General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsToday, my husband is in the flood damaged area
in the western part of our county, with members of my local Rotary club. They're helping a fellow Rotarian and her neighbors who were, once again, flooded by a hurricane.
We don't know if this woman or her neighbors are Republicans or Democrats or indifferent, though we can assume they are Rs, since this is a very red county.
He doesn't care, he just wants to help. Why? Because, as a true "bleeding heart liberal," he has a desire to help people in need.
I just wanted to post this as an alternative to the several OPs insisting that the South got what it deserved and offering no sympathy to any of us who live here. I thought we, as Democrats, were better than that.
yardwork
(63,821 posts)Unlike some people who are still angry about something some rando said in 1993, I'm appreciating all the kind wishes and help being offered.
My son is in Asheville, which is in the western mountains of North Carolina. They are totally devastated.
Thank you for this post.
wnylib
(24,149 posts)a nephew in Atlanta, and a cousin in northwestern South Carolina. They are ok, but all are in areas that were hit hard.
None expected their areas to be devastated by a hurricane. Tampa has been a relatively safe area for a coastal city on the Gulf, usually bypassed by the worst storm effects. Atlanta and northwestern SC are far enough inland to not be directly hit. They sometimes get tropical storms after a hurricane, but not such severe flooding as happened with Helene.
mcar
(43,376 posts)Cedar Key, Steinhatchee, etc, just south of the Big Bend, have experienced 3 "100 year" storms in a year. Just south of there, Crystal River, in my county, has experienced disastrous flooding from all three storms, plus a tornado last year.
I've lived here for 32 years and the only time I recall such flooding was in 1993's No Name Storm.
And yes, think of NC, GA, and SC and how hard they've been hit. No one expects this to happen in these areas.
911cat
(4 posts)I was a firefighter in Inverness. If I remember correctly we had a few snow flurries.
mcar
(43,376 posts)We had just moved north after experiencing Hurricane Andrew and then this? It was extremely stressful.
911cat
(4 posts)Hope ya'll are OK after Helene. I had a friend who rode out Andrew in Homestead. It was nuts. I was already living and working "up yonder" by then.
mcar
(43,376 posts)and we're just fine. Thank you.
soandso
(829 posts)OMG
wnylib
(24,149 posts)even before taking the brunt of Helene. They were hit much harder than Tampa.
Tampa dodged bullets when past hurricane predictions suggested landfall there. This time, although they again escaped a direct hit, Helene was so strong that Tampa experienced the nightmare of flooding that they had previously feared.
I remember some predictions in 2017 that Irma might move north to make landfall at Tampa. After it landed just south of Fort Myers and moved up the coast, I tried to reach my brother. He lived in a low lying area near the eastern end of Tampa Bay. When I could not get through to him, I reached my nephew in Tampa. He had remained at his house but had sent his wife and daughters to his brother in Atlanta. He told me that my brother was at a mandatory evacuation center and was ok. Both of their homes had no damage, but there was a lot of debris from fallen trees, downed lines, etc.
His daughters, who were teens during Irma, are grown now and on their own. I thought about the extensive reach of Helene and realized that the Tampa relatives would not have been better off going to the Atlanta relatives this time.
mcar
(43,376 posts)I love that city. I am so sorry for what they are going through. The devastation is shocking.
I wish them the best.
COL Mustard
(6,819 posts)I've seen pictures of other towns in NC and it's horrible.
I sympathize with everyone who suffered a loss--whether property or person. I also hope that people will start to realize that climate change is real and things like this will happen again and again.
yardwork
(63,821 posts)A lot of the young people there are mad at us for not doing more.
LisaM
(28,456 posts)Did they turn out in droves to vote for Democrats? Because if not, I don't want to hear it. We have run some of the most pro environmental candidates ever.
yardwork
(63,821 posts)Big time.
mountain grammy
(27,169 posts)Well be donating for the victims. Just hope it goes to whoever needs it most.
PikaBlue
(250 posts)These communities could use donations, including the animal shelters. I have close friends in Asheville and was so relieved to hear that they are okay. We can fight like 10-year-old mean girls when it comes to politics, but when the SHTF we are one people.
eppur_se_muova
(37,325 posts)But don't forget that not so long ago my vote helped to send Democrat -- and civil rights lawyer -- Doug Jones to the US Senate -- from **ALABAMA** !
SouthernIrish
(530 posts)Tennessee has the lowest voter turnout in the country. I am hoping that changes this year. We need Harris/Walz and Tennessee needs Gloria Johnson. Marsha needs to go.
kwijybo
(263 posts)NW TN
Look at GA, and NC's governor. Here in FL, we've flipped several local and state seats and, in many cases, the Moms for Liberty school board candidates are losing.
We can, and do, make a difference.
COL Mustard
(6,819 posts)I'm just sorry he lost to Tommy (Dumbass) Tuberville.
For visibility
We are all neighbors
TBF
(34,026 posts)and we still have a lot of active democratic clubs and blue cities. I haven't seen those OPs, but if I do I'll certainly say something. People like that are no better than MAGA. And I have to wonder if someone who says that is even a dem - maybe they are just a troll that we haven't caught yet.
Clouds Passing
(1,859 posts)Silent Type
(6,146 posts)Thanks for your family's help.
mcar
(43,376 posts)aid and funding to Red States after a natural disaster?
Kamala Harris would never do that, ever.
DENVERPOPS
(9,859 posts)If those RED states hit hardest by the Hurricane, won't dream up some skulduggery to at least delay or postpone voting in their States.
A bunch of us have been saying that the RepubliCONs will stop at nothing, (literally or figuratively) to screw with this presidential election as well as house and senate elections......absolutely nothing......
Keepthesoulalive
(471 posts)These people did nothing wrong, no one can prepare for floods like this. My husband spoke to his nephew in Asheville and they are running out of food . We can resume the righteous fight later but right now lets give positive thoughts because that is all most of us can do.
mcar
(43,376 posts)including helping them to vote.
Thank you.
piddyprints
(14,795 posts)Just over the mountain from Asheville. We were notified this morning that our county will run out of water today because the pump house was flooded. We are fortunate to have a well and power, and have been sharing water with our neighbors who also have a well but no power. The suffering is just too much.
I would happily share food, water, showers... whatever we can as long as we have it.
Keepthesoulalive
(471 posts)They have managed to get food, Publix and Target are open and on backup generators . Ingles is closed but there are food trucks in the area. Thank you for your concern your humanity transcends our politics.
piddyprints
(14,795 posts)The important thing is to help each other.
Keepthesoulalive
(471 posts)FirstLight
(13,876 posts)I know I have my moments, but natural disaster bring humans together for a reason...we all care when the chips are down.
(At least we *should*) But my momma's momma's way of being a human went out with the dinosaurs. My mom has told me many tales of her mom finding another scoop of beans for anyone who came to their home hungry... (depression era made people help eachother too...ugh let's not do that one again)
Anyway...my kid lives in Shelby, NC and is unfortunately "no contact" ...so I found a way to have my bestie, her auntie, text to make sure all is well, and at least give me a heads up.
LoisB
(8,485 posts)snowybirdie
(5,581 posts)and your family. Its a very scary and unsettling time. Wishing her well.
mcar
(43,376 posts)twodogsbarking
(12,191 posts)FakeNoose
(35,394 posts)mcar
(43,376 posts)On Tuesday, we'll be at a local park, leading 3rd graders in games to help them understand the value of recycling. It's so much fun!
calimary
(83,997 posts)Last edited Sun Sep 29, 2024, 01:02 PM - Edit history (1)
I certainly would like to hear more about those games and what they teach!
We had recycling sessions at my kids elementary school for six weeks, where the participants made decorations for the upcoming carnival. The whole school participated in bringing in empty, cleaned-out milk cartons and bottle tops and lots of other stuff for the carnival art sessions after school every Friday. Id send notes around suggesting what components would be used for that weeks session - like bring in your aluminum pie plates or this is Plastic Lids Week or some such thing. Plus the usual toilet paper and paper towel tubes and soda can pull tabs and all kinds of other stuff that might otherwise have been thrown out.
Whatever the carnival theme was, that year, THATS what we used as our theme for the decorations. For example, for the year of the space carnival, there was a call for recycled soda bottles, and we wound up with ingenious rocket ships with all kinds of flourishes, to display everywhere, along with balloons that were blown up and used for paper mache planets and moons. Those would dry all week and the kids would finish them the following week with lavish decorations. (We nicknamed that one the slop fest cuz it was pretty messy, but boy did the kids LOVE that one!) You get the idea.
There was a full house for that, every Friday, in a little side area full of picnic tables usually used for lunchtime. We called it the Crafter-school art sessions, and they were great fun, and there was never an empty seat! These little recycled-art artists were amazingly creative! I even learned new things! Then, the results went on display in all the booths and rides all over the carnival grounds. It was SOOOOO COOL! All day long on Carnival Day, you could see kids proudly dragging their parents to where THEIR carnival art piece was set up to make sure nobody missed it! And each of these pieces had the artists name on it so everybody could know who made it. MOST important OF ALL!
And at the end of Carnival Day, nothing got thrown out. The kids were encouraged to take their art pieces home, and they did!
DAYUM that was fun. Still makes me smile, BIGLY, whenever I think back on it.
mcar
(43,376 posts)brer cat
(26,048 posts)OldBaldy1701E
(6,178 posts)Good group.
And yes, as a 'bleeding heart liberal', I also do not worry about political parties when I stop to render aid at an accident. I don't worry about their stupid posts or their desire for 'purity'. Those things can be discredited another time. Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of their fellow human. That is my motto in such times. (It is also a side effect of being, as my husband often reminds me, "Too nice!".)
mcar
(43,376 posts)Hubby and I run a small charity that gets medical equipment to places in need. I'm just getting started with Rotary but I'm hoping to learn more about opportunities with RI.
You and your husband represent the best of us!
MiHale
(10,644 posts)You do what gotta be done.
mucholderthandirt
(1,099 posts)If more people followed this, it would be a better world. It's not about us as an individual, it's about us as a community, as a nation, as a species.
Thanks to your husband and the others for going out and helping, that takes some good mojo.
mcar
(43,376 posts)including the couple across the street. We've been friends/neighbors for 25 years; our kids grew up together. We'd watch each others' pets when we were out of town.
I can't talk politics with them but I know they'd give me the shirt off their backs. We'd do the same for them.
You learn this stuff living in a Red area. I'll never understand how such good people can vote for the felon, but there you are.
Happy Hoosier
(8,296 posts)That is all.
BumRushDaShow
(140,924 posts)And give him lots of (virtual) hugs (including from me)!
Hekate
(94,283 posts)As I told flood plain survivor (yes, I remember who, but am not doing a call out) every natural disaster everywhere is happening harder and with greater frequency, and the reason is that climate change has hit the tipping point.
I live in one part of fire country coastal California. When I first moved out here in 1980, common wisdom was that there would be about 30 years between one major fire and the next in any given area. The fuel load would all burn off, and it would take about 30 years for it to build back.
Well, its not that way any more. Wildfires are hotter, bigger, more destructive, and more frequent. Native trees like the Coast Live Oak and its cousins can survive repeated flash fires low and around their trunks but when a major regional fire causes the tops of trees to burn away, aka a crown fire, those trees die. Some seeds need to pass through fire to germinate manzanita, ceanothus, and the giant sequoia among them but fire needs to come at the right season, and I dont think its helpful to have a fire that lasts weeks or months.
Other areas have their own changing ecologies. The hurricane-prone East Coast has to acknowledge a much warmer Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.
Its not helpful to blame residents as individuals when collective political action is needed, and I dont mean stupid stunts like maiming irreplaceable pieces of art. Vote Democratic up and down the ticket we seriously have the only politicians that give a rats patoot.
mcar
(43,376 posts)SWBTATTReg
(23,991 posts)Moron. I grew up in forest lands in the Ozarks, and believe me, raking the forest floors? Yeah, right...sarcasm here, heavy-duty.
We are finding out that grassland fires, and the small typical fire in a forested area are getting more frequent. I am thinking that it's drier (we finally got some needed rain several days ago, a nice long rain (here in STLMO). It's the 2nd rain I think that we've had all year.
Parts of MO are under a drought warning and my sister (and husband) have been having to take water out to the cattle multiple times daily.
Hekate
(94,283 posts)They attack stressed conifers and extended droughts count as a major stressor. California is big and has amazingly rugged and high mountains and lots of them.
Wouldnt you just love to hand that idiot Trump a rake?
SWBTATTReg
(23,991 posts)beetles still being a big problem out there, I've heard about it, but I guess after not seeing or hearing anything about it, that it wasn't a problem anymore. I hope that they can wrap their hands around the issue and fix them/get rid of the beetles.
Unfortunately, we had the Dutch elm disease spread by beetles too, in MO, and man, they did a number on them.
You don't see as many elm trees as there used to be. As a matter of fact, on my old small ranch, I had a grove of elm trees, and treasured them, and kept quiet about them, wanted to protect them. They have a good chance of surviving, being all alone in those woods, all by themselves (roughly 20-30 smallish trees).
We, as Americans (red or blue) should be better than that. Comments about deserving what they got makes us no better than they are.
I lived through TS Irene in 2011 which decimated my town and then through Superstorm Sandy in 2012 which pummeled the Jersey shore unrecognizable.
Your husband is a good man! My hubby just retired from Local 3 IBEW and is looking into helping Electricians without Borders.
E Pluribus Unum - United we Stand!
Godot51
(280 posts)Nature simply is.
Lucky Luciano
(11,397 posts)canetoad
(18,061 posts)I feel good when people just do the right thing, no matter what the circumstance.
Cha
(304,612 posts)Reports of Human kindness makes me well up in Tears.
My sister and part of her family are in Asheville with No electricity, of Course.. and I'm anxiously waiting for news of their safety.
I Also have a sister in Gainesville, Florida and they lucked out. My nephew and his wife in St Petee, Florida were lucky where they lived too.
Your husband is a Kind and Helpful Neighbor!...I hope your family is Okay.
JustAnotherGen
(33,286 posts)mcar
(43,376 posts)roamer65
(36,962 posts)The livable and INSURABLE zone is shifting northward. This is the reality of a 500+ ppm CO2e world.
The crash that is now happening in the FL property market is going to move northward into GA, SC, NC and TN.
Banks and other lenders dont write mortgages on uninsurable properties.
EOM.
HeartsCanHope
(707 posts)I'll be thinking of him and all the other volunteers.