In addition to Operation Airdrop (how cool is that?) from public donations yesterday, they had a convoy of trucks taking over 70Klbs of food/clothing/stuff down East.
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It’s wonderful that those people are helping out but does the US not have a massive airlift capable military? I would presume that they are helping out too?
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Yes, I’ve seen many government planes at work. At this point, it is still focused on the search and rescue of those stranded in the communities that are cut off. The smaller utility helos have been doing much of that work and I’ve seen a bunch of Chinooks doing the lifting of supplies to those communities.
I’m not sure what the status of the delivery chain is for Wilmington at this point. There were some roads that were opening a few days ago, but that only lasted for a day or so before they were back under water from more water coming down from the central part of the state.
I’m heading back over there again this morning shuttling medical staff in to relieve those in the hospital. Our volunteer nurses and doctors are allowing those who live and work in the Wilmington area to perhaps take a little break and go home and attend to their homes and families that are suffering through this as well.
It is, as always in events like this, a reminder of how complex the supply chain is for our daily lives, how easily it can be disrupted, and how much we take for granted our normal availability of food and other items we use in our lives.
For some of these flood victims, this is probably the third flooding event in the past 15 years. “Build somewhere else” is what you’ll hear, but many of these communities are dirt poor, the land is all they have handed down from generations, and there are few realistic opportunities for them to move elsewhere based on their financial situations.
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Army Reserve has had Blackhawks in constant motion over the eastern part of the state, but there are a lot of people who need help, and a lot of the time, the story has been “we can’t really get fully spooled up until the waters recede further.”
Some trucks are able to get into some parts of Wilmington, but most of the area is flooded worse now than it was right after the storm.
Holy crap. Is that 140 crossing over the river?
Yes…that’s it…! Hard to believe how wide a swath the river is running now.
Fair enough but I still have a hard time seeing how GA aircraft can get in better or contribute more then blackhawks and transport aircraft?
Runway length, specific load, and cost effectiveness in some cases. These guys all know people on the coast or know of specific need areas in many cases moreso than the government does. They can go into and out of smaller airfields delivering specific loads that might be more urgently needed. Basically, they are more of a scalpel than a sledgehammer. I don’t think it is the people of Wilmingon per se that need the help at this moment, but there are a ton of isolated smaller communities that are surrounded by water. Delivering these smaller caches of supplies to smaller airports and then having volunteers like the Cajun Navy deliver them is probably helping in big ways in smaller areas.
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Perhaps so, I still have a hard time comprehending this though.
That’s the route from 40 proper to the Battleship NC- I know it well from all my trips down there for tours… I know the park there is flooded and will be for a few more days.
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I think it’s an issue of scale. The pictures on the news are showing mostly Wilmington and New Bern, but the entire eastern part of the state has been affected in varying ways, and a lot of it is incredibly rural, and a lot of even the secondary roads have been shut down until fairly recently, creating lots of islands of need cut off from each other. Our survey crews have been working the very dynamic problem of trying to get teams to various places all week, with varying levels of success.
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Pereira Osprey GP-5 - The Sport Class racer “Sweet Dreams” after a qualifying session at the Reno Air Races - V-8 powered homebuilt racer
Info link - GP-5 At Reno 2010: Wooden It Be Great... - blog - AirPigz
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Flew over the battleship today. Flooding had looked like it might have reached the building perhaps. The Cape Fear alongside downtown doesn’t look nearly as bad as the areas north and northwest of the city. The roads up north are still underwater but some are improving…but they go up and down. Last I heard there were three routes open into the city…
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It has - visitors center has some flood damage from what I understand. I was supposed to be there next weekend for a luncheon, but that’s been pushed back. I guess that downtown across the river is on enough of a hill that flooding isn’t a problem. We have an office on Front Street, and it only took a little bit of water damage due to being an old building. I know UNCW is going to be closed for a while to come still.
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That looks like a photo the place would use for an event invitation! 
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Bilbao! I’m going there in a month or so!!
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That’s it for work until March! See you later Auckland CBD!
Taking 5 months of parental leave. Off to Finland and Europe on Tues. Pretty stoked!
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