Asheville and Biltmore Village Update ...

 I posted about this 2 days ago, having originally reserved a condo in Biltmore Village to bring my mother to see The Biltmore, and loving Western North Carolina in general, like we do - in fact, having a tentative plan to move near Boone, NC after retirement (which is 2 hours north, but was also flooded.)

We had already decided that if we did retire to the Western NC mountains, we weren't going to live in Asheville itself, because it's basically built in a valley between the mountains, on a flood plain, at the convergence of 3 rivers - nor would we live anywhere near a river period.  The goal is atop a mountain, but on a plateau, rather than hanging off a cliff - and what's happened here is the reason why, - floods and mudslides.

(You may be cut off for a bit, living that way, but you're less likely to have flood damage or mudslides that way.)

No word yet on damage to The Biltmore Estate, but this is what Biltmore Village looks like now, after the flood waters have subsided ...

The little Bavarian/Craftsman cottages are still standing (because they were well built) - but they are gutted.  😢

The video above shows more detail about the damage to the historic-cottage district, but here are some still shots I found post-Helene, now that the flood waters have receded.

I've read that President Biden will be there today - finally.

So I'm a Democrat and support Biden, and Harris as well - but the political right has a point here - if they can't be there due to the below reasons, at least give a brief press conference on it?

(I DO listen to what the right has to say, and if they make a good point, I say so - it's just so rare, these days, because most of what comes out of their mouths with Trump at the helm is completely made-up nonsense. 😂)

Now, I get it that we were all focused on how it would affect Florida instead and NC flooding was unexpected, at least to this degree.

Having gone through hurricanes myself, previously living in Florida, I also get it that the area has to be deemed safe before the president visits, and that even FEMA and military assistance are limited themselves, until the flood waters start to recede.

I get it that Biden is old, so it has to be especially safe.

I get it that in order to even get FEMA and military federal assistance, the governor of your state has to formally request it from the President (which HAS been done, despite what Trump says - you can hear the helicopters flying overhead in the video, which the reporter points out.)

I also get it that a lot of things went on at once, over the past couple of days, besides the VP debate -  a dock workers' strike, and an even more pressing issue, Iran involving themselves directly in the Hamas-Israel conflict, firing missiles at Israel yesterday. 

I get it that the President and Vice President can't be everywhere at once and they have to prioritize -  and Iran firing missiles at Israel does take precedence.

And yet also, it's been 5 days - before that, they still could've and should've at least said something via brief press conference, if they couldn't be there personally?

One of the things that really irked me was living in Florida during the infamous 2004/2005 hurricane season and watching Bush stand on our Republican-voting beach and kiss babies, but not go to Democratic-voting New Orleans until a week later, because he was in appropriately whupping it up with a Mariachi band in San Diego on the day Katrina hit, despite us all knowing how bad it was going to be, days in advance.

Also, in political terms, this is how our Governor, Andy Beshear - who is a Democrat - won over our red state.

He was there the day after the 2022 flooding in safer areas, rolling up his sleeves and literally helping remove debris, as well as making sure the people got immediate aid, housing people in state-park lodges.

NC has become a swing state - so if y'all are too busy with other pressing issues - or even just so busy with your campaign to care -  and it's just about winning over votes for you, the best way to do that is to help them personally during tragedy and show up to boost morale, or even press conference addressing them about when you are going to be there?

Also, let's not leave out the state government and what has NOT been done to the infrastructure there, despite prior flooding, most notably in 1916.

The good news is, as I said, FEMA and the military ARE there, flying in aid.

And here's something interesting ... they're using pack mules to reach past impassable roads and up to people in the mountains ...

Hey, sometimes old school works best, very cool.