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Like many western North Carolina residents, Joe Bryant and his 11-year-old dog remain displaced and without answers after Hurricane Helene reduced portions of the Blue Ridge mountains to a splintered debris field last month.
A longtime resident of Swannanoa, N.C., Bryant was among tens of thousands of Tar Heels confronted by an unprecedented catastrophe on Friday, September 27, 2024 — when Helene assailed the High Country with torrential rainfall, punishing gales and ravaging floodwaters.
According to the mountaineer, his three-bedroom home was among many properties claimed by the Swannanoa River that morning. He furthermore noted that a deluge of murky brown water swept away his Hyundai Elantra, crossbow and .22 rifle.
“It was at 6:00 or 6:30 (a.m.) when water started filling up my house,” said Bryant, recalling the moment Helene hit his neighborhood. “After it got up to my ankles inside, I grabbed me a few clothes, got Bo and started out into piss-pouring rain… it was getting daylight at that point.”
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(Andrew Fancher/FITSNews)
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While showing FITSNews the remnants of his foundation, Bryant’s sidekick, “Bocephus,” emerged from a nearby tent to watch the sunrise. Unlike the bulk of Buncombe County, N.C., the Chihuahua mutt survived Helene unscathed.
“I’ve had Bo since he was a little puppy,” said Bryant, watching his miniature pooch maneuver his way through a mud-covered debris field. “I got him spoiled to that fancy dog food… I spoil him every chance I get. Me and him’s a team.”
Like many mountaineers, Bryant was wholly blindsided by the Genesis-grade flood that reshaped Appalachia. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Helene’s deluge lifted the Swannanoa River 26.1 feet by daybreak.
“Bo and I were running, trying to get out of the water,” he said. “It just kept rising. You could watch it rise. It was going that fast… The wind was blowing the rain sideways… Bo finally got tired of running and made me pick him up.”
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(NASA Earth Observatory)
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According to Bryant, he watched the rest of Swannanoa’s ruination from the porch of an uphill home. After weathering the storm, he discovered that two of his relatives had died during the storm.
Unfortunately, like many mountaineers, Bryant claims to have been discounted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after losing almost everything. He purportedly met with a representative who said she would eventually “get back” with him.
That was over one week ago.
“I told her, ‘my house is completely gone. I ain’t got nowhere to stay. I got a tent,’” continued the North Carolina native. “People around here don’t have any answers at all. We would like to know if we’re going to have any help getting our houses rebuilt.”
As of this publication, Bryant, Bo and a displaced neighbor live in tents amid a debris field adjacent to the Swannanoa. According to Bryant, the tributary has doubled in size since Helene’s deluge, leading to major erosion of his longtime property.
Four days after FITSNews met Bryant, the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) featured him in a video report promoting Operation Blessing. A first responder has since kickstarted a GoFundMe for the displaced survivor, which can be found here.
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RELATED | ‘AT LEAST’ 500 DEAD IN ‘APPALACHIAN APOCALYPSE’
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While Wikipedia has recently reversed the total number of Helene’s fatalities, conservative estimates from first responders on the ground indicate at least 500 people are dead in western North Carolina alone. That number is expected to expand considerably, according to sources.
These same sources have alleged that at least 1,500 people are missing — numbers that align with frequently updated estimates posted to Hurricane Helene People Finder.
Nowm as mainstream media engross themselves in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Milton in Florida, count on FITSNews to maintain coverage of post-Helene Appalachia in the days, weeks and years to come.
“Guess I’ll damn stay in my tent until I get the house done,” concluded Bryant. “I’m not leaving my property for someone to destroy it. Or somebody to claim it. This October, I’ll have it paid for… It’s the first piece of land that I can actually call mine.”
This story may be updated.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Andrew Fancher is a Lone Star Emmy award-winning journalist from Dallas, Texas. Cut from a bloodline of outlaws and lawmen alike, he was the first of his family to graduate college which was accomplished with honors. Got a story idea or news tip for Andy? Email him directly and connect with him socially across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
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11 comments
In 1977 the old peanut farmer chosen to be the front man for the cabal created yet another agency hell bent on “helping the people” through rough times. FEMA was born and has left a long trail of complete and utter mismanagement and clusterfucks in its path. It’s almost like their job is to increase the pain and misery of the victims while charging the whole society for the torture. AND then they want everyone to pat on the back and say “You’re doing a good job Brownie” like Dubya taught us during Katrina.
FEMA is a prime example of big government and how it is inherently corrupt and tyrannical. When will the American people wake to the fact they are under attack by our own government? I figure it will happen when the nightly news is on and they get the knock on the door just before the lights go out and the flash bangs go off but I could be wrong.
Few know the sordid history of FEMA. You’ve done a good job laying it out. What was supposed to be a “nuclear war” response team has become a giant, expensive, largely mismanaged, boondoggle.
Well yes, he did a great job of laying it out if you want no facts or support for your opinion. Maybe you two could get your very own FitsMAGAOpinionBlog. And to save you time Mr Fakename I know I am dumb wrong blah blah blah whatever. Always easy to say stupid things anonymously.
What in the wide world of mental retardation were you trying to say, Joshua?
Josh buddy, here are a few facts for you:
From FEMA’s published goals:
#1 Instill Equity as a Foundation of Emergency Management
#2 Lead Whole of Community in Climate Resilience
It’s only when we get to goal #3 that we find their goal (and the real reason for their existence: “Promote and Sustain a Ready FEMA and Prepared Nation” and even that one isn’t complete.
In 1979 Carter wrote an executive order taking an organization that looked on the surface like what we think FEMA is today. In reality, FEMA was set up to deal with the aftermath of nuclear war. The end of the Cold War allowed bureaucrats to begin playing with the boondoggle giving it vast new authorities and power (none of it based in public law) Then Congress got involved granting even greater authority. In ’03 Cngress moved FEMA under DHS (another disaster of an organization) despite the head of FEMA telling congress (accurately) that the move would make FEMA “an ineffective and uncoordinated response” agency, unable to respond “to a terrorist attack or a natural disaster.”
Katrina proved the prediction was accurate. However, FEMA was never up to the task. In Hugo and Andrew (and now Helene) FEMA has shown itself to be unprepared and largely ineffective (without vast support (much of it organizational) from the Army)
After Katrina, a U.S. House of Representatives Select Bipartisan Committee found (among a myriad other weaknesses) that:
– DHS and FEMA lacked adequate trained and experienced staff for the Katrina response.”
– “The readiness of FEMA’s national emergency response teams was inadequate and reduced the effectiveness of the federal response.”
– “Long-standing weaknesses and the magnitude of the disaster overwhelmed FEMA’s ability to provide emergency shelter and temporary housing.”
In Dumas, Arkansas, tornadoes wreaked havoc on the community. FEMA’s response was to send about half the “shelters needed” in the form of some leaky, used, house trailers.
The money and effort wasted by FEMA during the COVID pandemic is still being calculated. They so mismanaged the N95 mask procurement that we’re now sitting on 5,000,000 unusable masks while sucking up almost every mask that made it to the US. It got so bad that the NE Patriots owner loaned his plane to Massachusetts so they could go to China and directly pick up their on supply of masks.
I’ve found that sound reason with esq Josh is difficult but good luck, maybe you can help him get in the right track.
Living in the MAGA bizarro world sounds terrifying. How do you do it?
Prayers for all the people missing loved ones, who lost loved ones, and lost their homes.
MAGAS stirring the pot caused FEMA to cease operations in two counties (Rutherford and Ash) Sunday. Red neck good ole guys loaded up their pickups and guns and went looking for FEMA. YES, ITS BEEN A SLOW GO, BUT GOT EVEN SLOWER ON Sunday!! Y’all keep stirring that pot!!
Attacking fema is another MAGA/russian misinfo campaign.
Notice Republicans offer no solutions and only attack our government and other Americans? How they only obstruct in their government positions and never put up legislation that helps average Americans….or any legislation at all, for that matter?
WHO benefits from these actions? Our enemies, that’s who.
The people finder link in the article, updated this morning, lists 1224 people missing with 2242 previously missing people found. At 17 days after the flooding. I’d say once we get to the 30 days after mark, that missing number, whatever it is, is going not going to go down alot due to live persons being found. The Maui fires followed a similar pattern – the first 2-3 weeks it was being reported that about 2k people were missing, it came down alot by day 30, and then not so much.