Welcome to iHeartRadio Communities, a public affairs special focusing on the biggest issues impacting you. This week, here's Ryan Gorman. Thanks so much for joining us here on iHeartRadio Communities. I'm Ryan Gorman, and we have a few very important conversations lined up for you as a large portion of the country reels from the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene. In a bit we'll check in with the American Red Cross to discuss the work they're doing in some of
the hardest hit communities. But first, to get things started, I'm joined by Deputy Managing editor at The Hill, Katie Waddington, to talk about her recent piece titled what It's Like in Ashville After Helene. You can read the piece, and I highly recommend you do at The Hill dot com. Katie, thank you so much for coming on the show. And I want to go back to the beginning, the day or two leading up to the arrival of Helene. What were things like and how concerned was everyone there?
Thanks for having me. We were worried because we had a big stormfront come through that was comply unrelated. It came in from the west as as storm as usually do, and it dumped eight inches of rain at the airport, which is about ten minutes from my house, and it was around that day that we started seeing these forecast
maps that had simply unbelievable numbers on them. Brevard, which I'm sure a lot of your listeners would be familiar with if they travel up this way, is typically almost a rainforest, so it always gets a lot more rain and some spots for forecast to get twenty or thirty inches of rain, which is impossible to wrap your head around. So we were worried, but at the same time, like people would say, are you ready, Are you ready? Like
what can I do? You know? I don't know. Aside from getting candles and batteries and making sure my phones and batteries are charged, we really didn't know what we could prepare for. And businesses I know that are closer to rivers had sandbags, but really sandbag like the water just laughed at the sandbags. In a lot of these areas.
Are these areas that are prone to flooding, obviously not to this extent, but more general flooding like you would typically see after you know, a big rainstorm or something like that.
Yes, the French Broad River which is the main river north south through town pretty much north south, and the Swananoa river which runs through the Biltmore estate. It runs through Builtmore Village and then other towns to the east of it. They have known to flood, particularly the swan and Noah. It is the banks are pretty low, and so it's not unusual at all if we get particularly
a very fast rainstorm. When I was I worked at the Citizen Times for years and so I've covered plenty of storms, and we would have storms where, oh, the water is up to the bridge on the main road, you know, where the Swana Noah runs under, and that was a big deal. And maybe people would get an interer to a water in a big, fast storm with a lot of rain. But this is, you know, simply unprecedented.
Did you find that because the totals that were being predicted were so enormous and unlike anything you'd seen before, did you find that that maybe people that just didn't think something like that would actually end up happening. Was there some complacency in terms of evacuating and getting out of harm's way.
I don't think so. I think there was a there was a voluntary evacuation order that came out Thursday, late Thursday for places that were near rivers. And this is a tough as nails part of you know the world, And I think there's just people who weren't going to evacuate no matter what, thinking how bad could it really be? And there's a lot it's not an easy place to evacuate. There's curvy, windy roads up and down mountains, and it's just not an easy place to get a lot of people out of at once.
Here in Florida, we deal with these hurricanes, you know, it seems like there's yeah, a couple each year that are potentially a close call. So there was a little bit of complacency, I feel like, in terms of people saying, you know, five to eight feet of storm surge, we'll see if we actually get that. And then unfortunately, when it rolled in, it became a real problem. And I also felt like sometimes it's hard to imagine what those
totals actually mean in reality. Was that the case there where you're hearing these levels of water that could be impacting community and it was kind of hard to get a sense as to how that would damage buildings because when I'm looking at images of houses underwater. It wasn't like, you know, there was just the ground floor. I mean you had entire homes and structures almost completely submerged.
Yes, and some houses were just completely literally taken right off the foundation and rushed away. My daughter's a friend of my daughter's, she got out of her house thirty some seconds before a flash flood literally ripped it from the foundation and took it down the water. An example for you in terms of preparedness, a brewery that I was at playing trivia a week ago Tuesday, which is your average one story cinder block building, had maybe three
feet of fanbags in front of it. It is not far from the Swannanoa River, so they knew they were going to get flooded. It is now rubble and there's nothing left. So it's a matter of like just unimaginable. You would imagine, oh, maybe the worst case will get six feet of water, right, and that would have been good.
And it seems like the speed at which the water rushed in in that's obviously part of the reason there's so much damage. But it didn't leave people a lot of time to react.
No, no, And certainly we had the worst of the storm between about six and ten in the morning on Friday, and the flooding really got bad by mid afternoon. In terms of flash floods, and think about it, you know mountains, It all runs downhill, which makes it even worse as opposed to a flat area.
So the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in your town, tell us about that experience.
Well, where I am located, which is about twelve miles south of downtown, it is recovering. We got water yesterday, we are getting some power online, so we are definitely in much much better shape than many parts of town. They just opened another shelter yesterday for people who have found themselves in houses they can't live in. So it will be in some areas months and years of recovery. I have not been able to get out a whole lot because we've had gas shortages up here, so I
haven't seen with my own eyes much damage. And we just got enough internet at the house to actually pick up pictures to start seeing some pictures of the River Arts District and Swannanoah Black Mountain areas that were under feet and feet of water. The water system is probably the biggest, most immediate concern because Ashville's water system needed repairs years before this even happened. And there are pipes
that are you know, they don't exist anymore. Or the water treatment facility was under eight you know, eight inch or I think several feet I shouldn't give a number, but several feet of water. So it's it's things like that. Where in Swananoah, which had just devastating flooding, the substations for the power were completely flooded and will probably need to be rebuilt, so those things will take months. It is. It's just small businesses around here are going to have
to figure out how to survive. But I think you could draw some parallels to COVID in terms of businesses having to close, but the difference being you can't reopen a business if you don't have water, you know, in terms of a restaurant for it or uh, it's just going to be I think something well, you know, to
use the same metaphor. We can't wrap our head around exactly what this recovery is going to look like in a lot of ways, and Asheville has been a thriving tourist town for years, we're going to need tourists to come back when we're ready for tourists to come back, but that is not right now.
One last thing I want to ask you about, Yeah, the areas around Asheville, because Asheville is pretty well known, like you said, a tourist destination, but like the aftermath of some other storms I've covered, it's those towns, more rural towns, more isolated towns and neighborhoods. Those are some of the ones that I get worried about because sadly they end up becoming an afterthought after the news cycle
has moved on. What are some of your concerns in regards to those communities in your region.
Definitely a great thing to highlight Yancey County, for instance, which is very rural. It's north of Ashville, a popular destination for second homes among some people because they want to get away from the hustle and bustle. And from what I have seen on social media, some towns up there are completely inaccessible. I don't know if they've reached the point of feeling forgotten, but I wouldn't be surprised
if that's the case. I know there are air drops going on in some of those further out counties to get supplies to people who are trapped, and these counties wouldn't have the infrastructure or the resources to rush rescues right away. But I think people are doing bust they can and trying to get to everyone they can. And the community has been just astounding, you know, meeting neighbors who didn't know a week ago, and really everyone's doing great job helping each other.
You're right in your piece. All talk of politics here has been nearly forgotten as we seek word of where we can get ice or fuel or find out who has power or water. Really is incredible to see neighbors and coming together and putting in all that kind of stuff aside in the aftermath of an event like this. Last question for you for those listening if they want to help, any recommendations on that.
Yeah, sure, several locations United Way of ashual Buncom County, I'm sure as taking donations. Mana food Bank, which is the food bank for approximately twenty counties out here, lost their entire warehouse which was on the Swannanoa River. That would be a fantastic place to donate. Brother Wolf Animal Rescue also near the river, which is a no kill shelter. They got all their animals down in time, but I
can't speak to their facility at this point. That's another good place and beloved Ashville is doing an amazing job of trying to secure resources. I was voluntearing there yesterday and I'm seeing people come in just to get a couple of days worth of food and water.
Katie Waddington, Deputy great Ja Managing editor at The Hill with the piece called what It's Like in Ashville after Helene. You can read it at The Hill dot com and you can follow her on X two at Katie Waddington. Katie, We're so sorry for everything you and your community is going through, but we appreciate you telling the story and coming on the show. Thanks so much, Thank you so much.
Appreciate it.
All right, I'm Ryan Gorman here on iHeartRadio Communities, and now let me bring in my next guest. I'm joined by Evan Peterson, national spokesperson for the American Red Cross. You can learn more about all the work this organization is doing, especially in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, at Redcross dot Org. Evan, thank you so much for taking a few minutes to join us, and let's start with the work the American Red Cross was doing in advance
of Helene across the southeast, preparing for it. Tell us about that.
So as soon as we saw it pop up on the radar of meteorologists, we started getting a plan in place. We take every potential threat seriously, and we were basically in a constant state of preparedness. So when we started seeing it forecasted where we think this might land, what we did in advance of this storm was we started moving hundreds of people, hundreds of vehicles, and tens of
thousands of different types of resources. So these are things like cleanup kits, meals ready to eat, and even blood products, hundreds of blood products into the path of this storm, so that when our crews had to shelter in place, when first responders needed to get right to start receiving people, and the all clear was given, they were able to come out and immediately start doing good, immediately start helping.
So we take this all very very seriously, and whether it's a home fire in a neighborhood on one side of the country, or it's a big disaster like this, the Red Cross stands ready to respond.
Certainly, the size and scope of this natural disaster, the devastation over such a large area that had to present I'm assuming some unique challenges and quite a bit of preparation.
It did, yes, because every single area that this storm flew over, those are conversations that our teams locally are not only having with the residents that live in these communities, but also they're community partners that help us tremendously deliver services of the people in need, but also the municipal officials, the county officials, state and even federal officials depending on
the needs in those communities. So we immediately start calling down our rosters and calling out into the community about making sure everyone is ready, so again that a plan is in place, and obviously we know that too. The plan for preparedness is going to look very different in Florida than say Georgia, the Carolinas, are even Tennessee, just based off of geography. And then when that all clear is given, we come out, we assess the damage, and we respond accordingly to what we see in here.
So can you explain how the Red Cross works. You've got the national organization and then you have the different regions set up around the country which focus in on the local level. When you have a major natural disaster like this covering numerous regions, how does the coordination and the allocation of resources work.
So we have teams and they are secured off by different regions, so they are responsible for a certain geographic area, for instance, like the Georgia region is the entire state of Georgia, so all the way from Rome down to the very bottom like see the ASTA area, and then everywhere in between. You know that Georgia team that region is focused on making sure that everything in that area is happening, and if they need more support, we are able to reach out, being a national organization, to people
beyond that state. But say something like Florida, where again they are constantly dealing with storms, flooding and of course hurricanes, that is split up into several different regions in it of itself, so that when something happens and there may be such a demand or in need, their response is
going to look very different. Their geographic area is much smaller, they can say, compared to Georgia, but the intensity and the demand for their products is so significant that it takes a whole team to handle that in and of itself.
But that's again is the benefit of being part of a national organization like the American Red Cross, is that if there is ever a need for help or services or support beyond what a single region is able to offer, we are able to pull from so many other different areas because, again getting back to like preparing for Hurricane Hallen, we knew that there was going to be a need for blood and so we moved hundreds of blood products into these areas so that first responders of medical officials
would have something to reach. On top of that, we also knew that the blood drives or the blood appointments that were going to be set up during that time, that the storm would pass over, those cancelations would happen. And that is only made possible because of the generosity of the public, the generosity of our team, which is primarily made up of volunteers, ninety percent of our workforces volunteers, and then of course the generous donation and support of the public.
I'm Ryan Gorman, joined by Evan Peterson, national spokesperson for the American Red Cross. You can learn more about all the work they do, including the response to those impacted by Hurricane Helene, at Redcross dot org. So the storm hits and then in the immediate aftermath once you're given the all clear. What was it that the Red Cross began to do in these different regions across the southeast.
Began to make sure that we were in const of communication with the emergency management officials that make that call, because when they say that's it storms overhead, everyone takes shelter, get in place. We do the same with our team. You want safety be top priority for everyone who is a Red Crosser, and then especially those people who come to us those evacuation shelters that are in our care. So depending on where you are, that response me look
a little bit differently. For those people that were working in those shelters of support, that meant keeping the lights on, keeping those doors open, because for many people, unfortunately, they leave, they get you all clear, they leave our shelter, they leave our care, and they go back home. Some of them it's just a puddle on their front door, and that's an amazing moment that they're okay, they still got power,
they still got running water, everything's fine. But for so many other people, they left our shelters and they came right back saying I don't have a house, I don't have a neighborhood anymore, I don't know what to do, and that's where we come in. We help with those immediate needs, and then when the time is right, when we have enough of a sense that we can start changing the phase of our operation, we start helping them figure out what those next steps to recovery can look like.
The fact that you have these regional organizations that are focused on very specific areas that seems like a really important aspect to all of this, because you will know the other organizations in the area, and also you'll be able to work hand in hand like you just alluded to with local officials, because every need is a little bit different depending on the community, and especially with this storm,
where different areas got impacted differently. In the Big Bend of Florida, it was a really massive storm surge and wind event with that direct hit. Then you had some of the extreme flooding that we saw in Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina. A lot of different areas impacted by the storm, but depending on the location the terrain, the need for a bit of a different response might have been there.
Yeah, and the relationships that we build in these communities are everything not just with our community partners and our government officials and our community officials, but these are our
neighbors that we are helping, and so we come. You know, we go to work every single day and we work alongside these folks, and those relationships we build in advance of these storms is so crucial because when problems start arising, when emergencies start getting declared, we are a well oiled machine and we rely on those relationships because they're so important to us. These aren't just some random people that
we are helping. These are our neighbors. These are our friends, our family, are loved ones, and so that is so important. And yeah, to your other point, the disaster response looks different depending on where people are. The other day, I was down in Tallahassee, Florida. You know, that was one of the areas where were landfall for this hurricane, and we really thought kind of that big Bend area in Florida was really going to take the brunt to this.
We were talking about major Storm Surgeon category four hurricane wins. And that still did happen, and that hit, but that community is very resilient. There were still an awful lot of damage that happened, and there are many people that don't have a home quite like they used to. But it was interesting. I remember talking of Molomen in particular in Tallahassee, and I was asking her, like, how are
you doing? How have things been going? And she says, you know, I think if anyone were to drive down my street, you would have no idea that hurricane just passed it over. There are no trees down, everything still upright. Houses still look good. But at night time is when you'll notice it. There's no power in our neighborhood. I had six feet of water in my home. I can't live there anymore. So yeah, I still have a house to go back to it if I need to, but I can't. The mold is such a problem. Now she
doesn't know what to do. And again that's where we come in. But then just going up north to you know, the Carolinas, western North Carolina, whole towns are completely in shambles. I heard one resident that I spoke with who lived in the Ashville areas as it looks like a bomb
went off in her neighborhood. And that's just something that we've really tried to press upon people, is that things may look good in your neighborhood, and things may be going well and that's great, but there are your neighbors still out there, maybe even over the border in a different state, that are really needing help here. And so we are so appreciative of everybody that enters our call to help those people, because this is going to be a path recovery that's going to take a long time.
I'm Ryan Gorman, joined by Evan Peterson, a national spokesperson for the American Red Cross. You can learn more about all the work they're doing in the aftermath of Hurricane Helen at Redcross dot org. That's also where you can support those efforts. What is it that those in these communities generally need and that you provide for them in the aftermath of a disaster like this one.
So as soon as the all clear is given again by emergency officials, our focus is on addressing people's immediate needs. Again, we had so many people that left our care to go back to their homes that find out that maybe their home is still standing, but they don't have running water, they don't have electricity, they don't have a way to keep their food cold. So we can come and we can provide that warm, healthy meal for them to eat.
We can give them a place to shower, charge their electronic devices, you know, because communication is so important, being able to reach out to your loved ones, your family, friends, let them know you're okay, or chicken on those friends who you haven't heard from, and then also providing that
spiritual and mental care. I think for so many people, being around the storm of this magnitude is incredibly incredibly traumatizing, and for them this has been like maybe the fourth big storm that they've dealt with in just over a year, So having to relive this every single time is incredibly gut wrenching. And so we have professionals on site who can help people of all ages, from young kids to
the parents to older adults process what they're seeing. Because we know those signs of trauma and those conversations are going to look at very different for people at every stage of life, and we want them to know that we are here to help address your immediate needs and that we're going to get through this together.
I'm Ryan Gorman, joined by Evan Peterson, a national spokesperson for the American Red Cross. So what can those listening do to help support these specific efforts those impacted by Helene.
That's a great question, because this is a recovery process that for a lot of people is going to be lasting an awfully long time, and we are committed to helping people get through this. But I would say making a financial donation to support our mission, you can go to Redcross dot org and make a contribution there. We know that this is going to be a process that
goes for an awfully life long time. And every single bit of care that we provide someone, whether it's something done virtually or in person, if they're coming to our shelters, or we're out in their community driving up and down their streets, giving them meals, giving them clean up kits, what have you, it completely is free of charge, and that is so important and it made possible because of the generosity of the public and donations like this. So thank you.
Let's broaden thanks out for a moment and talk about some disasters that you have to respond to in other parts of the country. You've got wildfires out west, You've got sometimes severe storms, tornadoes and things like that in the Midwest. How does the American Red Cross as preparations for those types of disasters differ or how is it similar to what we're experiencing right now in the southeast with Helene.
We know that because of the climate crisis, that extreme weather is happening more frequently, and the storms that people typically experience at any given point in the year are becoming more For you know, the hurricane season, the forecast for this year, for instance, we were expected to get more stronger named storms, and so we ask people that even if they've been through a wildfire season before, a tornado season, a hurricane season, to please do not get complacent.
These storms are coming at us in a way that we have not seen before, and so we need to remind people that preparation is key. If you have your emergency management officials, if you have your neighbors, with your friends saying hey, we need to start putting together preparedness kit. We need to start having a plan put together to evacuate or even to maybe shelter in place. Taking steps
to do that may end up saving your life. And I always tell people or people come to me and they say, you know, Evan, I don't understand or I'm feeling a little insecure about putting something like this together. It seems like a very overwhelming process, and I tell people just take a deep breath for a second. We have resources to guide you through the step by step. One of the most effective tools that people can use to help them walk through this process is our emergency application.
It can be downloaded on Apple or Android devices. Just go to your app store and type in the American Red Cross and you'll see it as one of the first suggestions that come up like an emergency, like you would when you call nine to one one, download this application.
And what's so great about this is it'll walk you through those types of guides about how to go about packing a preparedness kit, who you should think about packing it for, if you're going to shelter in place, what does that need to look like, what kind of medication do we need to have with have a medical equipment we need to consider making sure that we have in
a safe spot. But also if you are told to evacuate and you need to go to a shelter or a center, we have a map on there that will show you, based off of your positioning, where the closest one is to you and where to go. So I've told that for many people who've been given that order to evacuate as a result of this most recent hurricane, that that emergency apple will show you where safety is and where help is going to be provided.
You mentioned something earlier that I want to circle back to because it's really important blood donation. It's a big part of the work you do at the American Red Cross, and there's always a need for them. But how does a disaster like what we're seeing in the southeast in the aftermath of Helene, How does that impact blood donations lead to potential blood shortages and what can people do to help on that front.
Blood donations are a crucial part of our ability to respond to any given emergency, because, as we said, we know that when the storm comes over, people and it's the safest thing to do, are going to cancel their appointment because they don't need to be out on the road. So we had that cancelation of appointments, which definitely hurt us in those areas, But also we wanted to make sure that our first responders, those hospital and emergency crews, if and when they need to reach for blood, that
their coffers were stocked. So it takes a while to process blood from the donation. A single donation takes about an hour to do. The actual donation part we're sitting in there is you know, it can be over in as quick as ten to fifteen minutes, very very fast. But this is a life saving resource, and we are always telling people that we need to not only be mindful of the current disasters that we are responding to, but the ones that still come. I mean, we are
still keeping our eye on a sky. There are still several weeks left in hurricane season here, so we don't want people to keep get complacent. We want people to be prepared. If you feel like making a donation of blood, thank you, go to Redcross dot org. You can learn about that on there, and please book and appoyment day. It's going to make a difference and impact people's lives for the better.
And finally, for those who want to volunteer and help the Red Cross in that way, how can they go about doing that?
A very similar thing. Donating your time is such a big part of supporting the Red Cross mission. People that are interested in becoming a volunteer, in applying your skill set to support our mission, you can go to red Cross dot org and you can learn about what the needs are in your local community and how you can best apply that to helping our neighbors in need. As I mentioned, ninety percent of the American Red Cross's workforce
is comprised of volunteers. We cannot do what we do without those people stepping up, choosing to leave the comfort and safety of their home to go help their neighbors in need. So on behalf of our organization. For those answering that call.
Thank you so much, Evan Peterson, national spokesperson for the American Red Cross. You can learn more and support all the work they're doing, including across the Southeast and the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, at Redcross dot org. Evan, I want to thank you so much for again the tremendous work your organization is doing right now, and for taking the time to come on the show. We really appreciate it.
Thank you so much. Be well and stay safe all right you as well.
And that's going to do it for this edition of iHeartRadio Communities. As we wrap things up, I want to offer a big thanks to all of our guests and of course to all of you for listening. I'm your host, Ryan Gorman, We'll talk to you again real soon.