Helene (split from "The More or Less of Whatnot Thread 2024")

[whippoorwill]

I hope Hot Corner is okay

[The Hot Corner]

Thank you for your concern. My wife and I are currently enjoying the fall foliage and visiting family in New Hampshire. We were driving through Connecticut when we're learned of the tornado that hit our town. It struck roughly 1 mile north of our home. Two of our favorite restaurants were hit and the auto care facility between them was leveled as was another business. Fortunately, no fatalities resulted, though there are a few severely injured individuals. This is the second major tornado to strike our fair city in the past year.

The flooding caused by Helene in western NC has been devastating. Fortunate, that the loss (as devastating as it has been) was of structures and human lives were spared. Still, for many people, life will never be the same.

[whippoorwill]

Glad to hear you’re okay!

I remember that your area had a tornado recently.

[MFS62]

The flooding caused by Helene in western NC has been devastating. Fortunate, that the loss (as devastating as it has been) was of structures and human lives were spared. Still, for many people, life will never be the same.

One of those structures was the Baxter plant that makes dialysis solutions. I have been told by Baxter that they don't know when I will get my next shipment (which was scheduled for today, and I'm running out).
https://www.medtechdive.com/news/baxter ... ne/728436/

Later

[Edgy MD]

Is the solution available at pharmacies and medical supply stores? Please let us know if you need help sorting it out.

[whippoorwill]

Oh I hope this works out!!!

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Frayed Knot is OK but has been down there without power for like a week

[Edgy MD]

Give him our best.

My sister-in-law and nephew are in Saluda, a mountain town of about 800 that is usually safe from these sorts of weather events that more typically threaten the coastal Carolinas, from the 95 corridor eastward. But now it's been deluged and largely wiped away (see Anderson Cooper report below), with their roads collapsing down the mountainside, and neighbors not able to get to each other to check on who needs help.

They were able to get out early to stay with her parents in Georgia, which was good to hear, because the nephew is deeply handicapped and dependent on a motorized wheelcheer, and I can only guess how awful evacuating during a storm would have been for them.

[MFS62]

Is the solution available at pharmacies and medical supply stores? Please let us know if you need help sorting it out.

No. The solution comes in sterile bags pf 2.5 liters of specific solution strength. and I use two per night. Baxter is the sole supplier of the bags. I get boxes delivered every month directly from their warehouse. The local dialysis center gets them from Baxter for all of their patients.
But thanks.
Later

[cal sharpie]

My daughter lives in Asheville which was hit so very hard.

Her house has no power or water although it is not damaged (being up a hill). She and her husband left Saturday night and her boss's mother offered a cabin that she owns in South Carolina so they are hunkered down there. They have two cats they weren't allowed to bring to the cabin so my daughter's husband drives into Asheville every few days to give them water and check on the robot cat feeder they use (changing batteries every time). It's such a terrible situation - Asheville is a beautiful town that will be hard to get back to where it was -- a lot of distinctive architecture that helps draw people to come there and it would be a shame to put generic buildings in its place. My daughter managed a high-end restaurant until early this year, hard to know how that can come back.

They have also bought property intending to build a place in Marshall, NC which looks to have been totally destroyed. The property is also up a hill so should be alright (maybe a tree fell) but its hard to see how that town can right itself.

Glad to hear that you are ok, Hot Corner.

[MFS62]

SO sad. I had a consulting gig at the Biltmore. I heard on the news that the mansion itself wasn't hit too hard but the town around got devastated.
Stay safe.
Later

[whippoorwill]

This is as bad as Katrina

[MFS62]

My Baxter delivery came this morning. I had been using one higher(red) and one lower (yellow) solution bag instead of my two normal (green) ones. And I only had one day's supply of the backups left.

Later

[whippoorwill]

That’s a relief! Hopefully they can keep things moving

[Edgy MD]

Good for you. I hope shipments are coming through for all folks receiving treatments.

[MFS62]

Good for you. I hope shipments are coming through for all folks receiving treatments.

I hope so, too. Not knowing if or when the shipments would resume had me feeling hopeless and helpless.
The driver told us that shipments are resuming, the only problem will be getting access to the flooded areas where roads were washed out. He had to deliver to Oxford CT after the floods washed out the main road (rte34) a few months ago, and is aware of the problems they're facing.


OE: At 3;15 I got an automated call from Baxter saying my delivery "has been scheduled for January 1, 1979". My keen analytical mind is thinking their systems just got re-set.
Later

[whippoorwill]

Geez.

Just think how young we all were then

[Frayed Knot]

OE: At 3;15 I got an automated call from Baxter saying my delivery "has been scheduled for January 1, 1979". My keen analytical mind is thinking their systems just got re-set.

Or maybe not. One way to tell is if it shows up with 'how to use' instructions on a Betamax tape then it just might be from 1979.

[MFS62]

The conspiracy theorists want to shoot the messenger - literally. They're blaming the meteorologists for CREATING the hurricanes.
https://www.wtnh.com/news/national/mete ... 0omIM0LaOQ
They still believe in space lasers!
Later

[MFS62]

FEMA workers threatened by militia in North Carolina:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fema-crews ... ne-relief/

ederal Emergency Management Agency crews in North Carolina were forced to relocate due to a reported armed threat against workers, first reported by The Washington Post.

An email sent by the U.S. Forest Service to federal responders in Rutherford County alerted them of an apparent standdown after National Guard troops reportedly encountered armed militia saying they were "hunting FEMA."

Idiots.

Later

[Frayed Knot]

Later reports indicate that the threats were from one person and not any organized militia kind of thing.

[MFS62]

The Baxter plant is getting back into operation.
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlo ... -shortages

That cheer you heard was from me.

Later

[whippoorwill]

The second one from me, on your behalf!