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Disaster Preparedness Lessons (so far) from observing the disaster in Western North Carolina the last few days:

1. Stay on top of emergency water supply. Lack of drinking water is the biggest issue (and continues to be an issue) in Western North Carolina, people without anything to drink after a flood. This would be an issue in California after a major earthquake, too.

2. Write down the phone numbers for out of the area contacts and put them with emergency supplies. A number of outbound messages were not delivered due to incorrect phone numbers and inability to remember/pull up phone numbers from phones/etc.
(continued) #DisasterPreparedness #disasters

#disasters #disasterpreparedness
This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
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Nicole Parsons
Nicole Parsons
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North Carolina has a lot of pork farmers with manure retention ponds that breached during hurricanes & contaminated ground water supply for months.

Boil water advisories...
vox.com/future-perfect/2300348…

vice.com/en/article/ponds-of-p…

washingtonpost.com/outlook/201…

nytimes.com/2018/09/19/climate…

theguardian.com/environment/20…

carolinapublicpress.org/61365/…

northcarolinahealthnews.org/20…

apnews.com/article/north-ameri…

npr.org/2018/09/22/650698240/h…

abcnews.go.com/US/farmers-furi…

nationalgeographic.com/animals…
npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/…

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I saw Florence sending millions of gallons of animal poop flooding across North Carolina

I’ve been watching with alarm from the air.
Rick Dove (The Washington Post)

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That Girl Over There
That Girl Over There
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These articles are several years old.
Don't try to stir panic please.

I live in NC and any boil orders are because of damaged infrastructure. Western NC is the hardest hit. And not known for pig farming.

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Nicole Parsons
Nicole Parsons
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@originlbookgirl
The articles demonstrate what happens when hurricanes hit North Carolina and how Republicans shield their donors from consequences in a crisis they caused.

For the GOP, protecting their megadonors comes first; before public safety, health, economic recovery, or any aspect of the common good.

The GOP is funded by the fossil fuel industry. Fossil fuels cause climate change & worsening storm patterns.

@That Girl Over There

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AndyH
AndyH
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@Npars01 @originlbookgirl
MAGA Congress removed FEMA funds in the CR.

MAGAs in the states affected by Helene voted NO on the infrastructure bill.

MAGAs decry Socialism, but now beg for FEMA and Federal assistance.

MAGA states pay less into the Federal pot, and spit on the Blue states paying their way.

@Nicole Parsons @That Girl Over There

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Nicole Parsons
Nicole Parsons
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@originlbookgirl@mastodon.online @ai6yr

#Toodles
#WhackATroll

The gratuitous insult for sharing facts about a past predictable pattern of conduct by Republicans in the wake of hurricanes isn't necessary.

This isn't ancient history. The GOP does this every time.

The last time a hurricane hit North Carolina, it took a few weeks for water testing to catch up. That happens during every climate crisis.

Same thing happened in Puerto Rico. It took weeks for restoration of public safety monitoring

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#toodles #WhackATroll @AI6YR Ben
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Nicole Parsons
Nicole Parsons
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Retention ponds exist in industries aside from pork farming.

Dangerous chemicals are stored for mining, industrial pesticides & fertilizer processing, sewage treatment, & landfills - they get breached during hurricanes, releasing environmental pollution & contaminating water supplies.

North Carolina will likely see a rise of certain types of rare cancers, gastrointestinal & other diseases.

The GOP will thwart scientific studies & funding on the health outcomes after hurricanes.

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That Girl Over There
That Girl Over There
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@Npars01 I am well aware of climate change and Republicans contribution.
You are shit stirring during an emergency by posting false information about pig farms and flooding. DO NOT DO THAT JACKASS.
Here are real updates from the city: ashevillenc.gov/news/city-of-a…

City of Asheville Hurricane Helene information and updates - The City of Asheville

The City of Asheville will experience heavy rainfall and strong winds beginning tomorrow as a result of Tropical Storm Helene.
Christy Edwards (The City of Asheville)
@Nicole Parsons
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AI6YR Ben
AI6YR Ben
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3. Don't just prep for yourself, prep extra for the neighbors/relatives/friends who cannot or will not prepare themselves for disasters. (here, I have relatives who live in la la land and refuse to acknowledge anything bad ever happens, and insist there will never be earthquakes or wildfires here, so do not have any emergency supplies.)

4. If you're running a ham radio net, try to remember to repeat the frequency and offset to get into the repeater, it is clear there are a lot of newer hams who do not have all the local frequencies/repeaters programmed. Heard people trying to get in on the output, and some local hams had to run HTs to newer folks. (cont.) #DisasterPreparedness

#disasterpreparedness
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AI6YR Ben
AI6YR Ben
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3a. ps. they will be here at my house if a disaster strikes and they are able to drive over her, for sure.

5. CONSERVE GASOLINE. Again, gasoline rapidly runs out. (have seen this in disasters before). Don't let your car go below half a tank. Don't go driving around town as a looky loo. Gasoline runs out rapidly without resupply from the outside world. Long lines, gas stations out, fighting even reported at a gas station.

6. Corollary: CONSERVE GASOLINE, invest in a small scale solar+battery system at minimum (for radio/lights/recharging). With no gasoline available and stations out, they are now 4 days out and generators are either empty or soon to be. Solar, solar, solar!

(cont.)

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AI6YR Ben
AI6YR Ben
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7. As much as people repeat "have food for an emergency", it sounds like there were a lot of people without food to eat and hungry (now day 4, note for the longest time FEMA was recommending only 3 days of food. They now recommend a week). I do note the ham radio folks did NOT seem to have food issues, and one was grilling up hamburgers (stuff from the freezer etc.). I guess if you have to cook everything in your big freezer because you can't keep it cool, might as well feed your neighbors, LOL.

(cont).

in reply to AI6YR Ben

AI6YR Ben
AI6YR Ben
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8. Repeating this: but in a complete telecom/communications down situation, the ONLY people who can get a message anywhere are ham radio operators within the disaster zone. it's near impossible to reach anyone inside a disaster zone (even a ham, where it MIGHT be possible, but no guarantee). However, EVERY ham radio operator in the affected area within repeater reach was able to get someone outside to take a phone number or list of phone numbers and -- IN REAL TIME -- get confirmation that their loved ones knew they were okay. That ability is priceless.
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Joan Combs Durso
Joan Combs Durso
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Ben, have you ever shared some advice on how to get started with ham radio? If so, do you have a link?
in reply to Joan Combs Durso

AI6YR Ben
AI6YR Ben
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@econoprof If you are in the US, here's the basics on ham radio licensing. arrl.org/getting-licensed

Getting Licensed

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national association for amateur radio, connecting hams around the U.S. with news, information and resources.
www.arrl.org
@Joan Combs Durso
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AN/CRM-114
AN/CRM-114
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How was repeater coverage in NC? It sounds better than I expected. Also, a lot of beginner stuff I’ve seen seems to leave simplex as an afterthought
in reply to AN/CRM-114

AI6YR Ben
AI6YR Ben
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@flyingsaceur Good question. It sounds like multiple repeaters went down, but the one that is being used (a lot) has good coverage. Several others are also being used but not streaming to Broadcastify. Glad they are still running even though road access/fuel is hard to get, that would take down some of our repeaters here in California (and have, in PSPS/blackout events).
@AN/CRM-114
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Hunter Hillegas
Hunter Hillegas
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What is the impact of say recent iPhone models that can communicate via satellite when cell service is down?
in reply to Hunter Hillegas

AI6YR Ben
AI6YR Ben
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@hunter 🤷 No idea. But definitely can't talk to people in your neighborhood or get local information via satellite iPhone.
@Hunter Hillegas
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AlexanderMars
AlexanderMars
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@hunter my best friend lives in #Asheville, there’s no mobile signal, no water or power. No one he knows has an phone that supports satellite. However he and I have been able to text each other using #meshtastic and MQTT which we both got into over the summer. He’s also been able to text with other locals sharing information. I don’t have a complete picture of his experience, but he’s been very positive over texts I’ve received.
#meshtastic #asheville @Hunter Hillegas
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bigiain
bigiain
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@AlexanderMars Is love someone to write a good blog post about how well meshtastic worked in a real emergency situation.
I’ve only dabbled, and never hit more than 4km or so range.
@ai6yr @hunter
@AI6YR Ben @Hunter Hillegas @AlexanderMars
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AlexanderMars
AlexanderMars
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@bigiain @hunter I don’t think either my friend or I have the technical knowledge to write it. However I’m using Meshtastic with MQTT, because we’re not in the same region. So our messages are skipping over the internet to get to their destination. It’s pretty cool; I have no idea how he’s connecting on his end, he only mentioned “fire station with a signal”. I’m not pressing him for detailed information right now, just happy he’s okay.
@bigiain @Hunter Hillegas
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AlexanderMars
AlexanderMars
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@bigiain @hunter I was able to talk with my friend on the phone for an hour as cell service has been restored in his area. No idea why meshtastic/MQTT got through. Best guess, someone had a node hooked up to starlink on a generator, but it wasn’t consistent for some reason. Possibly trying to conserve petrol, because there just isn’t any. Biggest limiting factor just not enough users.
@bigiain @Hunter Hillegas
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AlexanderMars
AlexanderMars
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@bigiain @hunter he was able to reach another friend living on a mountain in the Bat Cave area, mountain roads will probably be impassable for at least a year! They have a choice of getting supplies dropped by helicopter or getting evacuated. He was able to get close enough and because of their elevation to connect with their local mesh and chat with them. Everyone he knows there has been disabused of being safe from #climatechange
#ClimateChange @bigiain @Hunter Hillegas
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AlexanderMars
AlexanderMars
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@bigiain @hunter last note, his key takeaway, have an electric vehicle or some kinda solar battery set up. Fuel generators were nearly worthless after a few days because people ran out of gas. His parents have an electric car, it lost less than 10% of it’s charge running the fridge for a week without power.
@bigiain @Hunter Hillegas

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