Nobody Talks About These Towns

[Music]
today we’re going to go on a mega road
trip what do you think the country
should know about what’s going on out
here this is known as the billiondoll
road just completely flooded over here
purest quartz in the world i’m out of
spot we’re just going to keep following
these dump trucks out in the middle of
nowhere apocalypse hauler are you a back
to the lander this is cool so it’s just
a mini home out here super tiny living
for sure what’s going through your mind
when you’re stranded out here no power
no communications how’s my neighbor
looks like
we just got here today texas
representing these are Amish volunteers
socializing with everybody it’s a good
time and here is our Walmart
oh look at all the rebuilding the
government can’t help us because there’s
no legal way for them to give us money
don’t be frustrated with us traffic
people we’re getting there it’s been
either extreme blessings or you lost
everything
[Music]
september 27th 2024
Hurricane Helen came smashing through
this southern part of Appalachia
leaving all sorts of destruction behind
roughly 8 months later what are things
like now so today we’re going on a mega
road trip we’re going to go north up
through these mountains with the goal of
getting all the way to Tennessee
talk to the locals see the sites to get
a better understanding of what things
are like now let’s do this
[Music]
all right guys we’re coming up on a
place called Cane River and I’m just
going to follow these trucks so as you
could see along the drive and that was
about an hour and 20 minutes everything
looks normal and so I’ve spent long
enough time in the region to know that
you can go down a certain road be in a
certain area and you know nothing was
affected and then you can go over a hill
down near River Valley and it’s a
different story it’s really tough to
comprehend the scale of this how much
territory this covered you can see that
massive carnage down there it’s like a
whole forest has been uprooted and put
on the side of the river banks
house across the river totally fine but
the way to the house not look at that
bridge was just taken right out there i
doubt they’re living up there because
there’s no way out
i I was on the hill videoing this so I
have got video to show you what was
going on okay what it looked like
afterwards and I’ve tried telling people
do you think the average local resident
can afford to run these trucks clean up
this debris ton of trucks coming in here
right now yeah no no there’s nothing now
compared to what it was really oh my god
i think that’s important to show some
befores and afters 100%
i had so many interviews out here it’s
ridiculous lots of promises oh we’ll
send you the links and everything else i
get everything second and thirdand
find out what they’re actually putting
out there and it’s nothing I’ve said or
done
i think the majority of people that come
in here have a a story they need to fill
right and the narrative I need to fill
is only listening to the locals and so I
try to talk to as many people as
possible your story is going to be
different than someone else’s but I want
to get as much as I can get but let me
tell you when you’re talking to locals
maybe ask them did they physically go
and apply early with FEMA or for help
did they follow up on it or did they sit
and wait for somebody to show up on
their doorstep which I talked to people
and they were waiting for FEMA to show
up and I’m like it doesn’t work that way
they don’t know where you are there are
people back in hollers there are you
know people up on top of high mountains
this is not Florida where it’s flat and
you can drive down the road and find
somebody that’s got a problem you have
to be proactive if you want help here
what about the people that So you’re off
of Main Road your access will never get
help you know as long as I was on the
property and I was here every day yeah
there were constantly people stopping in
those way back in the haulers that
couldn’t leave that’s when they had the
problems and and neighbors had to let
somebody know where they were okay i
used to own both of these houses i sold
that one in 2020 this was over 120 years
old this had been through every
documented flood at 2:00 in the morning
it had 4 to 5 ft clearance under the
bridge normal 6:00 in the morning it was
midway in the road and it was backwash
that is normal i went in the house made
coffee and I’ve never done this before
but I walked out on the front porch
this was before 7 the water was halfway
up this foundation it never hit the
foundation before
7:11 in the morning okay yes you can see
where the water was halfway up here in
fact it might have been a little bit
above because How scary was that
that became scary i mean for the first
time in all the years I’ve lived here
the fire department was out the day
before asking everybody “Do you want to
evacuate?” I said “No I’ll go up the
hill.” not thinking that anything close
to what we experienced would happen now
this is 922
oh wow this is 924 that’s the twocar
garage
there goes everything at 927 the you
sell your house go down the river house
twocar garage big shed that was up here
wow that’s a 24 foot shed
that’s where the road ended
it has been written up in the Washington
Post and several other major newspapers
this is known as the billionoll road it
is costing a billion dollars
22 miles here because we had so many
bridges taken out so even if people’s
houses survived they couldn’t get to the
houses so what’s your take on the
response the assistance you received
what are your thoughts on that if you’re
to break it down in in the easy nuts and
bolts of it okay well I stay informed on
some things probably a lot of things and
I was in the commercial roofing industry
with Firestone and a Belgian company so
I used to travel to disasters to work
with customers okay so I’ve been in
disasters before one of the things I
learned is the first thing you do is you
contract contact your insurance company
they give you a letter well we’re not
covering floods you go to FEMA
immediately
so the flood was on Friday my son came
up from Myrtle Beach on Monday okay and
I said I have to get to Wi-Fi you have
to understand we had no communication
here at all nowhere in the area because
everything there were so many people
that came in to help i mean it was
overwhelming because they all came in
well it overwhelmed the system okay so
you couldn’t do text you couldn’t do
phone calls you had no Wi-Fi there was
zero communication and you can talk to
anybody here that was one of the biggest
problems we couldn’t call family for how
long
couple weeks
and what I did is my son took me to
Charlotte i got on the internet actually
it was Tuesday morning about 2:00 in the
morning i filed with FEMA 8 hours later
I was contacted by a FEMA inspector we
couldn’t communicate with each other i
would always get everything late at
night okay and so it was Saturday before
he could get out here he couldn’t come
out here without my being here and
signing off on it okay so your
experience overall with FEMA has been
excellent been excellent like a A+ A+ so
they gave you this trailer no who gave
you this they gave you the money i
bought the trailer they gave me the
maximum for losing a house which does
not what a lot of people don’t
understand this is FEMA is not an
insurance policy it’s a disaster relief
it’s to get you on your feet it’s to
help you but they gave you enough for
that yes okay but I lost when you
started adding it up they gave me a
check for $55,000
okay that’s a you know I mean that that
paid for that easily paid for that so
your plan is to live out of here until
this is rebuilt it can’t be rebuilt see
that kind of leaning gray post down
there yep see that um horizontal line
yep that’s base flood elevation anything
that’s built here has to be 2 feet above
that line so just get up a little if you
can yeah get above that that level okay
and so I guess it depends who you talk
to i’ve done already one video i I was
in Batcave area Swanino area and so I
want to cover ground here and get up to
Tennessee today it just it just Yeah
depends who you talk to everyone sort of
has a different take everybody has a
different take but I’m going to tell you
what personally
because I’ve been around disasters
i have seen activity before i’ve never
seen response like this what’s happened
now you’re talking about 6 months after
disaster people get edgy they’re pissed
off right now you know because things
don’t move as fast as they want what
they don’t understand
most people are looking at their
backyard their community this nation
right now has got so many disasters
going on there are people in similar or
worse shape than we are there’s a lot
going on now I want you to walk over
here this is all getting filled in this
was We used to call this the mini Grand
Canyon you’re looking at parts of the
road look at that and they’ve come and
scooped a lot of this stuff out look at
all the field dirt they’re bringing in
they’re bringing in trucks constantly to
fill this in this was all scooped out
and gone where are these workers coming
from all over all over the country the
average person doesn’t realize the hours
that are put in like FEMA people worked
long hours they were here within days
afterwards they thought all this storm
would go to Tennessee they did not
expect it here they were here within
days but people tell you well they did
they weren’t here they never showed up
that was social media’s take that’s what
they were getting off of Facebook so
what works on social media typically
luckily I have an audience that that
wants to go deeper on things but just
trigger bait get your attention you bet
get you enraged your emotions analytics
i love technology the good side the bad
side of technology has really hurt
people here because it’s misleading you
know the thing is is how do you discern
what’s the truth and what’s not the
truth anymore that’s an interesting
detail we don’t think of tax assessor
what they say they’re going to reduce
your taxes what 80%
that’s great
all I’ve got left is land
nothing on it
so but you know what um they made me
feel really good and I feel they do this
with everybody but they told me they
wanted to make sure I stayed here and I
told them honestly and I’ll tell anybody
this after going through this disaster
and I always felt this was the place to
be if there was major issues i was kind
of a prep i was prepared for any
disaster with this i mean I was always
prepared for a lot of stuff and I would
never live anywhere else this reaffirmed
my purpose of being here it’s a
beautiful part of the country it’s not
just the scenery the culture it’s the
culture it’s the people yeah I love
Appalachia yeah I do too feels like
there’s deeper roots or something
they’re real
snake Bite Holler Lane
and this was it and you can see how a
road went down here somehow
and you can see the side of the bridge
still remaining now there’s a temporary
pedestrian path
and so there’s just all along the
riverbank here this sort of thing and so
this is my second video on this topic
the first one I posted last week I got
in with different aid organizations and
we got some exclusive access that was a
part uh south of Asheville so quite far
from here so watch that if you’re liking
this watch that also the goal of this
video is just to freestyle i’m totally
freestyling and just showing you what I
come into as I drive along these roads
so see if we can talk to this guy here
how’s it going out here right now just
trying to get them a way to walk in they
lost their whole bridge
where are you guys from
i’ve seen a ton of trucks going up here
is it get worse as you go up or what’s
the story yeah further you go down the
worse
oh hollas that come down and all of it
comes together and goes out and then it
meets another river that comes out
spruce pile and but I mean it’s this
unreal still a ton of recovery to do
that years yes sir it’d be yours tell
you here is the worst go you can go down
here to that third concrete bridge and
take a ride across it and it you can
tell it he widen the river 50t or more
than what it used to be it was never
this wide and I’ve lived here my whole
life you guys doing all right does it
feel good doing all this work or you
just get tired of making money from
somebody lost everything you don’t but I
can’t afford to do it for free and see
we we volunteered the first three weeks
we we volunteered around there’s a lot
of volunteers came from everywhere yeah
the first three weeks a lot of septics
peptics
we done them for nothing but I can’t
keep on
you got to eat got to fill fill the tank
yeah i got to eat pay bills too what do
you think the country should know about
what’s going on out here well some
people is doing a lot of good and some
people’s taking advantage of the
situation
that’s what I was told i was told that
contractor are taking advantage i was
told uh yesterday some contractor came
in and offered a guy like a million
dollars to make a bridge that’s shorter
than that one the people I talked to
they said 85% if you’re to break it down
85% have good intention out here are
doing good work and then there’s about
15% that are taking advantage of I’d say
it’s more like 30% or a little higher
it’s like these guys running around
hauling this bush with these 250 Ford
trucks and a big trailer dump trailers
you see them hauling up debris trailer
$250 an hour is what I heard they got
$250 an hour yeah it’s around a pickup
and down the road or drive so anything
of this scale you’re always going to get
some losers in there that take advantage
huh
these are Amish volunteers from and then
yesterday they had a van from their same
organization and they came and they had
like refreshments and everything the
women came well the women have been
working here too okay this is unreal so
there’s been a lot of Amish and Menanite
help right in the hurricane areas the
little brown shed over there yep that
was a donation from the Menanite so you
guys are all doing it for free how’s it
been so far oh it’s been great it’s been
a great experience really it’s been
awesome except for my begging dog can I
I’m just recording this video about the
area is that okay okay cool yeah that’s
fine all right so probably 30 there at
the at base 30 people 36 right now 36 so
the the main thing is socializing with
everybody it’s a good time is it cool
being in the English world like this or
what are your thoughts i mean this is
what I’m used to okay i work away i
don’t work at home anymore i still live
at home are you guys on Rumspringer
so Rumbringer for those that didn’t know
you get a few like a year or so to go
off into the world and then decide if
you want to come back or stay it’s kind
of up to each one so once we get
baptized into the church
Amish church is when we’re supposed to
follow the rules okay so there’s there’s
not a certain age that you’re supposed
to get baptized you know have you guys
all been baptized okay no you are you
going to Are you I mean I’m not going to
say for sure i like how I grew up i like
how my dad involved raised me that’s
cool do you speak Pennsylvania Dutch
so when you guys are working together
you speak Pennsylvania Dutch with one
another or you speak English we speak
English okay all right guys well thank
you i’ve heard nothing but good things
i’ve been down in the area for a while
everyone speaks about the Amish with
praise and it’s really cool you guys
came down a lot of respect well okay
ma’am sorry I got distracted i heard
Amish and I ran down here but tell tell
us uh you guys I’m gathering your home
was around here and home was right there
our basement was pretty much this level
we’re building that’s going to be the
top of the basement level and then we’re
putting our living area up top operation
Hilo military based organization they
gave us that Coleman a 17T is brand new
two of them and we gave one to a woman
that lost her husband in the storm
so we paid it forward with her okay and
that’s what we were living in for months
until this came about with the two dogs
and my husband it’s it was really So you
decided uh even though the flood came
through here you’re going you’re going
at it again you’re just going to fortify
it well well yeah we’re making it much
stronger than it was it was uh it was
built in the 50s there is a grant
program that is supposed to come and
they’re going to bring in build dirt and
bring the rocks up that they can to
bring our land back okay so we’re
waiting on that to happen but I have
video of our house going down and did
you apply for FEMA assistance i mean
they gave us the maximum for uh damages
which is our structure but I mean it’s
like we had to give our first born to
get anything out of them and they’re
denying his dad everything because we
didn’t have the property divided so
they’re trying they’re basically trying
to say his house was like our second
home okay so they’re only giving him
like bare minimum so FEMA let me get it
straight they did the emergency funding
but the insurance is going to rebuild
right is that how that works no we
didn’t have to have flood insurance okay
and we didn’t and the my insurance
company came out and they said it was
the waters from the storm and nothing
like that they would cover nothing i got
$5,000 from my insurance company and
that’s it so the only money we’ve gotten
is through donations than just other
organizations that’s helped us so okay
so let me get this straight if you don’t
have flood insurance right so the
insurance company isn’t going to pay
because you didn’t have flood insurance
that’s when FEMA steps in theoretically
like correct you have to go through your
own insurance company first and once
they deny you you have to send the
denial letter to FEMA then they’re
supposed to kick in okay so the maximum
you can get for a structure is 42,500
and the maximum you can get for personal
belongings is the same amount but okay
we have not gotten that i’ve got an
appeal going for uh person you know
personal belongings things like that so
a person in your guys situation gets the
maximum from FEMA which isn’t going to
cover the rebuild obviously you get you
get volunteer work you get organizations
that come in and help like giving you
this right if we’re waiting for FEMA for
a place to live we would Yeah we would
have had nothing the river was frozen
over this year solid did they Did they
want you to move out and like pay for
something they said that they would give
us rental assistance which they never
did which the problem with that was we
had a 91year-old
man his dad that we have to take care of
two huge dogs so that limited us to
where we could go because of the dogs
and it was like an hour and a half away
and we had people looting our property
with what we had they were looting out
here oh yeah right after there were
people walking down the roads that you
could definitely tell weren’t from here
backpacks on this say we had a gas tank
just like that it’s over there still and
it had a blue barrel with a pump on the
top that was gas it had a a hose with
you know the gas pumper thing and that
was purely donation from a gentleman
that came from South Carolina okay and
he drove up and down these roads cuz we
were all living on generators yep and he
would come every other day to help give
us gas kerosene if we needed it which
those people did and propane propane
things like that so he would come every
every other day to top us off okay and
that was purely donation from an
organization in South Carolina so people
really came through and helped out it
was all people in community people we’ve
never met in our life have been the
biggest help
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the story
okay this is the story mhm
oh no not no
oh my god their house
that’s your place
[Music]
wow
[Music]
everything
whose home is this coming oh you cannot
believe that that’s our house right
there oh that’s your home
house did you see it
they have nothing their house
oh god still tough to watch huh
who built this for you it was uh
Weekends with Warriors they started the
whole thing and then another
organization helped us finish it out um
Baptist on Mission okay that’s amazing
how many people came through oh yeah
communities small churches
people just came out of the woodwork
total strangers like she said stopped by
from Chattanooga Tennessee top of the
road come down and they just are like
church organizations
dropping off donations
i mean all the time at Christmas it was
unbelievable they were constantly
checking on us cuz everything was frozen
the the the trailer we got is from 1993
so it was failing it was freezing things
are busting on that is the old girl is
old like you know it’s all and she’s
doing us right until you go through
something like that and you walk out
with the clothes on your back
that’s all you have it’s like you’re
numb I mean you still are kind of two
days later you’re wearing other people’s
underwear you know cuz I mean we were
stuck I mean these people had to bring
us socks and underwear and it’s like you
go put those on you Oh wow my reality
like
on a every like on a momentby-moment
basis completely changed like you don’t
even realize how quick it can happen
because we had spent like 10 years re uh
renovating the house there’s just so
much time that I look at now that
what did it matter that if we bought the
super nice tile opposed to the other
tile i mean it’s gone like that so I
don’t care if I have a shed to live in
or this at least it’s something over my
head are there any haulers out here
where people are sort of removed a bit
more and they’re not getting down here
just keep on driving and you’ll see take
a right at any of those roads and go up
back up if you drive down here Bloody
Fork goes up in there yeah there’s a lot
of areas that’s pretty rough down there
okay I’ll check those out some people
lost their lives on Blood was a bent
creek that you can get that’s off of
Bloody Fork um that goes up in there
that there’s that was the lady we gave
the camper to her husband yeah
is the road all fixed up here for the
time being uh no
no so we’re moving this one on down
how’s it going slow but safe
good job you guys thank you are you with
the state are you with the state no
we’re with Right we do the traffic
control
and then Bright Civ Civil is the company
that is doing the pulling out the debris
okay i’m trying to show people what’s
going on and update how how are things
overall facebook social media we’re
looking good everybody just be patient
don’t be frustrated with us traffic
people we’re getting there
a lot of good spirits out here
overall I got to say really cool people
in this part of the country am I on the
right side of the road
this looks like a new bridge or a temp
bridge there’s a good taunt to the sky
over here
really guys the camera’s off a lot of
the time on this cruise but along the
riverside it’s house after house like
this right now and then the ones up from
the hillside like that one totally fine
we’re from Houston just outside of
Houston Texas and Katie from Second
Baptist Church so your church group came
up here to help out yeah we’ve got a
group of nine men who are here to uh to
help out we’re going to be here through
the 13th oh that’s awesome a lot of
great guys who uh we work on a lot of
things at the church in terms of
construction and Christmas lights and
all that kind of stuff big big
construction things and so I’ve got a
great group here that’s doing that can
you walk me through there is that I was
going to say let me introduce you to
Mike Walsh and why don’t you talk to
Mike a little bit here and and take him
through right he’s one of our key
leaders too do you have any saw horses
in there those collapsible ones there
are none okay mike peter hi Peter yeah
nice to meet you have you excuse the
glove oh that’s fine is that on it’s on
okay say whatever you want i know oh I
just want to say we’re just here to help
we tried to get here earlier but there
was too too much infrastructure that
needed to be replaced like telephone
lines and roads and whatnot so we got
here as soon as we could and able to do
something now that the infrastructure is
back so we just got here today no way
yes all right texas representing there
you go oh nice good to see you guys
thank you love it we brought nothing but
derelcts
daryl and his friend Derek strong in
body but weak in mind so you guys are
all volunteering
day one so it’s honeymoon period
everything feels great right no one’s
sick of anyone yet not yet give us a
week though a little bit there’s a few
enemies already been made a few enemies
someone uh measured wrong over there
yeah oh yeah okay so uh where do you
guys all stay the B at the facility site
baptist on missions burnsville
we set up a barracks in town did you
think it was this bad in the area before
you got here what we saw in the news was
bad and just this drive up this road
whatever it’s called was
eye opening eye opening yeah we’ve seen
hurricanes you want this one open we’re
used to that so devastation is not but
not raging rivers like they got we’re
flat the topography makes We are flat in
Houston and this is channel it like this
and you know what’s crazy i was down in
Lake Lure do you know where that is
south here i mean it’s couple hours
south
same story yeah so it’s like the scope
is massive
the scope is massive gorgeous country
though over your blue love it yeah we’re
more fascinated by the country than the
devastating
if that makes any sense it’s beautiful
here it is gorgeous
oh that’s cool you got a great group of
guys in there we got We got a great
group you know we uh we waited for uh
almost a year you know from this early
time we talked to Samaritan’s Purse and
others about and they said “Look we got
to get roads we got to get bridges we
need to get power yeah until you put
your eyes on it it’s tough to comprehend
the amount of in infrastructure that had
to be put back in just these roads right
yeah and I’m originally from Kentucky
was born and raised in Kentucky oh nice
so it’s like I got an appreciation for
your Appalachin roots your these are
your people so that’s why I wanted to
come back so these are wonderful people
right and they’re resilient a lot of
places I’ve been for like um hurricane I
was in Louisiana
and you know uh almost in every area the
people want to they want some help but
they want to do it they want to do it
themselves the homeowner was here
earlier so he’s he’s deeply involved in
this kind of thing and even despite all
the loss right he wants to he wants to
participate so it’s not like somebody
just come in and do this for me but do
it with me that’s so cool that’s
beautiful so thank you for what you’re
doing yeah no thank you god bless you
god God bless and uh you’ll never forget
this experience yeah that’s what that’s
we’re and bonding with each other right
we we’re a great group it has fun
they’re a great group that has fun
together too so what what better thing
right do it for the Lord do it with each
other and have some purpose help the
local purpose and help community thank
you god bless you man god bless sir okay
for those that aren’t familiar with this
part of the country this is called a
hauler and a hauler is just a narrow
valley that comes off a main road my
hope is that we can get a little more
remote we’re already pretty remote but
get a little more remote and see what
the story is up here
so far so good with this hauler
everything looks pretty nice
oh spoke too soon
something happened up there they’re
rebuilding
oh yeah it definitely spoke too soon
it’s got flooded out it looks like
look at how beautiful this is with the
river coming down
let’s see where the trucks are going
how’s it going
yeah what’s an update i’m trying to keep
everyone informed what’s going on um
rough i’ll tell you that uh you’re hang
you’re hanging electrical no that’s not
no this is fiber all fiber fiber for
internet cable and internet yeah okay so
people have internet up here or no not
yet not yet not yet starlink maybe
okay where are you guys from
i’m from Georgia kerry kerry where’s
that uh that’s a rally okay okay nice
just a slow process huh yeah a lot of up
and down thanks for your work no problem
thanks you guys so much take care take
care sir yes sir
yep you can see there guys they’re
putting the internet back in around 8
months later so it’s just like the guy
said from Texas you know when you have a
flat landscape and a tornado comes
through it’s just so much easier to
manage afterwards uh with the rebuild
than this landscape with tight valleys
and rivers and wash outs and all this
topography
creates a whole set of challenges
obviously
all right guys we’re just going to keep
following these dump trucks come to a
stop though and this is where we’re at
not like that means much but
Tennessee North Carolina
out in the middle of nowhere and so
where I was at
last video all the way down here Lake
Lur
and so what is that i’m going to guess
2hour drive at least the way I’ve gone
today and so when you back off you know
Tennessee is in the mix parts of Georgia
I believe were hit parts of South
Carolina um but the just the path is
absolutely massive so it’s just they’re
going up another road okay they’re just
putting a load in that’s what’s going on
there they’re just setting up this road
how’s it going sir going good so far so
you’re just hitting these little roads
off the hauler right now yeah and we’re
trying to get all the secondary gravel
roads breaking up okay okay how long you
been out here for i’ve been out for the
last about the last four and a half
months four and a half months where are
you from i’m originally from Spruce Town
okay so how are you feeling about the
recovery right now it’s going better
than I thought it would so good to hear
the money seems like it’s in place now
so the money seems like it’s in place a
lot’s getting done it don’t look like it
but trust me there’s a lot getting done
no I’m impressed the amount of trucks
just on this one major road right it’s
unbelievable oh yeah without you guys no
one can rebuild anything right so it’s
all about the dump truck it It’ll be a
slow go but we’ll get it thank you sir
thank you
this guy’s great how you doing sir good
how about you good do you guys you guys
live here
how’s it going it’s going well cool i’m
doing a video on the comeback oh wow
yeah how you doing i recognize you nice
to meet you okay cool thank you i live
up at the end of the road peter hi
scotland scotland and John john so how
are things is about to come back up here
we just drove by and I saw you and I was
like “That’s Peter Santinelli.” Uh how
are things um
pretty good it’s been like either
extreme blessings or you lost everything
it seems like that’s that’s kind of how
things are around here okay um for us
there’s been a lot of blessings it’s
been really beautiful i mean I’m sure
you saw the destruction on the way
through this is my family your wife and
kid oh cool two two babies we’re going
actually to uh be log have you heard
about belog what’s that you should
follow us down afterwards uh so there
was an old elementary school that got
shut down i guess it was probably 7
years ago and right after the storm the
community came together and started
using that as a space to take in
donations so you live right up this
hauler yeah we’re at the end of the road
we’re This holler is nice it’s beautiful
isn’t it it’s like a new back to the
lander movement mixed in with just old
people okay yeah mixed in with like old
people that have been here for
generations is that you new Back to the
Lander movement sort of my wife’s from
here i’m from Georgia and Yeah I would
think so i mean it’s been humbling
though it’s like I thought I was a Back
to the Lander and then I got out here
and was like whoa like it’s hard to make
it cut here and people think like live
off the grid back to the land it’s the
easy life that’s the hard life I’ve been
told right you’re not you like have to
do a lot of things that you normally
don’t usually do in the modern world
yeah it’s a lot it was a big learning
curve and honestly it’s it’s a money
game and if you buy something that
doesn’t have any infrastructure that’s a
whole thing it’s a conscious decision
and when you’re raising kids it’s like
what environment do you want them to be
in pros and cons to each one obviously
yeah no doubt but you definitely make
them more resilient up here my first
daughter Fern was born uh February of
2020 so we had just bought our house
2019 co hit and I was I thought that was
the end of the world so I went into like
panic mode bought two hogs like 40 birds
a guard dog fencing infrastructure you
know and then just hit the reality of
like oh you got to like learn to be a
dad and uh so it’s been like
four or five years of of trying to play
from behind and get back on top of
everything
it’s interesting to see you doing your
thing like Oh yeah i just want to show
what’s going on here yeah are you going
to do Yeah I’ll be out there soon couple
weeks but I wanted to make sure I got
here first cuz it happened to you guys
first this is Seth seth what’s up man
nice to meet you are you back to the
lander too yeah I guess so nice new
movement
that’s great i’ve seen you know it
happened in the 60s right they went up
to Humble County in California they went
up to Vermont i don’t know if you had
the movement here but uh there’s like a
resurgence of that yeah i think people
are like cultural orphans you know we’re
like trying to figure out how to be
healthy around here it’s just one
generation away from whatever you call
it like already on the landers and you
guys are young you’re in your 30s i’m
I’ll be 30 this year yeah 36 so you’re
seeing that a lot younger guys doing
stuff like this mhm
you own all the land yeah like I’m this
corner so that’s my mill over there i’m
building a house there starting in like
a month hopefully how nice is that
soundtrack it’s a sleep
this is cool so it’s just a mini home
out here yeah so this is a a shed I
built bones of it years ago as a storage
and then my brother Adam moved here
shortly after the storm actually and
he’s been fixing it up making it real
nice and built this whole rock garden
that’s so cool yeah there’s all kinds of
plants and herbs and stuff in here
oh this is awesome man so what we did is
we actually raised the roof and made a
loft up in here do you have any lights
by chance no not yet oh all right is
that because of power issues or it never
had lights um it never had wiring or
lights to it so I have power over to
that barn over there but Okay so I don’t
see a kitchen well no you do have a
kitchen and you just have all your
legumes and Yeah spices and whatnot yeah
super tiny living for sure and then
there’s still work in proc sleeping
quarters up there mhm yeah it’s actually
pretty big up there there’s another
window and it’s like this is awesome man
fireplace for the winter almost
everything in here is like recycled
every single piece of it so all of it
just little bits and pieces of trim to
make it all pretty you know and it’s all
just scrap wood basically
did you grow up here uh no I didn’t
actually i’m from Kentucky originally
but grew up in Charleston South Carolina
and then lived on the West Coast for a
little bit lived in Colorado a little
bit how do you like it here oh it’s
paradise it’s amazing
so this is a sauna woodfired sauna this
is actually a woodfired ondemand gravity
fed hot water heater that I’ve made here
it kind of looks like a pizza oven it’s
a It’s a prototype kind of work in
process too
u been adding more copper pipe to
determine like how much per foot degrees
of rise of heat I get you know but
figuring it out i got to I got to
rebuild it for the last time and it’s
going to work great i used to have a
bathtub down there oh nice so this is
the woodfired sauna
so this is 100% I love the smell in here
lumber here yeah
it’s all pine yeah that pine smell is
great they tell you you can’t make sauna
pine cuz it’ll too soft it’ll weep sap
okay which actually burns you but it’s
been good i dried it out pretty nice
beforehand so in a hot day you just sit
down here put your feet in the river
yeah so this looked completely different
before cuz the the floods wash your out
you know what I mean it was like damned
up and all so when did you decide to
make this conscious choice to live this
type of lifestyle i feel like I’ve been
slowly building up to it my whole life
really okay you know from like having a
small garden with my my dad or like just
roaming the countryside and living in a
rural place in Kentucky as a young kid
you know I’ve always been inspired by
the natural world around me and and
working with it you know do you if you
don’t mind me asking what what’s your in
your work up here or your income or is
it just building so I have my own
construction business um Oh cool
basically an unlicensed contractor so I
can only work to like $40,000 on my jobs
okay and I got a crew john works with me
adam works with me i got two other guys
on the street with young families that
work with me it’s kind of cool cuz we’re
all in the same exact situation too
where we all have young families and
we’re trying to build a house okay cool
and so it’s kind of fun uh having that
tight-knit little community so it’s
pretty tightknit in this hauler
[Music]
we’re going to be log community and
relief center and we’ve got a vision
we’ll tell you all about it okay we’ll
roast a hog you’re roasting right now no
we’re going to roast our hog baby Wanda
that we have raised from a sweet piglet
to sell to fund raise for be log because
we’re going to make it we’re going to
make it that’s how we’re going to speak
is that it’s going to happen not we want
to we’re going to make it a community
center because for the last over 6
months it’s been the a relief hub for
our community okay so we need a bunch of
money okay that nobody in this holler
has but we’re starting with roasting a
pig so we’ll see you there
[Music]
you can see that right there the road
totally taken out that road we just
drove down on the other side of the
river wasn’t even there
[Music]
what a beautiful building
all right so what’s going on here what’s
the story so we are a relief center at
the moment okay so this is all donation
all donation everything in this building
is donation so with us being here it
makes it easier for them come get this
and save their money at the grocery
store to fix what needs to be fixed that
nobody else is helping them with we have
clothes behind you a whole store of
clothes and then we have I’ll take you
here to our toy store okay are you They
got some new toys toys already always
every kid comes in gets a new toy they
love it parents come and shop for
birthdays and whatever when you say shop
they pay for this stuff or it’s free no
it’s free okay they get to shop
but you know like they’re shopping they
get to put it in a grocery bag and
everything
so in here is our Walmart
whatever one would need even bug spray
even bug spray we are starting to run a
little low on stuff like um mayonnaise
mustard ketchup we just got in the other
day sugar flour stuff people need to
cook with right meats we start running
low on it we do have an Amazon gift
registry it’s under Vlog Relief Center
and it’ll be shipped straight to Okay so
that’s not sending you money that’s
getting on Amazon they can buy you food
it will go here and and people can
donate food right okay great we know
we’re with Deep River Farm on YouTube
how are things for you guys we just
helping these guys so always hard to
understand especially for me and I’m an
outsider i’m coursing through these
towns quickly what’s the temperature
right now if you’re to say “How are
things overall?” It always depends who
you talk to it does depends on if
there’s somebody that’s been washed out
and flooded out versus somebody that uh
just had a basement but even at that
some people can be completely washed out
and be happy with the response and happy
with FEMA and others can be totally
unhappy not happy with FEMA around here
do you no they’re not around here
they’re not no I wouldn’t say anybody in
Western North Carolina is uh the first
lady I met this morning she’s big fan
well a lot
ma yeah i mean it really depends like
some people have a good luck and some
people don’t i mean what about the
reconstruction of the roads and the
infrastructure that looks quite
impressive I got to say all the dump
trucks going through that has been a big
big undertaking big big yeah massive
it’s still not done there’s a long ways
to go i mean the roads are just barely
wide enough to get a dump truck white
line to yellow line and it fit but I had
no idea there’d be this much energy
being pumped in here right now well you
still got all these people that can’t
cross the river yet you do a bunch i
mean I just saw token gas cans across
the river down there where where are
they
couple miles river i mean if you go up
and down the Can River you’ll see houses
on the opposite side from where you’re
driving they can’t get some people still
can’t haven’t been in their houses at
all yeah cuz the bridges were because
they Yeah the bridges were washed out
and they can’t get in there to get their
belongings or Okay and something like 20
or 25% of the damage total was just Cane
River the 19w you’re saying total of if
it was 5 billion of damage for Helen 1
billion of it is just 19W i think it
would be all right okay so I picked just
just 19W so I picked the right road i
picked the right road to show that’s
that’s probably the hardest hit area
okay i was in Lake Lure that’s that was
hit hard lake Lur back i mean Yeah I got
in with United so we were worse than
Lake Lur was I mean it just you’d have
to arm wrestle with them over that one
but I mean if you think about you know
that those th that’s some beef you’re
starting there yeah so we are second
worst
pensacola was first worst pensacola was
bad
how is it P Pensacola now i was actually
going to go there it’s still in rough
shape okay it’s worse shape than ours
yeah they’re working on it like they are
here so I’m trying to get my way to
Tennessee i just There’s So there’s what
the camera does not capture is the scope
and the scale of all of this the amount
of territory 11,000 square miles 11,000
square miles we’re talking into
Tennessee and Georgia and all that’s
just in North Carolina okay 600 and some
miles of debris right i ask a lot of
people the same questions and that’s
sort of how you understand what’s going
on we’re humans right we’re all humans
here and humans are there good ones and
bad ones so from what I’ve understood
roughly 15 to 20% in this whole
operation are grifting it trying to rip
people off get extra money for bridge
repair stuff like that 80% are doing the
right thing is that fair to say you can
answer that better not good yes okay so
you have some people taking advantage of
the situation coming in over bidding
things yes but it’s a very much a
minority okay that’s great our operation
started
3 days after the hurricane and we set up
Operation Mount Relief which was 21 C
churches combined and we put in 60,000
lbs of food in six days up here and then
we started getting stuff ready for the
winter getting coats and warm clothes
and tents and all that stuff here that
was four weeks later and then we started
vetting these relief centers to make
sure they were legit and full nonprofit
status and stuff like that and we’ve
been working with the uh church out of
Flat Rock uh Meth Wesleyan Church okay
we stock that church to the Hilt and
warehouses on top of that that this
county let us use to bring in stuff
united Cinjun Navy good reputation in
these parts okay that’s who I did a
video with before yep they’ve been in
here a long time they’ve been great
everyone’s been saying good things about
them that I’ve talked to they are
awesome but we’ve been we’ve been given
propane since the first week for Yeah we
swap out propane from the our 21 church
coalition has been supporting it as well
as uh some private individual
i’ve been on that road mushroom okay I
got to go well chicken of the woods no
it’s not the same as a chicken of the
woods it’s not
this is dry man saddle you mushroom
picking oh yeah that’s a nice always
we want to make it a community and
relief center we will have an apartment
in the back in case somebody’s house
burns down we have a place for them to
stay we want to teach everybody about
gardening canning everything if this
ever happens again everybody’s ready and
prepared the flood has brought this
community together so let’s keep them
together but the problem out here I I’m
seeing the raising of the children you
know you’re not giving them tablets
you’re making them color it’s it’s it’s
really terrible for their you know dop
dopamine receptors that is that’s pretty
rough
like where’s the where’s the Tik Tok
this is you know it’s it’s funny why
terrible electricity but they got this
is Disney called No Signal
all right so we’re going to backtrack a
little bit go to a place called Spruce
Pine which is a town that I believe has
come back pretty well we’ll find out
though but before that you can just see
the ecological disaster with this sort
of stuff you know you got a battery
there a fuel tank and all of this waste
ended up to where we’re going in
Tennessee sort of where this all slammed
to a head from what I’ve been told so
we’ll backtrack to Spruce Pine check
that out get back on this road go all
the way to Irwin Tennessee
all
right guys here we are in downtown
Spruce Pine and I’ve actually been to
this town before it’s a cute little town
some nice restaurants
[Music]
all right seems they’re coming back how
you doing sir good you guys are coming
back huh oh yeah august end of summer
you’re hoping
see the glass shop is out here how you
doing sir a lot of activity going on
you’re coming back i’m doing a video on
the area trying to show people what the
status is we appreciate it it’s a good
week to be down here we’re finally
getting glass this is the second
business on low street that’s getting
glass back yeah are any of the
businesses open down here are they all
closed down the only one there’s a art
frame gallery down the end that she’s
actually retiring and going out of
business she wasn’t affected by the
flood down the end down everything else
was taken out unfortunately for me I’m
the lowest point in the town yep and S I
had 8 and 1/2 ft of water in ours this
was your coffee shop coffee shop we own
the building also you know so it’s it’s
not a quick process like our shop we
started from the ground up new plumbing
the whole nine yards concrete had to be
dug out and all that so we started
literally from scratch so you know but
everybody down here is rebuilding but
the thing that’s holding everyone up
mainly is flooding you know whereas
insurance companies or what nobody had
insurance flood insurance didn’t pay for
anything nothing so none of these
businesses had flood insurance flood
insurance okay so how you getting money
then grants go Main Street um well
downtown Spruce Pines the organization
now our downtown association which is
part of Main Street organization
mitchell County Development Foundation
is raising money and the good thing
about these two organizations is
strictly business that they’re focused
on okay there’s a lot and stuff
samaritan Purse has been like great up
here oh my god they have done so much
for homeowners it’s incredible purse i
was just with I saw them down in Lake
Lure oh yeah oh yeah and they’ve done
they’ve done huge but they are strictly
homeowners they will not do anything
business-wise the government can’t help
us because there’s no legal way for them
to give us money okay so a lot of people
always think FEMA is there to give money
for everyone fema has nothing to do with
business nothing to do with business
just like Samaritan’s Purse yep what
about SBA Small Business Association
small business is I’m sorry it’s a joke
okay okay i’m just going to say it like
that the terms they’ve got on their
loans is is a joke okay um so no we’ve
gone for local funding sources for us um
and we’ve got that taken care of as far
as what we need to borrow the problem is
is people like myself who already had a
note on this business building now I’ve
got a note on my business you’re still
paying for your initial mortgage initial
mortgage plus we had to take another
note so we could rebuild the bank didn’t
give any forgiveness on that banks won’t
do anything there’s no no love from them
on that one there’s no love there’s no
love my mortgage I got sent to
collections on they they put me they
said “Well you know we’re going to defer
your payments we’re going to you know
for 4 months whatever put them on the
back.” They sent me to collections okay
so as a business owner you’re not
bringing in any revenue obviously cuz
you’re rebuilding right you’re paying an
original mortgage and you also need to
get a loan to rebuild i’ve already got a
loan you already got a loan to rebuild
on it so how are you making You’re just
paying from your savings or something
ouch i would hurt i mean we were four
years away from retirement and now we’re
starting over again so good news is the
upstairs of my building is intact we did
not lose any tenants on the upstairs the
tenant the tenant besides myself this
downstairs is coming back so we’ve got
the tenants will be full occupancy but
that doesn’t make up for the $300,000
that I’m going to have in notes that has
to be paid back here is Treehouse
Mountain is coming back and we started
over here getting this renovated because
since we were at such ground level in
the restaurant and we were building from
the ground up over here we were able to
put together quicker so they’re going to
be open by the end of this month they’ll
be back in place that’s great we’ve got
brick we found matching brick historic
brick um it took us 2 months to source
it oh it’s a National Register of
Historic Places building exactly this as
you can tell here this was built back in
the ’50s we’re trying to keep the
building and keep the history of the
building but what we did over here our
restaurant when we first started we were
a renter dts was right here okay it was
on this side last March we remodeled and
added this space oh man for $50,000 we
renovated over here so now of course all
that’s gone everything in here that
wasn’t tied to electrical was washed out
every bit of it all the furniture that’s
the water line the water line is this 8
and 1/2 ft right up here yes sir okay
and then you have the tracks and then
below the It’s like 20 ft down 30 ft to
the river 30 ft i was in this building
at 5 watch that um fresh just today at
5:30 in the morning we were still 10 15
ft below the railroad tracks by 11:00
a.m this entire town was underwater it
was underwater that quickly when those
rivers combined and you know there’s a
perfect storm the storm the storm before
the hurricane is the one that got us cuz
we were already 3 ft above flood level
before the hurricane okay so what
happened is that storm came from the
west and then you had a lane come up
from the south they merged and it pulled
all that moisture right up into these
mountains that’s why we’ve never seen
anything this catastrophic up here you
know you look at the depot and train
depot yeah that’s the train depot right
there and the water was up to those
gutters oh wow but the water literally
was up to here
all the way down this street sabelco one
of the local mines has purchased this
building it’s been in disrepair and it’s
really in disrepair now after the flood
so they bought it and they’re going to
put a gallery in here basically and
office space but they’re going to show
their mining operations people can walk
in and out of it so mining is a thing in
the area quartz okay the quartz when you
have microchips that are made the purest
quartz in the world come out of Spruce
Pine that’s what we’re known for all the
semiconductors everything okay this is
where it comes from okay and you have to
have that important place very important
place so Sabelco is a huge part of that
um as well as quartzport but
everything’s being rebuilt okay one last
thing if you don’t mind what’s the
biggest takeaway you’ve got from this
experience either personal or You never
know what tomorrow holds and you can’t
give up on today you stick with today
because tomorrow you don’t know what’s
going to happen and that’s exactly what
happened here we went from one day
everything was fine to the next day we
had nothing so we lost $100,000 damage
on our home we had $600,000 damage down
here you know so net cost to me is $1.8
million is what I’ve lost so that’s huge
you know because you don’t know what
tomorrow brings you know and but it’s
built on hope and the people and the
support and my god the volunteers that
have come into these communities to help
out it’s been intense so now it’s about
love i mean it’s mended relationships
it’s mended people’s spirits you know
just for the matter of rebuilding that’s
huge that’s what it’s all about and you
know it it’s small town America that’s
what it’s about it’s about perseverance
because we’re not we’re only going to
get so much help from the outside we got
to take care of it you know we got to
get it done so that’s what it is live
today live today brother thank you
brother thank you have a good day i’ll
see you in a year or so i’ll be here all
right
so there you go guys downtown Spruce
Pine on the comeback
all right and then one street up you
have this completely untouched normal
life no rebuilding everything stayed
intact
[Music]
all right we’re up another little vein
here and you can see the mudslides
basically avalanche shoots coming down
the mountains and if you’re at the end
of that well that’s what your house
looks like
this is the town of Pensacola
maybe the worst we’ve seen today as far
as the rubble in town you can see over
here that was a gas station
an old school gas station
we’re working on the other side of the
county at Cane River i was just down
Cane River okay this looks like it got
hit harder or in certain spots yes but
all the water from here runs through
Cane River see Kane River’s had a lot of
rebuilding done so what’s going on up
here in Pensacola right now everybody’s
starting to make their way this way it
started on one side well it started in
Spruce Pine and started on the west side
and then is is working towards middle
okay so who are you guys working with i
work for myself nice business called
Tipton and Suns tipton and Sons tipton
and Sons it’s me and my dad and my
brother excavating yep we do what
grading and we’re trying to Somebody
gave us a piece of pipe and I got sent
up here but I ain’t got no phone signal
so I don’t know where I’m supposed to go
but wow this is this is wild it is so
you got your work cut out for you for a
while oh yeah these are your help uh
well I brought them with me for today i
couldn’t get I left my employees at work
so they didn’t I brought these boys and
they they said they’d help me how are
they How are they doing they doing all
right they do all right all right cool
how’s it going guys sometimes it feeds
us good
what are you feed What are you feeding
uh probably go to Little Smokies after
this what are you packing there uh 45
open carry open carry North Carolina
style oh yeah you were here when it
happened were you next to a a riverbed
or No I was actually I I am on the fire
department everybody come together
pretty quick they have people in the
woods you know that put chainsaw crews
together and started cutting their way
out you know without their help we’d
have never been able to i mean we’d
still be trying to get into places
without people’s help
there’s a lot of people that’s done a
lot of work nobody knows about these
no-name people from the county that has
done all this work is finally getting a
little bit of recognition well I’m I’m
trying to show you guys when all these
bigname people you know from out of out
of state is coming in and they getting
everything oh okay these small name
people that’s went in is making a big
difference well I got a guy that’s been
running an excavator for 222 days
straight except one weekend off i got
him on camera the other day did you and
he’s local good and you couldn’t ask for
no better of people everybody wanting to
help i thought I was going to have a
hard time of it today maybe a hard time
like talking to people because it’s
right a catastrophe no not at all a lot
of these people want their story out
there cuz the government covered it up
they want their story out yeah yep
there’s a lot of There’s a lot of things
that was just kicked under the rug but
it needs to be known
yeah it’s fair to say Pensacola got
smashed pretty hard but all of this help
that came here from all over the country
all the resources that poured in is a
beautiful thing and imagine if it was
the opposite imagine if it was nobody
cared nobody wanted to help
that would be extremely discouraging
but the beauty that we don’t so often
see on our social media or in the media
uh most people want to come together and
help and most people are good people and
this catastrophe
is clear evidence of that from what I’ve
seen here it’s really quite cool quite
special
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your place look like that all this look
like that all the debris
through hard work
yeah pretty hard work i replaced all the
wall i built the shed
they were seven 7 foot and 4 in of water
in my basement
what about your neighbor are they still
living there no everything he lives with
a camper over there but everything is
dead in the water over there so yeah
he’s moving out he’s moving so you just
got on it with the cleanup well it was I
had help as people come in here uh and
blessed me with a lot of free work this
guy Mitch Goodwin he come here he
cleaned out a lot pack piled all that up
and all my garden space he hauled dirt
and my nephew they put it all back so
I’m good there’s only one road out
really cuz you got the mountain over
there i’m sure that road wasn’t
happening so how did you get out i
didn’t have guys in four side to sides
oh they got the side by sides how many
days before those guys came in it was
several days several days because they
had to work their way in no fuel up here
uh so what’s going through your mind
when you’re stranded out here no power
no tele no communications you’re Are you
like “When are they coming i never deal
with it how’s my neighbor
where my Where’s everybody at yeah how’s
my Cuz his sister my aunt lives up here
you know we hadn’t seen her so I hadn’t
seen her and I finally saw him and saw
her.” My nephew so we’re all close we’re
all Kim folk around here so you’re all
tightnet huh yeah yeah good community
yes it is yeah and I’ve got Everybody’s
good for me oh yeah i ain’t crying about
nothing
we’re blessed we’re here i tell you
that’s the way I am i’m I’m happy it’s
all attitude huh better have it or
you’ll fall survive
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okay wow the river flooded its banks so
much it took out the highway see we’re
on the other side they’re redoing the
bridge the highway on the right side i
think this is 26
that warehouse got ripped up
what a day today guys we covered a ton
of ground it’s 8:00 at night started
this morning did my best to show you as
much as possible but the the scope and
scale of this thing is so insane you’re
not going to get it through the camera
and I’m not even getting it here being
here for a few days it’s just go that
direction go in that direction it all
depends what valley or hauler someone’s
in how bad they’ve been affected but as
you can see here in Tennessee this town
at least I got hit really hard so guys
few things I want you to take away from
this one uh to get it right it would
take a year here talking to hundreds of
thousands of people right and so today
was just a little snapshot i talked to
as many people as I could nothing was
planned and I don’t know what people are
going to say so that’s what makes it
interesting and we heard different
opinions on the situation
also don’t just watch my content if you
want to understand no one has the full
truth of this situation watch other
people’s content take information from
different places it’s impossible to get
the full scope of this thing from one
creator and lastly
the cool spirit that came through today
and in the last shoot I did it’s just
the the optimism
the people coming together yes there are
many people suffering still and those
who lost loved ones the most obviously
but there is a spirit and a beauty in
the people here in Appalachia
that is really a a beautiful thing to be
part of all right guys thanks for coming
on that journey until the next one
yeah