ASHEVILLE, north carolina

The scale of the destruction is just mind-boggling. Cars on their sides half-buried in cinder block dunes. Little countertop islands of asphalt jutting into empty space where the hillside was licked away. Underground utilities unearthed, on display like the tunnels in an ant farm, or collapsed into piles of muddy scrap. It's apocalyptic, and I can't believe the death toll isn't higher -- I'm sure plenty of people ignored evacuation warnings until it was too late, because nobody had ever seen this sort of flooding in those mountains before.

my family lives there. what's crazy is i didn't even know this was happening until saturday afternoon. everyone in my family is OK and unhurt but the community is obviously devastated. there's still basically no running water, no power, almost no cell service. i saw online that FEMA was doing water drops but my sister said there was no information about accessing water or food as of yesterday morning.

for me personally this is the first time where i see pictures of destruction and i'm like "oh i've been there" or "i know where that is."

NA here's a facebook link to services available (food, water, wifi, etc)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/whatsupashevillenc/posts/1991630967945196/

I have a fiend who lives in Morganton, NC about 50 miles away. His whole town was without power and water albeit less property damage than what you see in Asheville

I can't believe this is hurricane damage in North Carolina and Tennessee.

thanks - my sister and her family have left town (partially for planned travel) and my parents seem to have a decent supply of food and water saved up. i think she was more just frustrated that there wasn't much evidence of government emergency services for residents at that point - the concern was more about the community

It’s just a terrible thing. Most people here in East Tennessee know western North Carolina very well, we all go to Asheville and Black Mountain and Hot Springs and all of those places. Seeing pictures from them is devastating. I have one Facebook friend there who seems to be basically OK, he has managed to post a few times to let people know he’s all right. Have not been able to get in touch with a writer I know who just moved to Asheville about six months ago. Certainly hope he and his wife and their new house are doing OK. Once they get through this initial emergency stage, which might not be for a week, there are months and months of rebuilding ahead.

update, just heard from my writer friend — they are "high and dry," no power, limited cell service, but ok.

my cousin got out last night, she's fine but said houses on her road were washed away