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    • The National Guard is sending aid to the hardest-hit cities
    Massachusetts

    The National Guard is sending aid to the hardest-hit cities

    Idris Bevan Posted on

    For some members of the North Carolina National Guard, the mission became personal. These were their cities.

    They flew over wastelands of destroyed homes, destroyed roads, and downed power lines.

    From the air, they could see once-pristine mountain forests destroyed by mudslides and flooded rivers. Cars stranded in streams. Collapsed bridges. Devastated cities.

    North Carolina National Guard members continued to bring urgently needed supplies to areas devastated and cut off by Tropical Storm Helene on Wednesday.

    Many communities in western North Carolina are lacking water and food, not to mention electricity and relative luxuries like internet, Wi-Fi and cell phone service — and it’s not yet known when they will be available again for thousands of residents.

    The death toll in the Southeast from the storm was at least 162 as of Wednesday, while Buncombe County, which includes Asheville, had reported 61 deaths.

    President Joe Biden visited North Carolina on Wednesday and announced that he had sent 1,000 troops to bolster the North Carolina National Guard with relief efforts. The Air National Guard said Wednesday that it has so far delivered more than 100,000 pounds of food, water and other supplies to Helene victims

    For some in the station, this week’s operations are personal.

    Chief Warrant Officer Marcus Wilkerson and his crew made a Black Hawk helicopter stop at his local church in the hard-hit Fairview area, southeast of Asheville

    His priest and parishioners greeted him with hugs as he and his crew unloaded supplies.

    The children excitedly waved and took photos of the Black Hawk.

    In recent days, Trinity Fairview Church has been a hub as the community gathered supplies and worked on plans to reach others cut off by fallen trees and destroyed roads.

    “We don’t have cell service. We didn’t hear anything,” said resident Gina Fowler. “But everyone came together.”

    Dozens of adults and even their young children formed an assembly line to unload water, meal kits and other supplies.

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    Flooding in Asheville, North Carolina: National Guard brings supplies by air

    North Carolina National Guard members flew needed supplies to communities cut off by Tropical Storm Helene.

    They said they were grateful to receive bottled water after drinking water from a well for several days.

    Wilkerson said he was happy to be able to personally deliver supplies to his church as a member of the National Guard, but had to fight back tears.

    “It’s hard to see her like that,” he said. “But they can do it.”

    The Black Hawk circled the mountains of western North Carolina near the Tennessee border on Wednesday, searching for small towns and people in need of help. Here in these mountain communities, massive amounts of rain — up to 30 inches in some cases — turned rivers and streams into deadly torrents.

    “Ahead of us is our city,” said the pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Nathaniel Ernst, as he circled the small mountain community of Buladean in Mitchell County, about 70 miles north of Asheville.

    When they landed they were greeted with smiles and relieved faces.

    Resident Richard Whitney said most of the city’s roads were destroyed, except for a road leading to Johnson City, Tennessee, which was in danger of collapsing.

    Whitney said the city received aid from the military for the first time Tuesday and is in urgent need of water and other supplies.

    “I’ve lived on the coasts and been in hurricanes,” he said. “But nothing like that.”

    As in the last desperate city, residents quickly lined up to help unload supplies.

    A little girl stopped to hug Monica Ebert, chief public affairs officer, who works full-time as a psychologist. Ebert hugged him often that day.

    “Sometimes a hug can make such a difference,” she said.

    The security guards continued to the community of Barnardsville, with about 600 residents, north of Asheville in hard-hit Buncombe County.

    Aaron Banks, who grew up here, moved to Tennessee with his wife but rushed back after the storm to check on his parents. His parents were safe, but all roads to the area were destroyed.

    Banks said the community was saved when town resident Quincey Brock, owner of Brock Mountain Land Company, used his company’s equipment to punch holes in the rubble and clear roads.

    “Everyone helped in their own way,” Banks said.

    Even some members of the North Carolina National Guard were worried about their own family members.

    Spc. Cole Woodard, who was aboard the Black Hawk on Wednesday, said he received word that his parents were safe in Burnsville, a small mountain community in Yancey County. But he still hadn’t seen her.

    On Monday, he was able to fly overhead as they waved to him from the ground.

    “It felt good to see her safe.”

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    Idris Bevan
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