This post is a reprint of an October 9th, 2024 letter to BlueBarrel's owner, Jesse Savou, from our participating barrel supplier, Mark, in North Carolina, in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. At the time of this writing, our partners in Florida are still anticipating Hurricane Milton. Our participating barrel suppliers all over the country are providing barrels for hurricane relief, and more.
Gary, one of our Arizona suppliers says this: "Phoenix-area residents with families in hurricane affected areas have been coming here every day for IBC totes, water barrels, dry goods barrels & steel fuel barrels. We're overjoyed that we're in a position to be able to help during such devastating hard times, but that is what we are doing all of this for...disaster preparedness & self sufficiency."
Jesse,
Thank you for reaching out. In Charlotte, NC, where we are, we were spared serious damage aside from downed trees on power lines and some damage to lakefront property (mostly destroyed boathouses, docks, and a few homes in low-lying, flood-prone areas). This is because of the massive amounts of water that moved through our lakes and rivers that are downstream of the mountains.
Water in our local lakes rose to record highs in the days following Hurricane Helene. The storm dumped an estimated 40 trillion gallons of water on the western NC and eastern TN mountains in about 12 hours! I heard it was enough water to completely fill Lake Tahoe.
"The storm dumped an estimated 40 trillion gallons of water...enough water to completely fill Lake Tahoe"
A couple hours west of us is absolutely heartbreaking. There’s a list of 15 to 20 or more towns, and dozens of smaller communities that are literally, completely gone.
These quaint mountain towns are so beloved in our part of the country because of their history and their beauty. Most of them rely solely on tourism for commerce. They lure in hikers, campers, thrill seekers (whitewater kayaking & rafting, skiing) and all kinds of vacationers. It’s sickening to see the photos and videos coming out of these areas.
As I said, in our city, trees were on power lines. That’s bad, but repairable. In those areas hardest hit in our mountains, there’s nothing left to repair. Power lines, power poles, in many cases, the actual road, other infrastructure such as water and sewer lines, communication lines, power substations which serviced tens of thousands of people, all just gone… washed down the rivers.
"The loss of electrical equipment in the affected areas has basically reset the clock to 1936"
I just read this morning a statement from Blue Ridge Electric, who services most of that area: "The loss of electrical equipment in the affected areas has basically reset the clock to 1936, it will take years to restore power in some areas."
Entire water systems have also been heavily impacted. They are estimating in some towns, water services may not be restored for several months. There have been systems already put in place for fresh water delivery and distribution, which is basically just huge tanks being filled by tanker trucks weekly, and the people bring their own containers to fill and carry back home.
They are right, it will take years to rebuild, and some areas may never recover. If you want to see what I’m talking about, just search videos or images of Helene damage in any of the following NC towns: Lake Lure, Chimney Rock, Spruce Pine, Elk Park, Banner Elk, Elk River, Fairview, Burnsville, Swannanoa, Black Mountain, Biltmore Village, Canton, Roan Mountain, Marshall, Old Fort, Marion, Erwin Tennessee… and the list goes on.
I heard one account of someone surveying the damage who said, “Catastrophic doesn’t really represent what I’ve seen. Apocalyptic would be a better description.”
“Catastrophic doesn’t really represent what I’ve seen. Apocalyptic would be a better description.”
Having said all that, like California with the wildfires, the only thing that amazes me more than the destruction is the resilience of the people, and the way the community, and practically the whole Southeast and beyond has come together.
We loaded two of our 26' box trucks from floor-to-ceiling with donated goods like bottled water, food, clothes, baby items, generators, chainsaws, tools, toys, snacks and candy, and all kinds of supplies. Some of this we donated and some was loaded up at one of several dozen donation drop points in our area, mostly churches.
The picture above shows one of our trucks fully loaded with barrels for hurricane relief.
There are hundreds of drop points in the mountains (again, mostly churches) where goods can be delivered for distribution directly to those in need, or transferred to other trucks and carried deeper into the mountains. We plan to continue making these trips as long as there is a need.
"The only thing that amazes me more than the destruction is the resilience of the people"
We have also donated many of our containers to individuals and/or sold to other charitable organizations, to transport water and fuel for generators. The highways between here and the mountains have become a steady convoy of all types of vehicles, from semi trucks to pickup trucks, to SUV’s and just regular cars, all loaded to the gills with supplies and equipment, headed to the mountains. It’s incredible to see!
"We loaded two of our 26' box trucks from floor-to-ceiling with donated goods like bottled water, food, clothes, baby items, generators, chainsaws, tools, toys, snacks, and all kinds of supplies."
Samaritan's Purse, a huge ministry located in NC bought a truckload (350) of steel drums from us (we discounted them deeply) which will be used for generator fuel. They are filling these drums and loading them into Chinook Helicopters which they rented, and flying them into remote areas which have been cut off due to roads being washed out, and the generators are supplying power for Starlink systems (donated by Elon Musk) so that the disaster relief effort has open lines of communication. The operation is quite impressive! It's amazing what people can accomplish when they come together for a common goal!
"...many will be without water for a long time."
One more thing, many will be without water for a long time. So I'm thinking if they can set up rain collection systems, at least that gives them water for plants and possible other uses so they can save their precious potable water for drinking, cooking, etc. It may be a little early to implement this, as people are still just in the first phase of digging out and getting their bearings on how to survive the next several months. But I do believe this will become a popular way to collect/conserve/store water in these areas, in the near future.
Photos of supply-runs provided by Mark McManus of McManus Drum Company.
No apologies needed, of course. We're thrilled to be able to highlight such amazing work in a community so impacted by natural disaster. Keep up the great work!
In partnership with our participating barrel suppliers across the USA, we are well stocked with barrels for hurricane relief and more. Please reach out if you need help.
