ASHEVILLE, North Carolina—Last week, torrential rainfall and high winds created by Hurricane Helene caused record flooding throughout Tennessee and the Carolinas. Nowhere was hit harder than the Appalachian area of Western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, where cool mountain air increased the downpour. Some areas in North Carolina received as much as 31 inches of rain from last Thursday night, Sept. 26 night though Saturday morning. Asheville (est. population 93,000) had 14 inches through Friday, the Citizen Times reported. Rescue efforts continue for those still trapped in the flooded areas in the national disaster area. Estimates put the total death toll from Florida to southern Virginia at 200, with hundreds more unaccounted for.
Many homes in the area are still without power and sections of two major interstates—I-26 and I-40—remain closed due to the flooding.
Ben Greenberg, president of the North Carolina Trucking Association, told me this would be the real challenge regarding national shipping interruption.
Over 85% of the communities in North Carolina are reliant on trucks for their freight movement, and since there are a lot of roads still currently impassable (potentially for a significant amount of time), "there needs to be an across-the-board push to get essential relief gear into western North Carolina," Greenberg emphasized.
The NCTA is currently assisting in these efforts.
"We're coordinating a variety of supply drops," Greenberg said, "and also coordinating with volunteer drivers to work with local emergency management services to get relief gear into western North Carolina."
Donations can be made at www.NC.gov. Those interested in volunteering directly can also sign up on the site, but Greenberg cautioned against doing so without being part of an organized effort.
"Generally speaking, it's discouraged for folks to act on their own, despite being well-intentioned," he said, as "they could get themselves into a stuck situation themselves and then create secondary relief efforts that are necessary."
Our reporting from the scene
To help our trucking audience get a better sense of what shape the roads were in as of Oct. 2, I decided to see for myself. I wasn’t sure how far I could make it from my home in Charlotte to the hardest hit areas, as what I saw on social media was pretty bad. I also did not want to get in the way of emergency responders, something my editor and Greenberg both stressed.
Several main routes into Asheville were washed away or blocked by mudslides, including a 4-mile section of Interstate 40, but I was able to make it from Charlotte to Hendersonville, a city south of Asheville, taking I-85 and I-74 to I-26. I noticed that road crews had worked quickly, with half-sawn-off trees and logs littering the side of I-26 for the last 20 miles of my drive.
As I made my way toward Asheville via backroads, some in better condition than others, law enforcement had certain heavily affected roads and areas blocked off strictly for business owners and emergency personnel. Although much of the floodwater had dried up or was drained, the dirt and mud caked onto the roads and up the side of buildings indicated what was recently submerged.
I had never visited the idyllic mountain tourist spot, though was told often I should visit the historic downtown area and River Arts District. Now that I'm here, among the devastation and wreckage, I can see remnants of what was, though unfortunately, more of what had just happened. Light posts standing at a 45-degree angle are just one hint of the overwhelming force brought forth by the surging waters.
The Asheville River Arts District's close proximity to the French Broad River, which runs from Southwest North Carolina to Knoxville, Tennessee, and drains much of the Pisgah and Cherokee National Forests, made it vulnerable to extremely high floodwaters. As I drove across the Haywood Road bridge overlooking the district, cars lined both sides of the street with people peering down at the battered buildings below.
The mood downtown was somber, but the community was coming together—stands set up along the streets doled out first aid supplies, clean clothes, toiletries, and canned food, while a man on a street corner held a sign with an arrow that read "HOT FOOD THIS WAY." And this was just in the areas that I could see, let alone the places still inaccessible where people remain trapped without food or water.
As a five-year-old when Katrina hit New Orleans, I couldn't grasp the devastating nature of a hurricane. Seeing Asheville and witnessing multiple overturned cars, trailers in shambles, and fields of debris left behind by mudslides and high waters, I still can't. The whole time, I couldn't help but think of the owners of all of this property.
In 2017, Hurricane Harvey caused 100 deaths nationwide, with Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky all included in this number. To put this disaster into context, Helene's death toll has doubled that, and the affected area is dramatically more condensed.
I will never forget all the devastation I saw, but what I hope to remember most is all the dedicated first responders, volunteers, and many truckers on the scene working tirelessly to save lives and restore the city.
Impact on trucking
The effects of the flooding will ripple across the country, since the region is a hub for truck manufacturing and shipping. Along with the importance of the freight routes, multiple OEM facilities are located in the surrounding area. Though I could get to Asheville from Charlotte, I could not get farther west without many detours.
This will likely impact not only general logistics operations, but the ability of production facilities to carry out business as usual.
A spokesperson for Daimler Truck North America told Fleet Maintenance that their Carolina plants are operational, but not all are at full capacity. Their Freightliner Custom Chassis plant in Gaffney, South Carolina, did lose power due to the storm, but has since recovered.
"While we and our suppliers are assessing the impact on infrastructure and operations," the company said, "we anticipate supply chain disruptions as some key components are manufactured in the affected areas."
DTNA has donated $100,000 to the Red Cross Hurricane Helene Relief Fund and has opened additional relief channels through Daimler Truck Cares.
To make matters worse, ports along the East and Gulf coasts began striking on October 1st, which will exacerbate this disruption to the supply chain.
"We do expect to experience supply interruptions from both the hurricane and the strike," said a spokesperson for Volvo Group, parent company of Volvo Trucks North America and Mack Trucks. "Regarding the strike, we've been monitoring the situation for several months, and are updating our teams daily. We have a task force in place to mitigate impacts to our production and aftermarket support as much as possible. Their work has included identifying critical components, working to secure additional stock in advance, coordinating with our supply partners on their own contingency plans, and finding alternative shipping routes."
Volvo Group is donating $100K to the Red Cross to help victims of Hurricane Helene. They have also provided a link for our employees to donate to the Red Cross. VTNA is also partnering with with local radio stations 107.5 and Rock 92 for “Rollin’Relief,” a supply drive at a local Target store in Greensboro on Monday Oct. 7 and Tuesday Oct. 8 at (location TBD).
