Appalachia is Under Water

Appalachia; a region of the country rich with culture, history, and natural beauty. A place where life is quiet and communities rally together in support of one another.

It is also a place that experiences poverty levels above the national average, and where median household incomes are far below the national average.

And it was just hit by devastation due to unprecedented rainfall caused by Hurricane Helene. A region that was unprepared for such tragedy, as we watched dams give out and towns get wiped off the face of this earth in a matter of seconds.

This truly is a national emergency, and this administration should declare is as such and deploy FEMA to help. There are not enough resources locally and regionally to save people from this destruction.

Currently, there are no roads in or out of Asheville, North Carolina. People have not been able to contact friends and family since Friday afternoon in many instances. There is no way to know if they made it out alive, and even then, the people of Asheville who have survived have no access to food, water, or medical care that they may desperately need.

Homes and trailers by the New River have been washed away by the rising waters, leaving nothing behind but mud and splinters. Farmland that's been passed down through generations is drowned, and the sustenance it once housed is gone with it. Livestock is floating through the rapids, being lost to mother nature, as though it never existed.

Many people have lost absolutely everything they knew in this life, and other than pictures and images being shared on local Facebook pages, the world is quiet about it.

There was no warning. No one told us to evacuate. We were told to shelter in place. And look where that's left us?

So much heritage has been washed away by the landscape that previously fed us and made us feel safe. Not only was this event improbable; but for many it was unrealistic, impossible even. A once-in-a-thousand years amount of rainfall, resetting the landscape and changing the map as we know it.

This is the reality for Southern Appalachia today, and it will become the reality of many tomorrows. As climate change causes more intense storms and more "once in a lifetime" events, more communities will be in danger of experiencing this level of destruction. This catastrophic weather will no longer be the exception; it will become the rule.

We need help from the powers that be to prepare for these kinds of emergencies. Instead of funneling billions of dollars toward endless wars, Capitol Hill should be desgning infrastructure that protects communities, especially our country's poorest, from situations such as this.

Myself and my family are lucky. We had no idea how bad it was while the storm was raging on as we sat comfortably on a ridge listening to the whipping wind and the barrage of rainfall. My stomach dropped when I opened social media to see the neighboring town completely underwater, one of the poorer neighborhoods washed away. Many people who are renting with nowhere to go.

Our local Walmart, grocery stores, and pharmacies were without power for 48 hours or more. And even if they had power, many are stuck where they are because many roads have become impassable. Who is going to make sure they have enough supplies to survive until help comes to free them from their prisons? The places that were meant to house them and shelter them from the elements become a reminder of how alone they are.

Don't abandon Appalachia when we're at our worst.

People love to come here, drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway, and reap the benefits of the quiet mountain life during the best of times. And this region needs help to make that possible again.

If you have the means, please donate to the Red Cross toward Hurricane Helene relief. If you don't have the means, I urge you to contact your representatives to petition the federal government to declare this event a major disaster and employ FEMA to aid in the rebuilding of this beautiful landscape.