:28:37] People are going to be forced off their land again.

[00:28:39] Because they've lost everything.

[00:28:41] And they're not going to be able to rebuild in this inflation.

[00:28:44] I mean, lumber's through the roof.

[00:28:46] We're in it.

[00:28:47] Biden's ruined our economy.

[00:28:48] And everything costs, you know, 10 times what it did.

[00:28:51] At least double.

[00:28:51] We'll just go with that.

[00:28:52] I'll be reasonable.

[00:28:53] Even though I don't feel reasonable, right?

[00:28:56] We're going to have an epidemic of homelessness up here.

[00:28:59] And people are going to have to leave generations-old family farms.

[00:29:03] And then, I'm sure, the big investment brokers.

[00:29:07] Well, you know, so many that come to mind.

[00:29:10] The big banks and investors and builders are going to come in and buy everything up.

[00:29:15] And sell million-dollar vacation homes.

[00:29:17] Property taxes are going to go up even higher.

[00:29:20] We have some of the highest property taxes in the entire state.

[00:29:23] Because of all these million-dollar homes.

[00:29:25] When the 70 people in my community basically live in shacks.

[00:29:31] We have, you know, this is one of the poorest regions of North Carolina.

[00:29:36] And they've just lost everything.

[00:29:38] And $46,000 from FEMA is not going to help.

[00:29:41] I mean, it's going to help.

[00:29:42] But it's not going to save people's homes.

[00:29:45] It's not going to make people whole.

[00:29:48] And private insurance is not going to cover most of this.

[00:29:51] I mean, if you've ever had an insurance claim, you know your adjuster comes out and tries to find every reason not to pay it, right?

[00:29:58] A lot of the people in my community don't have furnaces.

[00:30:02] They have fireplaces and wood stoves.

[00:30:05] And in North Carolina, the law is you can't have homeowner's insurance if you don't have a furnace.

[00:30:11] I don't mean to, you know, I'm not overstating the problem in any way, shape, or form.

[00:30:19] We're about to have hundreds of thousands of people west of, you know, Hickory and Lenore going all the way out through Cherokee and Robbinsville and all that.

[00:30:32] But Haywood County, I mean, these are some of the poorest counties where you will have the people that live there and work there living in shacks with no heat.

[00:30:44] Right beside people in multi-million dollar mansions.

[00:30:48] And you know who's going to get preferential treatment.

[00:30:50] And you know what's going to happen.

[00:30:52] This is, we need prayers.

[00:30:55] We need help up here.

[00:30:59] And, you know, maybe the power's on for me because God knows that I can get a message out to more people than the average Joe can.

[00:31:07] I am grateful for my audience.

[00:31:09] I thank all of you.

[00:31:10] I don't need anything.

[00:31:12] Please don't think I need anything.

[00:31:15] But the people of Western North Carolina, people of different races, religions, backgrounds, you know, ideologies or lack thereof or whatever are really hurting.

[00:31:29] And when you turn on the TV and you see Boone and Asheville, you're not seeing what's going on here.

[00:31:38] Get on Twitter.

[00:31:39] Get on Facebook.

[00:31:40] And just type in, you know, Avery County and see what pops up.

[00:31:44] Type in, you know, Polk County.

[00:31:48] Type in Haywood County.

[00:31:50] Some of the smaller ones.

[00:31:52] And, I mean, even Damascus, Virginia.

[00:31:54] I saw roads washed out when I was online there.

[00:31:57] There.

[00:31:58] This is the area that no one's ever cared about except at vacation time.

[00:32:04] Except when it's time to come up here and play on land that was basically stolen from the people here.

[00:32:10] And Biden doesn't care.

[00:32:11] And Roy Cooper doesn't care.

[00:32:13] And, frankly, I think they should both care.

[00:32:18] You know, I'm going to bite my tongue.

[00:32:20] I'm trying to be talking about the area in general.

[00:32:24] And I don't care if the person across the street from me is a liberal atheist or whatever.

[00:32:29] I'm still, and, you know, my priest is still going to reach out and help that person.

[00:32:34] And I'm going to still reach out and help them.

[00:32:37] And, y'all, I'm awful tired.

[00:32:39] So, I'm going to wrap it up here.

[00:32:41] I appreciate you listening to me.

[00:32:43] I appreciate you giving me this time.

[00:32:46] And if you can help in any way, I hope you will.

[00:32:52] All right.

[00:32:53] Talk to you next week.

[00:32:54] Bye.

[00:32:54] Bye.

[00:32:55] Bye.