The Boone Show - S5 E4 - Hurricane Helene Aftermath

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How do communities rally together in the aftermath of a devastating hurricane? We uncover the layers of response and relief as we speak with Jim Kirkland from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, who offers a unique perspective on the devastation left by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. With organizations like Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team leading the charge, Jim sheds light on the importance of both physical and spiritual support during these trying times, especially as Asheville continues to grapple with water system challenges. Learn how your contributions can make a difference by ensuring resources reach the right hands.

In the face of escalating storms and unexpected challenges, emergency preparedness becomes the linchpin for survival and recovery. Shale Remien from the sheriff's office in Anderson County tells of a coordinated response, managing first responders and keeping the public informed amidst power outages and hazardous conditions. This episode celebrates the resilience of the community, highlighting the unsung heroes who stepped up to fill the gaps. From first responders to volunteers, teamwork proved vital in navigating the crisis effectively, ensuring the safety and wellbeing of residents.

Witness the spirit of small towns like Williamston as Mayor Rockey Burgess describes how they combat the chaos brought by natural disasters. Fast action from local first responders and timely federal assistance kept things running smoothly despite the odds. 

We also hear from Angie Stringer of the Cancer Association of Anderson, who shares heartening stories of how her organization continued to support cancer patients throughout the storm, and tells of her experience in and the responsibilities of the State Guard . From organizing events to overcoming transportation hurdles, this episode underscores the invaluable network of support that emerges when communities face adversity together.

Thanks for listening! Direct all inquiries to [e-mail].

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hurricane Helene aftermath coverage continues
here on my pulse radio.
I'm John Boone and we've gotsome guests lined up for you
this hour to kind of give you afeel for the entire region
what's been going on, how reliefefforts are going, what you can
do to help.
So hope you stay with usthroughout the hour.
We're going to jump first up toNorth Carolina, and an old

(00:23):
friend of mine an old boss ofmine indeed, jim Kirkland, is
the executive director of theaudio ministry for the Billy
Graham Evangelistic Association.
He's all around what happenedup there, from living in
Hendersonville to working in theAsheville area, so he will have
certainly a cool perspectivefor us.
Jim, how are you doing today?

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Hi, I'm grateful, I'm doing well, I'm doing well and
all our staff is doing well, andthere's a lot of folks that
aren't, but yet there's also alot of folks who are also just
going to see the gratitude forcoming through an unprecedented

(01:04):
storm.
Truly, you know, john, howsometimes descriptives get
overused.
Like you know, we'll hearawesome or amazing a whole lot.
Sometimes it's fantastic orit's not fantastic, it was
intense.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Yeah, it was, and I'm just letting everybody know
that sometimes you're going tobe breaking up.
The cell coverage up there isvery spotty.
Just in our short conversationoff the air, jim, it sounded
crystal clear at times andsometimes breaking up a little
bit.
But we want to at least spend afew minutes here, if you could.
Is there anything you can tellus really that hasn't been

(01:52):
reported out there?
Like, how can you paint apicture for us of what you see
in that area?

Speaker 2 (02:03):
The impact.
It runs a gamut and a lot of ithad to do with how close you
were to a body of water and howclose you were to big trees, and
if you are close to either oneof those and if you happen to be
on a slope, utter devastation.

(02:27):
In most places you might driveby and it doesn't matter what
happens.
Our bed damage was very minor,occasional gusts of 70.
But it was being near water andwith the mountains.

(02:54):
First thing one learns if youdon't go up in this area I
didn't, um, you realize howquickly flash floods can occur
and it makes sense.
Water's rushing down hills andmountains.
Add to that what happenedbefore Helene, and Helene was
really the straw that broke thecamel's back.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
Okay, we're losing you again.
A little bit there.
I'll give you a chance to givethem a chance whoever them is
that controls the airwaves tocome back a little bit to us
there.
Keep talking, jim, and when youpop back in I'll get you on
there.
You are Okay good, and when youpop back in I'll get you on
there.
You are Okay good.
Yeah, you're right.
A lot of rain came ahead ofthat and that made it all the

(03:52):
more worse, and especially whenit took that turn to go right at
the mountains.
What can you tell us about whatthe ministry is doing up?

Speaker 2 (04:00):
there Very active, really being the hands and feet
of Christ and helping people,first and foremost, and showing
unique service.
A lot of activity.
Samaritan's Purse is highlyactive in this area and I'll

(04:22):
share their website shortly.
Also, the Billy Graham RapidResponse Team, which comes in
after disasters for thespiritual recovery of people.
If they just simply needsomeone to talk to someone to
sort of vent the process with,they are there and they are

(04:44):
sharing.
They are there and they aresharing, whereas followers of
Christ, we say, are hope-wiseand that is in relationship with
Christ.
Samaritanspurseorg, and thenfor the Billy Graham Rapid
Response Team, the Billy GrahamRapid Response Facebook page, is
the best place to go.

(05:04):
Samaritan's Purse is five-starin terms of disaster relief and
you'll hear that from inside theBeltway in DC to people who've
experienced their ministry andthey are beats on the ground and
highly engaged throughout theWest Dakota area.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
Okay, that's great.
That's great to hear.
How about?
We've heard a lot about theprivate response versus the
government response.
If people want to get involvedand get things to people up
there, some are saying you know,they get turned away because
the National Guard or whoever'sin charge will want to be the
one coordinating the rescueefforts or to get relief efforts

(05:48):
out there.
What do you think is the bestway for people to actually get
involved to help the people upthere?

Speaker 2 (05:53):
Dr John Baxter, it's a great question.
The best way to help is throughorganizations that are
specialists in these kinds ofdistributions.
Everybody wants to do something.
Sometimes bringing hard goodscan be helpful but very

(06:19):
inefficient, whereas making agift to those who can buy those
goods in tremendous quantitiesis very easy.
So I've learned from people tolook at relationships.

(06:45):
They have a relationship andsee two things get delivered, as
opposed to driving up Highway25 or I-26 to come up here to
deliver yourself.
That could end up beingfrustrating for those and it
might not be efficient ingetting to those who need the

(07:09):
help.
Stores are opening again hereand the stuff pretty good.
There is ample water now.
That's important, though, andwe'll need more, because they're
talking about months before thewater system may return and

(07:31):
Asheville a city of about 90,000people, buncombe County, about
a quarter million that's thecounty Asheville is in To not
have water until, let's say,roughly Christmas.
There's going to be a need fora lot of water.
The best move, john, is to goto the agencies that are

(07:51):
prepared for this and to supporttheir work, and certainly I
would recommend Samaritan'sPurseorg if someone's looking
for a place to start.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
All right.
Well, jim, I know with thesignal coming in and out, I
don't want to take too much moreof your time.
It's just so great to hear yourvoice.
You're right there in themiddle of it all and there is, I
guess, a rewarding effort insuch.
It sounds weird to say, butbeing able to help people and to
see neighborhoods, communitieskind of come together through

(08:26):
such a strategy is kind of thesilver lining here.

Speaker 2 (08:29):
It is, and it has been, very inspiring.
I'm glad you pointed that out.
People have you know, neighborshelp neighbors, Sometimes
neighbors who don't even knoweach other.
Now they know each otherchecking in on one another.
There has been a tremendousunity.
If I ever had to fight a battle, I'd want to fight it with the
people of Western North Carolina.
They are rallying together.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
All right.
Thanks again, jim, for yourtime.
It's great to hear your voiceagain.
Glad your family's doing well.
I know you have a daughter downhere going to Anderson
University and that's glad tohear.
She's right around the corner.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
I can't believe she's getting so old.
She's going to college.
Yeah, we haven't talked in awhile, all right.
But thanks, jim, absolutely.
We will catch up and I'mblessed by your call, blessed by
this opportunity and for thosewho follow in Christ, the number
one thing you can do is prayfor the people in Western North
Carolina and also the upstate,upstate Harvard.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
Yes indeed, all right , jim, you take care.
We'll talk again soon.
That's, thank you, John.
Thank you, thank you.
That's Jim Kirkland.
He is the executive director ofthe Audio Ministry for Billy
Graham Evangelistic Association,which is located in Asheville,
and he lives in Hendersonville.
So he was right in betweenthings, the good thing for him,
not around a slope, as he said,a rushing river or big trees.

(09:52):
So he has made it okay, hasgotten power, the cell coverage
a little off, but you heard himsay there that things are
improving in Asheville.
Places are opening up, butwater being the main need there
and could be for quite some timeComing up.
We'll talk with some morespecial guests on our coverage

(10:16):
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Speaker 1 (12:26):
John Boone back with you on our Hurricane Helene, the
aftermath a special here onMyPulse Radio.
Back to the phone lines.
We have Shale Rameen with usfrom the Anderson County
Sheriff's Office where she isthe public information officer,
and that would be a pretty busyjob, I imagine, these days.
How are you doing, Shale?
Hold on, Let me get there, youare right there, I pushed the

(12:49):
wrong button.
How are you doing?

Speaker 5 (12:50):
Oh, there we go.
Hey there.
Well, thanks for having me.
Yeah, it's been a chaotic week,I think, for everyone involved,
so we've been hard at workinside the Emergency Operations
Center as we speak right now.
So it's hard to imagine thatit's been a week ago.
We started the storm, so it'sbeen a cleanup effort ever since

(13:11):
.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yeah, Take me through from the beginning a little bit
.
When you know that there's astorm coming and this one
actually wound up being worsethan everybody thought, really
Take us through your process ofpreparation for the storm as
part of the emergency center.

Speaker 5 (13:32):
Absolutely so.
The sheriff's office actuallyoversees emergency management
and it's not like that inHeverett County, so we kind of
serve as a dual role with thatwhen storms like this hit.
So Thursday going into Friday,we obviously knew that it had
potential to be bad.
We didn't know it was going tobe this bad, so we were
monitoring the trajectory of thestorm all evening from Thursday
into Friday.
We didn't know it was going tobe this bad, so we were
monitoring the trajectory of thestorm all evening from Thursday

(13:53):
into Friday.
We had teams in place scatteredacross the county, as you can
imagine firefighters, ems, lawenforcement, just basically
getting ready to answer anycalls.
The issue was is that the wind,I mean as you guys know it
reached?
You know that the wind, I meanas you guys know it reached, you
know, over 70 miles per hour atsome points within this county,

(14:13):
and so a lot of our firstresponders were trying to
respond to calls and they weregetting caught in the storm
themselves, and that was thescary part of it.
And that's how we knew thatthis storm wasn't like many
other ones that we've seenbefore.
We had, unfortunately, you know, a tree fall on a fire truck
with a fireman inside and thenwe're hoping for his recovery.

(14:34):
So we knew right around sixo'clock in the morning in the
EOC that this was going to bebad and it was an all hands on
deck operation.
We had, I mean, 800 callsprobably pending at one time,
not to mention our own powergoing out the generator trying
to pop back on.
So you know you're trying toserve as quickly as possible,

(14:55):
but also you can't allow peopleto go out before it's okay to be
safe in these kinds ofconditions too.
So it's a very tough positionto be in and you want to help as
many people as possible.
And I think our emergencymanagement team did a really
good job of breaking up thecounty and figuring out what was
our highest priority.

(15:16):
And you know you run alongthings in a way.
You know we had a crew that wasstuck by power lines that had
just dropped as they were tryingto get to people.
So it's a lot to manage, it's alot to keep track of.
So it's a lot to manage, it's alot to keep track of, but you
know at the end of the day thatyou're going to get through it
and you have good team membersaround you to.
You know, even if you need asecond to take a breath, you

(15:37):
know there's somebody else who'spicking up the slack right
behind you.
So what exactly is your role inall this as the public
information officer, with allthis going around, going on
around you, right?
So information is vital duringa time like this.
So, obviously, people at thebeginning, especially where I
think, where I'm looking at thenumbers right here, I think
we're about 19% without power atthis point throughout the

(16:00):
county.
So progress is being made, butmy role specifically is to make
sure that information gets out,and gets out quickly but also
accurately from all of ourofficials, whether that be
county officials, emergencymanagement officials, the
sheriff's office Hopefullyeverybody's been following our
emergency management page, wherewe have helpful links to you

(16:20):
know numbers for oxygen forpeople who are oxygen dependent,
press releases out to the media.
Obviously, when these thingshappen right after the storm
hits, you have nearly everyoutlet calling you all at the
same time in order to get aninterview, get the latest
information.
So when this hit, it was amatter of managing with
officials, different decisions,but then also trying to get

(16:44):
information out to the public,whether that be through radio
going live, because a lot ofpeople didn't have power phones
were, you know, at that pointthe only way or different press
releases and keeping up withsocial media and just trying to
engage and make sure the publicfeels you know, we're all in
this and we hear you and we seeyou and crews are moving as

(17:05):
quickly as possible.
And I think something that'sbeen misconstrued to during this
a lot of people have learnedthat if there is a down, if
there's a down tree and theirroad is completely not passable,
the power company has to comeout and get those power lines
out of the tree before the roadcan even be worked on.
And so I think, people'spatience obviously we're

(17:27):
definitely tried during thistime, but I think everybody came
together and we saw a lot ofthat too with, you know,
chainsaw crews.
I know our own sheriff went outthere and joined some of those
teams.
So everybody came togethernicely.

Speaker 1 (17:41):
It's just such a big deal and Anderson County is such
a sprawling area that it amazesme we all complain.
I lived in Florida for a whileso I know how it goes with
hurricanes and trying to get thepower back on and all that kind
of stuff.
And sometimes you know youassumed you were going to be
without power for about a weekor so with every storm that went

(18:03):
through.
But you know these guys, howthey coordinate who's doing what
so that you know you're notsending a bunch of people over
here where they're not neededand making sure this gets
coverage and not being able toget to that.
I mean the coordination aspectof all this is astronomical.
It's got to be very stressful.

Speaker 5 (18:22):
It can be, but you realize there's a greater
purpose and this is when we'rereally needed.
This is almost like I don'twant to call it the Super Bowl,
but this is our Super Bowl.
This is when we have to step upto the plate and realize you
know, of course rest is needed,but you know it doesn't matter
how many sleepless nights wehave.
We need to get the county backin order and really that comes
first and you said it best thatlike this is really an effort to

(18:45):
coordinate resources.
You know this matters aboutcounty connections that
everybody has.
We're interacting with agencieslike AIM right now to use some
of their freezers to hold iceand school districts as a place
for points of distribution tohand out food in Belton and
water and things like that.
Many of those people in Beltonhave lost power and a lot of

(19:05):
them are on well water.
So how do you get water tothese people, and quickly?
So obviously, I'm sure you'veseen, even with our social media
pages, I was just out with theNational Guard yesterday going
kind of to the hardest hit areaswithin the county and
thankfully, you know, withsupport from the state, we've
been able to bring in the SouthCarolina National Guard, the Air

(19:26):
National Guard from Florida.
So you know, know they'rewell-versed in hurricanes and
it's just really been anaround-the-clock effort to
coordinate.
And we appreciate people'spatience too, because we know
that, you know, people arewaiting and people are still
waiting for their lights to beturned back on something that we
have nothing to do with.
But our work, you know,obviously works hand-in-hand

(19:48):
with them, and I mean, somethingelse that I think is is crucial
to talk about too is, you know,this has been, this has been
chaos for a lot of people.
It's been, um, hard to see theimages come out of North
Carolina, but we also lost fourpeople within our own County.
When this, when this storm hit,um, and that was devastating,

(20:09):
just being inside of the EOC andgetting that alert that we had
our first storm death, I mean ithits you and you take a second
and then you realize you kind ofhave to keep going in that
moment because you have the restof the county to serve.
But you know, four people havelost their life in this storm in

(20:30):
our county, not to mention thestate, and then in north
carolina as well, but wholesoutheast really, obviously yeah
, yeah, and the power numbers.

Speaker 1 (20:39):
As far as getting power back on, south carolina
was by far the state that neededmore customers, uh, power back
than than any of the statesinvolved.
So, although that wasn't hit asserious as some other areas,

(20:59):
namely North Carolina.
The power issue was huge inSouth Carolina and those guys
are doing a good job to get alot of it back online.
What's the website that youwere talking about there that
people can go to to find outthese emergency things?

Speaker 5 (21:11):
So if you log on to the Anderson County Sheriff's
Office page, we do have a dropdown tab for emergency
management, but the best way toget in touch with any
information that you may needabout this hurricane is
emdandersonsherifforg.
Backslash Helene, and that's onall of our social media pages

(21:34):
as well.
And really what it is is it's aone-stop shop that we've
created for anything that youmay need Hotline cleanup numbers
, debris pickup information, icedistribution, as well as you
know, water distribution, anyDuke energy numbers I mean, you
name it.
There's pretty much anythingyou could think of on here in

(21:57):
order to get help, and we'vejust been encouraging people
document, document like crazy ifyou are trying to clean up.
And then we just actuallyreleased new information where
we're going to have debrispickup rolling through starting
early next week for pretty muchthe entire county.
You know we're contracting withpeople and we're getting other,

(22:20):
you know smaller municipalitiessigned up so they're taken care
of as well.
But there will be, you know,for lack of better words like a
large debris claw truck about 50of those will be rolling
through the county to basicallyclear up any debris that's on
the side of the road.
We just ask that people pushthat away from fire hydrants,
cars, any meters, things likethat.

(22:41):
That might block it.
No trash can be in there, butthey will pick up your debris,
which has been, I know, a breathof fresh air for a lot of
people who have been worriedabout that.

Speaker 1 (22:50):
Yeah, absolutely so that website one more time for
me, please.

Speaker 5 (22:55):
Absolutely.
It's emdandersonsherifforgbackslash, helene.

Speaker 2 (23:02):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
All right Now.
I know your time is valuable.
I'll only take a couple minutesmore.
What's your message to thepeople out there at this point,
and especially for people thatwant to help?
We've had this issue.
We brought it up with ourprevious guest who's calling in
from Asheville about.
We hear a lot in the news aboutthis, about private people

(23:26):
trying to help and then thegovernment needing to be
involved.
Oh, I have one needing to beinvolved.
Oh, I have one more questionafter this Just popped into my
head.
But you know, how can peopleget the most out of helping here
in Anderson County?

Speaker 5 (23:47):
Well, I believe that we have a lot of different
efforts going on, and I knowthey pop up pretty quickly so,
and a lot of people see them onsocial media efforts going on,
and I know they pop up prettyquickly so, and a lot of people
see them on social media.
You know, we're aware of the.
You know Anderson Airportcollecting donations for people
in western North Carolina, butwe know that there's a need
right here in our own communitystill as well too.
So tuning up with agencies likeAIM, different churches have
have several drives going onright now.

(24:07):
If you see any distributionsites like water or food being
handed out, we could use as manyvolunteers as possible through
a coordinated effort.
So you would like to beassigned to certain things.
We have an email address onthat webpage that I have given
out and it's em at andersonsheriffcom and they can inquire

(24:30):
about any sort of volunteeropportunities and things like
that, but really also justhelping neighbors.
You know, if you know of anybodywho needs water, or especially
in the belton honey a path area,they were hit very hard.
Same with powdersville.
There's a lot of people withoutpower.
So if you know somebody overthere, pick up the phone.
You know, hey, do you want tocome use my shower or anything

(24:52):
else like that.
So we just don't want people topanic or to think that you know
there's no hope at the end ofthe tunnel because crews are
working and we still know thatthere's people without power.
They have not been forgottenabout and you know everybody's
working together.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
Yeah, absolutely not been forgotten about.
And and you know everybody'sworking together, yeah,
absolutely.
And the last question I hasyou've been doing a lot of work
with the.
With the guard being in town,how does it work to get them
involved, cause they camespecifically to Anderson County?
How, how's that whole processwork to get the national guard
and then you know what.
What have you been doing withthem specifically, because I

(25:30):
know you've been kind oftraveling around with them a
little bit.

Speaker 5 (25:34):
Yeah, it's been an adventure because they really
are hands-on.
They will.
You know, we've seen severalfallen trees down power lines,
things like that, and they justtake the bull by the horns and
don't hesitate and jump fromsite to site.
But how it's all coordinated isit goes through our county
roads and bridges and publicworks, and so these crews see

(25:55):
where the problem areas are andthen we put together a list I'm
talking, you know, hundreds ofstreets and we give them those
addresses and they go out roadby road and start clearing it
out.
So some are obviously a littlebit more devastating than others
, and then, you know, othertimes they're just grateful to
see anyone show up.

(26:16):
I was out there yesterday andspoke to a neighbor who saw
right next to her house therewas a huge tree that had fallen
directly on top of the house andthankfully, by the grace of God
, no one inside was hurt.
And obviously we saw that notbe the case for two other people
within this county in that samesort of situation.

(26:37):
So I'm thankful that they'reokay.
But that's the kind of thingthat these soldiers are going up
against are these large treesthat the coast doesn't have.
So when we have this kind ofhurricane, we have a different
kind of cleanup effort than,let's say, what's on the coast.
They're still looking at,obviously, large pictures of

(27:01):
cleanup, but ours is a littlebit different just because of
the terrain that we have to workwith here.
So we appreciate everyone'spatience.
But those National Guard youknow the Air National Guard they
have a lot that they're upagainst and they're just
basically checking off a listthat our county crews have said
hey, we need help and we needhelp in this location.

Speaker 1 (27:20):
All right, well, I'll let you get back to it.

Speaker 5 (27:22):
You've been doing a bang up job, great job, thank
you, thank you and thanks forgetting the word out there.
We appreciate everybody sharinginformation, accurate
information.
We know there's a lot of likerumor control going on with
these things, so just be sure tokeep in touch with your
official sources too.

Speaker 1 (27:39):
All right, thank you, shale.
That's Shale Rameen from thepublic.
She is the public informationofficer from Anderson County
Sheriff's Office and of coursethe main thing we take out of
that conversation is you know,help with your neighbors, start
local.
You know, you don't have toship everything to North
Carolina.
It's great if you can getinvolved with organizations up
there, but there are a lot ofpeople around here that do have

(28:01):
needs and if you can just helpyour neighbor neighbors, helping
neighbors and if everybody didthat, everybody would be taken
care of.
So let's try to do that.
Let's not panic.
Let's go to that website,emdandersonsheriffcom slash
Helene and get more informationand see what you can do and get
what you need at this point.

(28:21):
We'll be back with more on ourHurricane Helene Aftermath
special on MyPulse Radio.
The mayor of Williamston isscheduled.
Next.

Speaker 13 (28:29):
That's Rocky burgess coming up on mypulseradiocom
good food, good service, that'swhat you'll get when you come to
nick henry's in powdersville,home of the bird dog, great food
made fresh.
Call 864-605-0561 now to placean order.

(28:52):
Again, that's 864-605-0561.
Don't forget to try one ofGranny Henderson's cakes at Nick
Henry's.

Speaker 12 (29:10):
Founded from a dream and dedication and built with a
warming aesthetic, comfortablemerchandise and coffee at great
prices, maple Bakery andCoffeehouse opens its arms to
everyone with a sweet tooth.
So come and embrace thefriendly adornment and enjoy a
hot or cold treat atWilliamston's Maple Bakery, or
place an order for a specialoccasion, located at 908

(29:33):
Anderson Drive.
We hope you enjoy it as much aswe do.

Speaker 3 (29:40):
Bro, I swear this is the dumbest car ever.
It doesn't even want to crank.
No, it's a nice car.
It just needs some work done toit.
No, it's just a piece of junk.
Okay, well, why don't you justlisten to me and take the LNC
Automotive Repair in Pelzer?
What's so special about them?
Well, for starters, they arefamily-owned and operated and
offer full auto repair that youcan trust for affordable prices.
They use quality parts andevery employee is ASU certified.

(30:03):
Well, I guess that's what we'regoing to right now to get this
thing fixed.

Speaker 10 (30:06):
For more information , go to lncautomotiverepaircom
or call 864-402-0570.

Speaker 7 (30:14):
Lift One in Greenville is your number one
spot for forklift and othermaterial handling equipment
needs.
We have everything from parts,service and rentals, including
our top tier brands Heister andYeo, and we know that you'll not
only be satisfied with our workbut our customer service too.
So come and see us at 299AGarlington Road, greenville, or

(30:35):
visit our website, wwwlift1.net.

Speaker 1 (30:44):
Back on the Boone Show on MyPulse Radio.
It's just a part of theHurricane Helene special, the
Aftermath special.
There's nothing special aboutHelene, but we're trying to kind
of paint a picture for youtoday through some programming.
Earlier you heard some musicand some entertaining things
that hopefully got you to smilea little bit.
This hour, just giving you someflat-out information from

(31:06):
different areas of our state atthe upstate and North Carolina,
ways you can get involved,websites.
You need to go to all of thatand right now we're just going
to keep it right home with themayor of Williamston, friend of
the show, rocky Burgess.
How are you, sir?

Speaker 8 (31:25):
I am better than I deserve.
My friend, you have to forgivemy voice.
I've been doing, uh, quite abit of yelling and talking over
grinders and salt.
Oh, bear with me okay.

Speaker 1 (31:35):
Well, as long as you're not yelling at wendy, I
guess we're we're doing allright, so uh usually horse from
yelling at me what's the?
Reason I might add so let's, uh, let's on a small-town level.
We just talked to Shale aboutwhat the county does to get
ready for a storm and we spoketo Jim about things in North

(31:56):
Carolina.
So now hyper-local, the town ofWilliamston what was done in
preparation to get ready for astorm like this?

Speaker 8 (32:05):
Well, you know, the usual thing is making sure that
you have fuel.
Well, you know, the usual thingis making sure that you have
fuel.
We anticipated lies down so ourtractors and all were fueled up
.
Chainsaws were fueled up and,you know, we had to make sure
our generators were availableand on standby.
We obviously knew there wouldbe lots of trees down and power,

(32:25):
whether it was a major storm orjust your casual, you know,
everyday storm that comesthrough.
We've made about all thepreparations we could possibly
do and we found out pretty quickthat that wasn't good enough.
So this has been absolutelydevastating to our area.
However, I will say that ourcommunities came together, we're

(32:46):
getting through it and if youwere to drive down Main Street
right now, you probably wouldn'teven be able to tell that we
had a massive, devastating stormcome through the area.
But our secondary streets,there's still lots of debris
down, lots of power lines down,quite a few folks without power,
but most all of our otherutilities continue to rock home

(33:10):
that's good.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
That's good.
I mentioned earlier, uh, whenjim was on talking about
ashville, the the biggestproblem up there is water.
They're not going to have waterservice that they can rely on
for months.
They say maybe up untilchristmas.

Speaker 8 (33:23):
So we're super fortunate in our water system
never went down.
I think we had some generatorsto, you know, maintain the pumps
and that type of stuff, thealtitude valves on the water
tower, those type of things, butwe did not lose water for any
length of time.
You know, to make that be aproblem, but we do have.
Water has came in and it'savailable there at town hall.

(33:45):
We're putting pallets out infront of Town Hall for our local
residents that are maybe justoutside the city, that don't
have our water services, maybeon wheels still don't have power
.
That's a pretty rough place tobe in right now.
Absolutely, the county'sprovided us water.
We're putting it out there asquick as we can.

Speaker 1 (34:04):
I guess the silver lining for Williamston is you
didn't have to worry about awhole lot of flooding.
There's obviously some areasthat flood, but you don't have a
river going through town.
You do have a creek thatprobably flooded the park quite
a bit, which brings me to thenext point.
Is the park back open yet?

Speaker 8 (34:24):
The park is somewhat back open if folks want to go
play pickleball or basketball.
Basically that's the other sideof the road of the park.
That's perfectly okay.
We're being reasonable about it.
We do have some lines down inand around the shelters,
primarily up around Main Street.
We ask that folks stay out fromthat area.
Those lines can becomeenergized at any point in time.

(34:46):
So the official word is thepark is closed until we're able
to get those lines restored.
The unofficial word is ifyou're down there being
productive and you're away fromthat area and you're playing
pickleball or basketball or just, you know, exercising, going
through the park, walking thetrails, obviously strike your
officer not to mess with folks.

Speaker 1 (35:06):
They use discretion and they're pretty good at doing
that, yeah yeah, question as amayor of a small town, how does
the relief excuse me?
The recovery, the rescueefforts, how are they organized,
which you somewhat describedalready?
But when does federal responsecome in for a small town?

(35:26):
I know it hasn't gotten thatbad in Williamston, but what is
the order of how things happenin recovery?

Speaker 8 (35:34):
Well, let's talk first about what happened.
At about 5 o'clock in themorning I was at my office there
at Autek we're very fortunatewe've got a generator there and
I literally watched the townspeed trailer.
It's got six big 12-voltbatteries, a little small form
factor trailer, but it's a veryheavy piece of equipment.
I literally watched it docartwheels across my parking lot

(35:57):
and so I went bro, this issomething, this is big.
And so our firemen.
They were already on scene.
Most of those spent the nightat the fire department.
So our firemen, they werealready on scene.
Most of those spent the nightat the fire department.
Calls immediately became comingin for service trees, down power
lines, down arcing, I mean allsorts of things that were coming
in.

(36:17):
911 service became completelyoverwhelmed.
We got to a point whereofficers would try to talk on
the radio and you just couldn'tget a response.
The dispatcher were too busytaking all the calls, the phone
lines.
I think they've got about 40lines coming in to dispatch.
They were all.
If you called, you just got abusy signal.

(36:38):
And so we sprung into actionand basically we took my son,
austin.
I called him into the officeand I said look, we've got power
here.
We're going to become adispatch center and that's what
we did.
We basically took that load offof central dispatch because
most things coming in wereemergency situations, but they

(36:59):
weren't somebody having a heartattack or something like that.
It was hey, there's a tree downacross this road, and so we
began triaging that informationliterally in an Excel
spreadsheet and my officeactually became dispatch for
Williams to Police Department,williams to Fire Department in
the cleanup and opening up roadefforts.

(37:19):
Our guys were out literallycutting a tree out of the
roadway, so EMS and fireservices, police services, could
get to those areas andliterally, as they're cutting
trees down, you had other treesfalling right beside them.
It was a pretty dull and hairysituation, but what I figured
out real quick and fast and in ahurry is that any time there's

(37:39):
a natural disaster like this,you really are on your own For
at least the first 48 hours ormore.
You've got to be prepared andyou've got to know and you've
got to be able to look out foryour residents.
And that's an awesomeresponsibility when it settled
in on me.
Literally the lives of ourresidents are in my hands and

(38:01):
making sure that we're doing theappropriate steps, we're
getting roadways open, so on andso forth.
I've definitely learned a lot,and I think our staff has
learned a lot in this situation.
I'm very, very proud of ourcommunity, of our first
responders, of our firemen, ourpolice officers.
They stepped right up ourstreet department.
They stepped right up and didthe best they could, what they

(38:23):
had to work with, and they didone heck of a good job.
I'm very proud of them.

Speaker 1 (38:29):
Yeah, it sounds like they have done a good job.
In driving around Williamston.
I see all the work going on and, yeah, for a small town,
definitely a great job withcoming back from this.
What would you say, though, ifit were to happen again?
What have you learned from thisevent?

Speaker 8 (38:48):
Again, the biggest takeaway I've got is that
there's been some federalresponse.
We've actually had airmen fromthe Air Force come in with heavy
equipment to help clear.
I think we had two moreroadways that were just it was
more than what our equipmentcould handle.
As far as the size and weight,you had, you know, trees that
were basically five foot indiameter entangled with power

(39:10):
lines.
We're not equipped to handlethat type of stuff.
I don't know that we ever willbe, but those folks did respond.
We've had lots of communicationand cooperation with the
Anderson County EmergencyOperations Center.
They've been helpful.
They've got water to ourresidents.
Again, that wasn't a major needfor us personally, but every

(39:31):
little bit helps.
You know the generators.
I can't tell you how many peoplehave been without power for
extended periods of time we hadthe last time I remember was, I
think, 2003.
In my lifetime we had a severeice storm and ice was about
excuse me, power was out forabout two or three days and
people just lost their minds.

(39:51):
We're going on for a week andstill we have areas of town that
are still without power and nopower to be restored in sight.
You've got four poles onEdgewood, four utility poles
that are still down, split inhalf, with power lines all over
the place.
Basically, duke hascommunicated to me that in those

(40:12):
areas like that it's so badthat it makes no sense to repair
.
It's just a complete start allover and redo Brand new poles,
brand new lines and everything.
So those things are going totake quite a bit of time to
recover from.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
Yeah, and how would you?
I've been asking everybody thistoday.
But how can you recommendpeople help, what organizations
to get involved in or notorganizations just help your
neighbors.
It's been a popular thing.
But people want to help butsometimes they can get in the
way of other people helping.
That we've heard.

(40:46):
So what's the best?

Speaker 8 (40:47):
way, the biggest thing is, if you want to help in
the efforts, the biggest thingyou can do is help your neighbor
.
Make sure your neighbor istaken care of.
If you've got a generator, justlike I'm very fortunate.
God has blessed me more than Iever deserve, but I had a
generator in my house.
That's a whole house generator.
I was not without power at anypoint in time.

(41:08):
As soon as the power flickered,my generator kicked on and it
ran for about a week.
My neighbors were able to comein and plug into my outside
outlets um, that I put in forother peripheral devices, but
they were able to plug in, keeptheir food cold and uh, freezers
going.
That type thing, helping yourneighbor is is absolutely
essential in a natural disasterlike this.

(41:29):
You know the government.
You can't depend on thegovernment.
I'm just going to tell you thatstraight up.
There's no way you can dependon the government to take care
of your needs.
You have to be self-sufficient.
We will help and we will helpas much as we possibly can, but
in most cases we're going to betied up just getting the
roadways open, getting 911 backactive, making sure that we have

(41:51):
the appropriate staff on hand,but you really are on your own.
So you need to prepare and makesure that in all cases you're
prepared at least with essentialstuff to be able to feed
yourself and your children andthat type of thing.

Speaker 1 (42:02):
All right.
Well, you've been doing a greatjob at that, Williamston, as
everybody's stepped up and donea good job there was one
question that.
I hear you.

Speaker 8 (42:13):
I've watched, listen, I've watched some store.
I could tell you some storiesand when I know we don't have
the time today, but one day whenwe've got the time, I'd love to
tell some of the stories thatare absolutely will make the
hound hound, the back, you next,and a lot, of, a lot of love
and a lot of support going onthroughout our community.
People have one another andthat's essential.

Speaker 1 (42:32):
Yeah, and those stories need to be told.
So yeah, we will do that oneday.
We did have a slightlyoff-topic question A lot of
people talking about a sonicboom or something yesterday.
No, I'm not going to ask youthat today, but now that you
said something, can you give usan update?
No, I'm not going to ask youthat today, but now that you
said something, can you give usan update?
No, I'm just kidding.
There was a sonic boom of somesort yesterday a lot of people

(42:53):
were talking about.
Do you know anything about that?

Speaker 8 (42:54):
There was actually one.
Today's the first day I've hada chance to get down to my farm
it's actually at Abbeville totry to clear a path so Abbeville
Public Utilities can get in.
One of the main feeders cutsright through my farm so they
can restore power for folksthere.
So I'm down here now.
We actually had one there thatis Lockheed Martin testing the
F-16s and the good thing, Iactually heard this, believe it

(43:16):
or not, here in Abbeville, butfor the most part I never even
hear it because I'm half deafand I've been running chainsaws
for a week.

Speaker 1 (43:24):
Yeah, yeah.
So you're going to be even moredeaf now.

Speaker 8 (43:26):
Oh yeah yeah, so you're going to be even more
deaf now.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
Oh my gosh.
Well, thank you for everythingthat you do.
We really, really appreciateyou as the mayor of Williamston
Don't thank me.

Speaker 8 (43:35):
Thank the folks that are out there.

Speaker 1 (43:37):
Absolutely.

Speaker 8 (43:37):
Busting their butts every day.
We appreciate them very much.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
All right, Take care of that voice and we'll talk to
you again soon, all right.
Thank you, Take care my friend,that's Rocky Burgess, the mayor
of Williamston, and Williamstonhas done a great job in recovery
.
Just driving around and seeingall that there is to be done and
knowing that they're limited,staff, wise and such, they've
done a great job as a small town.
We'll continue with ourcoverage in just a minute and

(44:01):
then Mr Calvin Landreth andcompany will take over with more
of a teenage perspective Peopletelling some stories from
different communities, teenagersand their families coming up in
the 1 o'clock hour.
So stay tuned for that.
You're listening to ourHurricane Helene Aftermath
special here on MyPulse Radio.

Speaker 7 (44:24):
Envision Williamson is a nonprofit organization that
puts together fun activitiesand events for the town of
Williamston.
Have to pay your water bill,ask about trash pickup or
inquire about other townbusiness.
Well, that's not what EnvisionWilliamson does.
Think new business, ribboncuttings, town cleanup day,
community fundraisers adopt ashelter, the new dog park,
concerts and events such asBobbers on the Big Creek, cinco

(44:45):
de Mayo and Williamson WinterWonderland.
When you think about fun, thinkEnvision Williamston.
They're always open to yourideas too.
You can check outEnvisionWilliamstoncom or their
Facebook page.

Speaker 10 (45:03):
Have you been looking for some cheap, good
food?
Well, stop on by ElmageeMexican Restaurant on 101
Highway 20, pelzer.
They have all your favoriteMexican food, from enchiladas to
chalupas, or you can even havesweet desserts like fried ice
cream and get this.
They have up to 34 combos allunder $9.
Don't have the time to stop inand eat.
You can call 864-947-9101.

(45:24):
And they'll have it preparedfor you within 10 to 20 minutes.
To pick up, call 864-947-9101or just dine in at 101 Highway
20, pelzer.
I'm so sick of these crappybarbershops.

Speaker 14 (45:34):
What do you mean?
I want a barbershop that treatsme like family.
Have you heard of Doc's ChopShop?
Doc's Chop Shop yeah, it's aveteran owned and operated
barbershop that provides qualityhaircuts at affordable prices.
They even provide discounts forseniors, military, law
enforcement and first responders.
Wow, that's great.

(45:54):
Where can I find them?
You can visit their location inPiedmont or visit their website
at DocsChopShopBScom for moreinformation.
Docs Chop Shop where veteranscan be veterans.

Speaker 15 (46:01):
Let's be honest no one wants their home to feel too
hot or too cold and thanks toDavis Son Heating Air, it
doesn't have to.
Specializing in HVACinstallation maintenance and
repairs, davis Son can guaranteethat your home feels just right
.
Call today at 864-221-2219 forthe local family-run business

(46:21):
with the best solutions for allyour heating and air needs.
Again, that's 864-221-2219.
Davis Son, the family you neverknew you needed.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
John Boone back with you on the Hurricane Helene
Aftermath special here onMyPulse Radio, just a few
minutes left of my section ofthis show.
The kids have been doing agreat job, our students at ACTC
in the media broadcastingdepartment giving you five hours
of programming today.
That hopefully has encouragedyou, made you smile a little bit

(46:52):
and giving you a whole lot ofinformation as well.
Made you smile a little bit andgiving you a whole lot of
information as well.
And we're going to go rightback to the phone lines before
we wrap it up here and talk tomy friend, angie Stringer.
She's the executive director atthe Cancer Association of
Anderson.
She's also involved in theGuard and figured she'd have a
pretty good perspective onwhat's going on.
How are you, angie?

Speaker 6 (47:12):
Hi John, I'm doing well.
Thank you for calling me today.
Hi John, I'm doing well.
Thank you for calling me today.
I hope everybody is starting toget their power back on and
getting some semblance ofnormalcy back.

Speaker 1 (47:22):
Yeah, how did it go for you personally and at the
Cancer Association?

Speaker 6 (47:27):
Well, you know, we were very fortunate at the
Cancer Association.
We did not lose power and wedidn't lose internet, which was
amazing.
The last storm we had there wasa huge tree on East Calhoun
Street that went down and we hadno phone or Internet for almost
two weeks and we were out inand out of power.
So this was a blessing that weweren't out, but at home, a

(47:52):
little bit different situationlost a lot of huge trees and it
knocked our power out.
So we were without power for afew days, learned how to warm
water on the propane burner andpour it through our coffee maker
for coffee.
I don't want to eat ramennoodles for a while.
I hear you Again.

Speaker 1 (48:15):
But other than that, hey, we're blessed're blessed
we're here and everything'sgoing well ramen noodles got me
through uh, my first year out ofcollege when I didn't have a
job quite yet and had to cut thebudget.
But so I know exactly.
He got creative with him aftera while with how you use
seasonings and such.
But exactly.
Anyway, I digress, tell usabout the Cancer Association.

(48:38):
I know you want to let peopleknow what resources there are to
help them at this time.

Speaker 6 (48:44):
Yes, well, for cancer patients, what we did yesterday
we had a Coffee andConversations event and we had
patients and their caregiversand family members and even some
people from the community justcame and stopped by.
We had bagels and coffee anddonuts and different things for

(49:07):
people to charge their phones.
We brought in extra power cordsand different kind of cables we
could find for Android andiPhone and everything so that
people could come in, and itactually turned out to be a very
well-attended and a nice event.
We had people just come in andstop by and, although going
forward it's not going to be aformal event, we still have

(49:30):
coffee, we can get donuts and ifyou need to charge your phones
or anything or your ipads, comeon by, we'll.
We'll be available all nextweek for that um.
So in anderson, um, that's whatwe're doing.
We've had some some of ourpatients um without power for a
while that weren't able to umget food, and so we have one

(49:54):
grant that we get annuallythrough the Etnair Foundation
for helping us with nutritionfor cancer patients and their
families, and we were able toget some food boxes out to those
patients and their families.
So that's been a blessing.
We had also some issues gettingto some of our patients that

(50:18):
normally use our vehicle to getback and forth to their
appointments, and some of themwere very tricky to get to.
They were in areas with trees.
You know, all across AndersonCounty we have some beautiful,
beautiful old trees andunfortunately a lot of them were
taken out by this storm.

Speaker 1 (50:38):
Yeah, yeah.
And now the other thing wasthat you're still involved with
the Guard a little bit.
What did you, what were youdoing with that?

Speaker 6 (50:46):
Well, right now I'm just doing some operational
activities from home.
In past storms I've beendeployed and let me tell
everybody too, there is adifference between the State
Guard and the National Guard.
National Guard is as you know,they're a federal, they're under

(51:07):
the Army and they answer to theAdjutant General for the state
of South Carolina to doactivities and deployments
within the state.
But they also can be activatedon a federal level and go
overseas.
The State Guard is the oldestorganization.

(51:28):
The State Guard actually foughtin the Revolutionary War.
South Carolina has one of theoldest we're over 350 years old
and we deploy within the state.
Our commander in chief is thegovernor, so currently Governor
McMaster, and then under him isthe adjutant general, and so

(51:52):
there's several branches ororganizations under him, which
is of course the National Guard.
We have the State Guard, theyhave several other, the Joint
Services Detachment that allanswer.
So the State Guard our motto istrained and ready and we go out
within 24 hours we can be onthe ground in an area.

(52:15):
Right now we have deploymentsin Augusta, right on the border,
and in some smaller towns andmunicipalities right around the
Georgia-South Carolina borderwho are doing chainsaw work,
clearing pathways, helpingresidents clean up their area.
That's where our main group isnow.
We also have some near thecoast and some other areas that

(52:38):
were hit pretty bad.
But the State Guard is a greatorganization.
If you're looking to getinvolved with something where
you can really make a difference, it's a great opportunity.
I've been involved with themfor well.
Actually, next year will be 20years that I've been working
with the South Carolina MilitaryDepartment through either the

(53:01):
Joint Services Detachment or theState Guard, and it's a good
way to help your neighbor andget involved and do some things.
And if you want to look them uponline, there's some resources
and you can see some of thepictures of what our members are
doing.
It's sgscgov.
And if you want some otherresources out there, there's a

(53:26):
couple of different sites thatyou can go to.
If people are looking for justways that they can get some help
, whether it's from FEMA or fromany of the other organizations,
whether it's nonprofit orwhatever South Carolina has an
Office of Resilience that youcan get to.
It's scorscgov, and they have alot of resources listed out

(53:53):
there.
A lot of resources listed outthere.
How you can, you know, fill outa form to get FEMA help if
you've been, if you're in anarea that has a disaster
declaration.
They have other information outthere that you can find out
just about other organizationsthat are helping.
There's information about theRed Cross and FEMA and emergency

(54:17):
shelters, closing and delays.
Also, our SCEMD, which is theSouth Carolina Department of
Emergency Management Division,on their site SCEMDorg, has
great resources out there theretoo, and the State Guard works
with other agencies.
So we stay in contact withwhat's going on there and try to

(54:40):
help out and undergird ourstate to strengthen our
resilience.
So if you're interested in StateGuard and you think you might
want to get involved, I'd beglad to talk to you, we'll sign
you up John.

Speaker 1 (54:53):
I don't know what I can do these days, but I guess
everybody can do a littlesomething.
But hey, we're up against theclock.
But I appreciate all thatinformation.
That was good, because even Iwas a little confused about what
was National Guard, what wasState Guard, and I appreciate
you sharing that, being involvedas you are, and all the work
you do with Cancer.
Association of Anderson.
Thanks for spending time withus today.

Speaker 6 (55:14):
Thank you, john, I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (55:21):
Everybody stay safe out there.
All right, that is AngieStringer from the Cancer
Association of Anderson.
She's the executive director.
Glad to hear that they weren'taffected by too much damage.
I did want to give a shout outto Clayton Caldwell.
He was not able to call intoday, but he's one of our
former students in mediabroadcasting who is a pilot now
and was flying one of thoseprivate planes into North
Carolina to deliver goods andwanted to get his perspective.

(55:42):
But guess what, he's too busy.
He's actually in flight at thismoment, so maybe further down
the line we'll get his story.
Thanks for joining me for thisportion of MyPulse Radio's
Hurricane Helene Aftermathspecial Calvin and the rest of
the crew coming up next here onMyPulseRadiocom.