Woman’s husband was standing on the porch when their house floated away
Vicki Hunter couldn’t make sense of the giant trees rushing toward the front porch of her one-story home.
She watched them, stunned, as floodwaters raged across her pasture and began to inundate the property. She yelled to her husband, Jerry, to get dressed in case they needed to evacuate.
By the time he did, their cars were flooded and they could not flee. Rescue crews in boats tried to reach the house but were unsuccessful.
“One minute I’m baking cookies; in the next minute, I’m fighting for my life and my whole life has been turned upside down,” she said yesterday.
Cumberland Gap National Historical Park assessing Helene damage
Cumberland Gap National Historical Park in Kentucky continues to assess the damage from Helene more than a week after the storm.
The park’s visitor center, some roads and the Object Lesson Road, Wilderness Road, Tri-State and Daniel Boone trails have reopened but other closures remain, the park said in an update yesterday.
"Hiking on any other trail in the park is not recommended. Hundreds of trees have fallen on trails in the park, and additional trees are still at risk of falling," it said. "Trail washouts, damaged bridges, and other, unpredictable hazards are also likely. Park staff and resources are stretched thin and emergency response may be delayed."
Horse and bike trails and all backcountry campsites are closed, and guided tours to Hensley Settlement have been suspended, it said.
There were no injuries from the storm at the 24,000-acre park, which is near where the borders of Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia meet, and "preserves the historic Cumberland Gap, a key point for crossing the Appalachians that became known as the First Gateway to the West," it said.
Additional information about conditions is on the park website.
Volunteer pilots are flying supplies to trapped Hurricane Helene victims
Like clockwork, one private plane after another taxied yesterday down the runway of a small regional airport in North Carolina to a hangar, where volunteers loaded them up with food, water, medicine and other badly needed basics.
Thirty or so minutes later, those planes were back in the sky and ferrying supplies from Concord-Padgett Regional Airport to communities across the flooded region, many of them almost completely cut off from the world by Hurricane Helene.
“Yesterday, we were moving so fast we were beating the turnaround times at O’Hare,” coordinator Shaun Carroll said, referring to Chicago O’Hare International Airport. “We were moving.”
Carroll is a member of Operation Airdrop, a relief organization founded after Hurricane Harvey in 2017 that enlists pilots with private planes and helicopters to deliver supplies to people stranded in isolated areas by natural disasters.
Hospitals take steps to conserve IV fluid supply after Helene strikes critical factory
Hospitals across the U.S. are taking steps to conserve their supplies of IV fluids after Hurricane Helene struck a critical manufacturing plant belonging to the country’s biggest supplier.
Baxter International, a medical technology company responsible for making IV fluids for most U.S. hospitals, said Sunday that it would temporarily close production at its North Cove, North Carolina-based facility because of flooding from Helene, raising concerns about a potential nationwide shortage.
IV fluids are used to deliver drugs or water with electrolytes directly into a patient’s bloodstream. They’re also critical for surgery, when a person is unable to eat or drink, to keep them hydrated. Baxter also makes specialty fluids, such as peritoneal dialysis fluid, which helps patients with kidney failure filter waste from their blood, as well as irrigation fluids, used during procedures to clean or flush wounds.
FEMA administrator says some areas still isolated and in need of basic supplies
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said in an interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt that some communities are still isolated a week after Hurricane Helene and need basic supplies.
'Together they must return:' Vigil held for Impact Plastics employees
Families of missing and dead Impact Plastics employees held a vigil yesterday to honor loved ones who died in last week’s catastrophic flooding at the plastics factory in Erwin, Tennessee.
At least four deaths from the factory have been confirmed.
At the vigil, the crowd announced each of the victims’ names as their families lit candles in remembrance, some breaking down in sobs as they knelt before their photos.
Guadalupe Hernandez Corona, the sister of one of the dead workers, Monica Hernandez, tearfully paid tribute to her sister.
“I just want each one of you to remember our families with a smile and remember the good memories you have with them,” Hernandez Corona told vigil attendees. “My sister was a hard worker, a fighter and was always looking out for everyone else.”
She also urged people to work together to find those still missing from the factory.
“Together they went to work, and together they must return,” she said.
Rosa Andrade Reynoso is one of the workers still missing. Anabel Andrade, a relative, said after the vigil that she has been praying hard for closure and for change.
“What we want from this [is] for things to change, for every workplace to have an evacuation plan for anything ... so that this does not happen again, so families are not left wondering.”