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Title
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Liam - Delivering Supplies and Witnessing Systemic Failures in Hurricane Relief
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Description
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Liam, a transfer student who had been in Boone for close to two years, arrived the fall of Hurricane Helene and was living in the Sleep Inn transfer dorm (when they still had that program). He first heard a few days prior that there would be heavy rain, maybe a hurricane, thinking it was interesting for the mountains. He woke at 5 a.m. when the power went off—not feeling the hum anymore—and found a good chunk of the dorm already downstairs, most already familiar with each other. For the next two days with no power but still having water, everyone constantly hung out together trying to pass the time—"honestly like one big hangout or one big party for all three floors." Then they lost water. Since the Sleep Inn was a hotel on city water, they didn't get water, electricity, or Wi-Fi back for weeks while other dorms did. Liam stayed there throughout, and right after the hurricane he took his car around delivering supplies, though driving through mud, water, and back roads broke his turbo and covered his fuse box in mud—thankfully the disaster relief fund helped.
The next week, a friend of his mother's who had been in the Marines for 30 years came up with a truck full of supplies to the brim. For two days (Saturday and Sunday, about two weeks after the hurricane), they drove around delivering supplies all the way out towards Spruce Pine and halfway to Asheville. They encountered people who hadn't seen anyone other than immediate family since before the hurricane. Regular flat roads were completely gone—just long pits where roads should continue. Many destroyed cars, some fires, chaos everywhere. Many people weren't getting government money or relief. Liam was deeply disappointed with how structures like Red Cross were functioning—at multiple sites he saw them just standing around on their phones at 2 p.m., doing nothing. Independent helpers told him the same thing: whenever Red Cross or FEMA set up, there would be empty tents, nothing set up, no supplies to give out or supplies but no advertising or delivery. He referenced an independent article about a relief organization that had been given millions or hundreds of millions for past disasters in the U.S. and North Carolina, but money would disappear or help locations would see no one. His brother at UNC Asheville was unreachable for three days. Liam believes billions of dollars (around four billion in taxpayer dollars from Roy Cooper) were given to North Carolina, yet many people who lost homes or businesses received only a few thousand dollars or nothing, especially in Asheville. He believes much of the money was mishandled, some possibly nefariously, and is disappointed by the lack of transparency about how it was spent. His takeaway: help people out, be there for the community, especially people you don't know and places others wouldn't think of, because many don't have the luxury of being untouched. He feels lucky that he, his family, and especially his brother are happy and safe, acknowledging he's "just a dude" without much power but hoping his story can help in some way.
Liam.wav