As someone who lives in Asheville and was trapped in their home for three days. What amazed me the most was the whole community coming together and helping each other out. Because of the shotty cellphone reception, I had friends hike up to me through all the downed trees and powerlines just to see if my family and I were ok. When I got out I wanted to do the same and have been volunteering with Beloved Asheville since. They're a great organization that has been and still is putting in amazing work to help support and rebuild Asheville. I've lived in Asheville all my life and it'll never be the same but I know we will rebuild it into something even greater. I hope you can donate.
This was my experience in natural disasters in my city and it’s actually a well documented part of the 5 stages of recovery. People band together and form community in collective experience. It’s really beautiful and I don’t want to dampen it but it’s also sadly short lived. The problem is that the energy cannot be maintained and people burnout as the initial emergency fades. Sadly the impacts continue for years and even decades afterwards and disillusionment usually sets in. I really wish you the best and hope that your community gets the long term help it needs to recover
Yeah it's already changed and lot here we've been learning this, and some of the folks I've interviewed for the doc are already beginning to shift into disillusionment phase.
"Don't just show me how things got destroyed, show me how they got fixed." What a paradigm shift this simple yet powerful concept could bring if this would be adopted in all media, be it cinema, legacy media or social media. Hope your community recovers and you guys rebuild your future together. Bless you brother! Sending prayers and love
We're working hard to rebuild what we can! Some things will never be the same or are gone forever, but some will come back stronger and better. I'm not looking forward to how long the recovery will take but I'm inspired to see what lies on the other side.
I never thought I would be able to relate to a video like this from firsthand experience but here we are. I live in Valencia where, a little over a week ago, we were hit with catastrophic flooding. There’s a lot I can say about it but the biggest thing this situation has impressed upon me is the sheer goodness of people. In the face of catastrophic destruction and a government that failed to not only send out alerts telling people to stay off the streets but also didn’t dispatch the military for 4 days, the people showed up. People from all over have gone into the affected areas on foot in droves to help those who have suffered. They bring shovels and brooms and food and clothes and anything else the victims need. I’ve watched how people really truly will put aside any difference to take care of each other. It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. And this is whilst being in a town that looks as if it went through an apocalypse. You need something? Some food, water, a mask, gloves, hand sanitizer, a hug, whatever. Someone will give it to you without a moment’s hesitation. This kind of humanity is difficult to properly comprehend by watching a video. And there’s a certain disconnectedness in looking at images of destruction. The firsthand experience of both alters you in a way that is so incredibly difficult to quantify. Love from Valencia 💙❤️💛
Very sorry for what you're going through as well, but glad to hear that the community has been strong there too. It sucks, I wouldn't wish any of it on anyone, but getting to see how generous, resilient and resourceful the people around me can be is something I'm really grateful for out of this. Sending love back!
I think one of the best documentaries I have ever seen in my life is Spike Lee’s ‘When The Levees Broke’ and its sequel If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise. Absolutely heartbreaking and brutal recording of the disasters they cover and a fearless and unwavering critique of the systems that allowed the disasters to happen.
The media thrives on the horror of despair. "Disaster porn" is spot on. We as a collective have become so desensitized to events in the world because of the oversaturation. When I was a kid, we got small snippets on the 6 or 11 o'clock news. NOW, it is constant on SM for the younger generations. I am greatly saddened that for the next 4 years, these kind of events will again be reduced to a photo op for a man of power who truly does not care for the people and their suffering . We will go back to departing from environmental issues as a nation. These events will only become worse. At least, hopefully with SM, the donations and help can used for good. We are in really big trouble. Sending much love with donations.
Recently, I've felt a stronger sense of duty to connect and interact with my local community. And I owe it to my business professor who is 65~ years old and knows of every single thing that changes in our neighborhood - shops going up and down, local festivals, streets being renamed - and it made me realize how younger generations who have access to technology often begin to believe that the narratives told on social media are more "real" and "satisfying" than the narratives of the real world. I was certainly in this demographic; I had a sense of misplaced pride about it. I felt so informed and connected with the world, when in reality I was losing sight of the lives of the people around me. I think more young people should try to be involved with their communities -- that's what allows you to truly learn about the lives of others and empathize with them.
100% agree. Engaging locally is rewarding, and you have more real world influence. And as I've learned through this- those relationships and bonds formed locally are vital if you ever face a difficult situation.
I am a student learning Disaster Science to hopefully work for with FEMA soon. Thank you SO much for pointing out what is often ignored or even intentionally buried about natural disasters. We humans come together after these horrific events, when everything goes wrong, and we are all so hurt. We consistently come together to help one another, we protect each other, we save strangers, and make up with rivals. A disaster is a genuinely awful event, but there isn't looting, murder, and lawlessness afterwards, there is fellowship, love, and cooperation. When everything collapses, we still have each other.
Until today, I was simply a quiet, silent, and grateful consumer of your content. That changed - not because of your images which are heartbreaking - but because of your earnest, personal and heartfelt words that have moved me (and hopefully many many others ) to action. And know this - what I find great in every video of yours isn't the images or editing (tho they are always brilliant). It is your thoughts, your perspective and your words. I think that is what what truly transforms images into action. Thoughts and prayers for you and all those in NC that have suffered.
I'm from Valencia, Spain. We have suffered something very similar to what you describe in the video. Many people died, many people lost houses, life projects, many valuable things. And still, the most predominant feelings are that of hope, belonging to a community and supporting each other. This video is important and universal in the climate landscape we have now
I work in the "Disaster Industrial Complex." Specifically, for a private security company that specializes in post-disaster security. Everything from house and building fires/floods/etc., to larger events like forest fires, area floods, etc. Basically, things go wrong, and we move in after the heroes (first responders) have done their work, and secure the building or area. We keep an eye on what's left, to keep out looters and squatters, and also prevent the innocently curious from poking around in places that just aren't safe. This video really resonates with me. While, yes, there are bad people who will try and take advantage, mostly the opposite happens. Communities come together to help each other, old fueds are set aside, friends people forgot they had, reach out to offer help. I've see the entirety of an un-incorporated town that was physically razed to the ground as a wildfire rolled through, re-convene by the side of the highway in campers and tents, sharing babysitting duty, making an impromptu schoolhouse under a tarp, sharing groceries and fuel to make sure everyone has a meal and a warm place to sleep. The media never really covers that aspect. They also don't cover the emotional strain that months long , and sometimes years long, rebuilding and recovery efforts take on the people affected. Expect cracks to appear in the mutual help and friendship that comes in the immediate aftermath. The long term stress of rebuilding is more than many people can handle, both emotionally and financially. The "government" - in all its many layers and forms, will bog itself and the recovery down in layers of bureaucracy and an attention span no greater than the wider media. People are going to start to look for someone to blame, some government agency or individual politicians, for not having the foresight to have seen it coming and making better plans and preparations, for not helping enough in the aftermath. All that long term affect, is something the media is terrible at conveying. I hope you document it well. It's a story that needs to be told, with skill and compassion. Good luck.
This is so important to keep in mind. The Goodwill fades as people acclimate, and burn out. The war ends, and PTSD sets in. Where is the long-term mental health equivalent of FEMA? Where is the funding for Grief Work and Therapy for those who lose everything and then give everything for years in the recovery process that seems to have no end? I too hope Thomas tells this story as it unfolds. It's so important.
@stephen-torrence part of me hopes he doesn't tell it, for his sake. I've been in some form of private security since I was 18 and started working in nightclubs to put myself through college. That was 35 years ago. I've tried a few times to escape to a "normal" life but... I just can't. I simply can't function in an office or corporate environment, where people stress about petty bureaucratic stuff and office politics. The only way I can deal with the accumulated PTSD is to remove the "Post" and keep it "Current." So here I am, in my 50's, currently sitting in a truck in the burned out section of Jasper (where I've been posted for 3 months), surrounded by wreckage and oddly at peace with it. Because I "understand" it. If Thomas follows the story too closely for too long, he might end up the same way. Like a war journalist who keeps going from one war to the next. I've met a few of those over the years. First responders, war correspondents, soldiers, "Peace Corps" rebuilding types... All flavours of the same thing. You stare into the abyss for too long, eventually it consumes you and it's all you know how to deal with.
My city suffered a natural disaster that caused the entire place to be evacuated for 6 weeks and destroyed several thousand homes. Your insights really resonated me. I remember the feeling of hopefulness. I remember being amazed by how everyone pulled together. Extraordinary acts of kindness. I also remember having so many feelings about the media coverage. There was positivity to it but just being apart of the thing that was being reported on sometimes felt hurtful. Like sometimes i just wanted to not tjink about it because i was mentally exhausted but I couldn't escape from it because it was all over TV and social media.
At first I was going to social media to get info and see what was happening, but then later I wanted to get on social media to "escape" from it but couldn't since now the algorithms thought I wanted to see nonstop disaster footage including stuff from other (unrelated) events. It's a small part of the experience but it certainly adds to the exhaustion in a strange way.
I did not expect an analysis of this topic from your account and love it. Living down in Greenville SC, I've had the opportunity to see the devastation in Asheville and it's heartbreaking. Something that just doesn't hit you over a phone or computer screen. The rebuild is going to take years, and I appreciate your support for the community. Thank you sir
@CyrusChennault The hurricaneS? In the Smoky Mountains? The last time there was a storm this bad in Asheville was over 100 years ago. Don’t like the hurricanE is more like it lmao
I lost my home in Hurricane Helene, I wasn't in this area, I wasn't even in a disaster zone. A large, 50 year old, pine tree landed through my house while me and my mom were still in it. It was terrifying. It's been a month and I still feel terified, despite (thankfully) having a roof over my head, that it'll happen all over again. I can't relate to everyone's story but I can relate to the fear, the fatigue, the emotion. It is so hard to understand unless you're in it. Thanks for this video, and to everyone in the comments sharing your story: I hope you the best.
I was in New Orleans the summer after Katrina. My grandparents lived there, so I was used to the city, its sounds and atmosphere. The disconnect is impossible to capture on film. Driving in, seeing the signs still shattered on the side of the road. Seeing how many neighborhoods on the side of the highway were dark and empty, while my memory insisted that was not how it used to be. I was too young to gut houses (yes, work still happening 10 months later), but I worked a table handing out nonperishables. The exhaustion was palpable. We drove down to the lower 9th ward and walked around. There were no bugs. In July. In Louisiana. It was silent. And everything about that just broke my brain. When something is familiar, you know when it's changed, even if you can't quite identify that. Film already transforms past familiarity, so the uncanny radar is turned off with a suspension of disbelief. New Orleans did come back. Asheville will too. Even if, like your Louisiana compatriots, you mark your life by, "before the storm" and "after the storm".
The lack of bugs or birds in the scarred areas haunts me. The silence. That's what will stick with me the most about being here in Asheville during this time. The land itself is wounded. 😢
I went to school for emergency management. The thing we were taught that people truly do not realize until it happens to them, personally, is that disaster recovery takes YEARS. The incident isn't truly over until sometimes a decade or more.
I live in Porto Alegre/Brazil, we had a massive flood this May, with almost 200 dead and thousands of people losing their homes. It's such a terrible thing seeing this disasters happen all over the world. Hope you can rebuild and help each other. Nature is striking humans back for all the damage we have done for "progress".
Lived in Asheville for 10 years but left for Charlotte last year. It's been gutwrenching to see restaurants, music venues, and homes that I've been to countless times completely destroyed. Thank you so, so much for the fundraiser.
I think this is the biggest reason also why tornado destruction videos, usually the drone shots of a tornado's path, doesn't leave as much of an impact to me as someone who lives in a country where tornadoes don't form much (yet interested in tornadoes). I still feel sympathy for everyone affected and can also be in awe with how destructive a tornado is, but I've noticed that it doesn't really move me as much as people who live in tornado-stricken states would have been. The same way that news of a fire doesn't impact me as much until it was a news report of a fire that killed 3 of my neighbors. The same way that news of floods doesn't impact me as much until our house was flooded from Typhoon Ondoy. Experience really changes how you look at destruction, because a destroyed house feels impersonal and incomprehensible until it's your house or from someone that you know.
I also live in Asheville. In tears reliving this, but so grateful to you for putting a light on things in the way I experienced it. Thank you for making this beautiful vid (and all your vids). Hope to run into you one day so I can give you a hug…
I’m glad you’re safe. I’m in the Florida Big Bend area which was directly hit by Helene and my family is all in NC near Boone. I couldn’t believe they somehow had it worse than I did. It’s exhausting and no, nothing does it justice. And the images and videos can’t capture how it feels to be terrified that your roof is going to be ripped off over your head. Or the shock after as you walk around and the weather goes back to sunshine as you grapple with a landscape that’s unrecognizable.
5:27 I understand this. I am a New Jerseyan who experienced Hurricane Sandy. The image of the roller coaster at the sandy hook pier in the ocean was like a gut punch rather than awe inspiring. That place holds so many memories. I could never imagine it would literally be taken by the sea. Everyone in NJ knew what that pier looked like. So crazy. I feel for you all. Do you guys have access to gasoline? That was the worst after Sandy. Wishing you all the best.
There is a CDC study report that explains this solidarity. We tend to save ourselves, then family, then strangers. Happens everytime. E.g 1.5m people volunteered to help in a big Mexico City earthquake. In California when the earthquake collapsed the highway, first responders were the people neighboring the highway, saving complete strangers. Really good read. Article titled: Common Misconceptions about Disasters: Panic, the “Disaster Syndrome,” and Looting
Thomas, this gives me goosebumps. As someone from Porto Alegre, Brazil, I feel you. We passed through the exact same thing on May of this year and it's weird to see that the story, feeling, and experience is the same, even if we live so far from each other. For me, what hit was that the event didn't pass. We're used to seeing something on the news, or on our phone and just scroll away. Mt friends from other parts of the country would call me and ask if it was already over, but while the rain may have stopped, the destruction was still going strong. Unfourtunately, I feel like I've fallen back on the behaviour of ignoring (?) when these things that happen away from me. I know have a deeper understanding of what is to live through a disaster and how the world is changing for the worse, but I don't think it's possible to fully embrace every tragedy without going mad. I wish all the best to you, your frineds, your community, and city. Just as we did, you all will come out different and better from all of this.
I had a very similar experience to yours, here in the south of Brazil, during an unprecedented flood. In short, all of my closest extended family and most of my friends and loved ones lost nearly everything. We were lucky no one died. All I could do was follow the news and eventually send money to help. One thing that stuck with me was the aftermath, getting things back up again. A whole neighborhood smelling like death and garbage, people arriving from other towns to help with the very, very tough clean-up, salvaging what they can from the fruits of whole lives of hard work that were just destroyed. I will never forget discarding so many lovely reminders of my childhood, things like my old Harry Potter books, that I didn't even realize I cared about.
This is the one thing I think every single disaster movie, apocalypse movie, every fictional depiction of calamity fails to recognize... humans are resilient. Even in the storm we find optimism and community. There is a great tragedy, no doubt about it, but the people fight to rebuild and rebuild it better. With all the horror and terror of the world today, that in itself gives me hope. We will rebuild. We will continue on, and work together for a better future.
Thomas, I've been subscribed to you for a bunch of years now and have always enjoyed your content. This video brought back some memories of Hurricane Sandy in New York. I grew up in the suburbs on Long Island and luckily my house was virtually untouched by the storm surge, folks 4 houses down from me were not so lucky. My grandparents' house a couple towns away had their entire first floor destroyed by the flooding. There was over 2 feet of water in their living room. Me, my dad, and my sister's husband stripped it down to the studs and rebuilt it over the course of several months for them. I'll never forget the FEMA trucks and national guard tanks in the streets and in the parks. They were there to help and to keep us safe, but man it was kinda scary to see. We even had a Papa John's truck parked in the park near their house. That was the absolute worst free pizza I ever ate, but god damn was it incredible to just have hot food on those insanely cold days when we were working on the house. It took a long time for people to rebuild and the ripple effects were endless. I'll never forget when I started going back to work a couple weeks later, everyone on the train just looked like zombies. We were all so, so exhausted from dealing with everything. But, you build back stronger and put the pieces back together as best you can. I'm glad to hear your family is safe and your property wasn't damaged too badly. Thanks for making this video. Also wanted to say that I've been to Asheville a bunch of times and it's one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. Can't wait to see it rebuilt.
This gets to the feeling of trying to convey the disaster to others who didn’t experience it as well. I remember evacuating to my Moms house after the storm in Asheville and trying to explain how bad it was using pictures etc but like you have pointed out. Nothing will REALLY get that emotion across of seeing your community displaced/destroyed. Also, so glad that you mentioned Grail Moviehouse. I only got to see one movie there before Helene but it had so much character and life to it.
The severity of suffering is often determined by its duration, which is something media definitely lacks the capacity to truly convey to an audience. Disasters like this are twofold, there’s the survival of the initial event and then the long struggle to survive the aftermath, rebuilding is an incompressibly long process to go through, both on an individual level and as a collective of townsfolks.
This is worse than I thought. Thanks for sharing your experience. Our town in Kansas has been without clean water for a week and we are beginning to feel the stress. It’s amazing how we take for granted a society that provides drinking water.
As another member of the Asheville community, I just wanted to say thank for you sharing this. It’s the best distillation of the experience I’ve seen or heard. We were fortunate to not need to leave our home, but have lots of repairs to get back to functional. Like everyone from the region, my perspective is permanently changed. I find myself saying things like “PTSD” and not really knowing if it’s appropriate. But it sure seems like it is. Either way, thanks for describing something I keep feeling every time I make a turn down a road and see something awful - which hits different in real life than onscreen.
I work for Save the Children as a producer / DoP and will be flying into Asheville on Friday to highlight some of our programs and local orgs we've partnered with + show the need that is still there. I would be interested in hearing your / your UA-cam communities perspectives on improving the inadequacies of media portraying events like this that you've been experiencing.
The first thing I noticed when the video opened was the red spray-painted cross left by rescuers. I was immediately transported back to 2005, watching the news of New Orleans in horror at how narrowly we missed the same fate. We didn't have the same social media presence for Katrina and Rita back in 2005. But when Laura and Delta hit the same area in 2020, and I was living out of state in the middle of a pandemic, all I had was the news and social media. Seeing it on my phone was one thing, but when I visited the area for a funeral, seeing the destruction was completely different. It was like the sunset analogy, but in the worst way. Awe inspiring, and heart breaking. I was already destroyed by the loss of my friend, but I could also feel the loss of my hometown. About 2 months ago, the imploded the only "skyscraper" in the area, after it had sustained too much damage from the storms to be financially feasible to repair. I had grown up in the shadow of the building, playing in nearby parks. I explained to a friend that it was like watching an elderly family member begin to struggle. I know my hometown will never be the same. It can't be. There were things we lost in Rita that were still not repaired for Laura. Some buildings still have that red spray-paint still lingering, though faded in the 20 years since. Even the people who really made the area will never be the same. There's a haunting look in the depths of the eyes of the ones we didn't lose, and a gaping hole in their hearts because of the ones we did lose. This is Asheville's Katrina, Rita, Laura, and Delta, and my heart goes out to them from North Florida, formerly Southwest Louisiana.
In 1992 I was living with my husband and four children 12 and under when Hurricane Andrew came through our neighborhood in south Miami.The following two years taught me, and more importantly my kids, that mommy and daddy are at the mercy of big bad events and can’t fix things quickly. It changed us for better and for worse. Insecurity was built into our future lives in a way I had not anticipated. Nowhere is completely safe and the physical objects you take for granted can be ruined or disappear. As you point out, the goodness and kindness of neighbors was a prominent feature of the recovery, but also the limitations of media in portraying the events. I remembered a book I read in high school: The Medium is the Message in 1967. What enters the various media is the stuff future viewers will have no matter how limited, biased, inadequate or insightful. Such is history. I’m glad you are part of the media with your video. Thank you.
❤🙏 thank you. I live in Fairview and we got hit pretty hard out here. Over the last several weeks I have spoken with so many relief workers who don’t even know each other, and they all say the same thing….”we have never seen a community so resilient as we have seen here.”’ There was a thread on a local social media group I’m in, and the question was “Are you leaving or staying after Helene, and why?” About 98% of everyone said STAYING and the reason was all about the goodness of the people here and how we have come together much stronger. I’ve lived in a lot of places over my lifetime and there is nowhere I would rather be than here….despite it all. Collectively I’ve lived here over 15 years. One of the ways I’m able to give back as an herbalist is by distributing free formulas for Grief Support and Stress and resilience. We are all doing our part. Thank you for deepening the conversation about the aftermath of life here in WNC. 🙏❤️🌎
Thank you for making this. I live in Asheville too, and I had similar existential thoughts about perception and media. I imagined people on the outside scrolling past our destruction, because...well, I've done that before. But it was especially weird to have those thoughts while it was happening. Even when I was in survival mode, standing in water lines, I kept thinking about the optics versus the real experience. "This doesn't look the way it feels."
A tornado hit my block a few years ago. The most terrifying media cannot replicate the spine chill of having to get underground so fast and when you poke your head out 2 min later buildings, trees, etc that have been there your entire life are just GONE. Everyone affected came together but people who weren't affected were kind of awful. For weeks there was just a parade of people coming down our street to the point where they stationed cops around the block. People just taking cell phone pics of you and your neighbors trying to put your lives back together, getting in the way and making the entire situation less safe but doing nothing to help made me so incredibly sad. I hope the recovery goes as smoothly as possible for everyone involved.
Thomas, thank you for putting words to something I've not been able to describe in years. This video has sat with me all week, and I realize now it's because it's the first time I've seen images of a disaster imbued with humanity and given such a personal context or appropriate respect before. I think the discussion often seems to stop when we all agree that images are inadequate as a medium, because of course images can never come close to the images that still play in my brain to this day or one's lived experience. I saw my entire town and every single one of my friends home's devastated by two once-in-a-lifetime floods, and assisted in both clean-ups as an "unaffected" resident. I moved away to a "safer" city in 2022, as did nearly all my friends, only to lose my home and nearly my life when flood drainage failed and my road turned into a river in the middle of the night in January this year. But I think you really hit at something I've not been able to name (despite also loving John Berger and "Ways of Seeing" like a bible), which is that only incredibly personal and respectful context can render an image as close to accurate as it can be for those who have lived it - and that is an incredibly important bit of nuance for all disaster media to hit. I've watched years of media footage describe what happened to me and utterly fail, and I'm realizing now it's because there's a fundamental detatchment from what the context is and needs to be to make an image of disaster as close to justice. The definition of context we're so often fed is still images of before and after side by side, or a human interest interview with someone in the incredibly private wreck of their home, or inspiration porn of the brave community pulling together. These all still fail to capture because they do not stop and acknowledge that the viewer and the maker of images are never a passive observer. If the maker (media) views themselves as passive and outside what actually happened looking in, it flows on to the viewer. It never acknowledes that actually we are all inside a larger interconnected community (the world) experiencing this and part of it too. I think you've achieved this though, which is why your video hit me so hard despite the fact I didn't live through Hurricane Helene and live across the globe. It's the first time I've watched disaster media made by an insider that invite me to respectfully experience what has happened in Ashville, rather than just look at it as a vouyer. Thank you for sharing this with us, Thomas.
Hey Thomas, I live in the Boone/Banner Elk area near there. I have never seen anything like it, but I had to sit through it, and I'm definitely traumatized by that experience, but I definitely had some of the most meaningful bonding experiences with my neighbors. Solidarity from your nearby neighbor. I really appreciate this as a way to discuss this situation. Cheers.
Thomas I can't tell you how much it means to see this. 😭 I've been volunteering here (in Marshall and at BeLoved) since returning to town a month after Helene, and there is something about the Vibe here that's impossible to convey in media. Your video comes the closest yet. It's so good. I signed up to your Patreon and I look forward to the documentary you make (even if it takes years, because "this is just the beginning"). Thank you, Bless you 🙏🙏🙏 Would absolutely buy you a coffee anytime
This video gives me so much hope. I strongly dislike disaster movies, they always made my heart ache. I watched 2012 when i was 10 years old with my classroom. I remember it being such a shocking and traumatising experience, because I kept thinking “what about people’s homes? Loved ones? Animals? Favourite places?” And all the suffering that is generated from disaster and death. Im so happy that your community remains hopeful and strong. Its relief to know its not like in the movies… Good luck to you and your community Thomas ❤
Same apply to wars ,because we often talk about the parties that are causing and moving the conflict further not talking about the stories of the brave people who wanted to help and save and the victims who have lost everything and changed their lives forever,you know those stories that really makes us feel similar humain beings
I’m so sorry for everything you and your community have endured. Seeing how everyone has come together with such kindness and support is incredibly moving. Wishing you all strength, hope, and brighter days ahead.
Hi Thomas, I've followed your channel for quite some time. I want to thank you for this video and I admire your humanistic coverage of your community and thoughtful reflections~ I've definitely felt this same crazy disconnect when watching video after video of horror in Gaza, and all the brutality that has been enacted upon these families and anyone that speaks against it. I think there's a lot of work to be done to center the experiences of those dealing with disaster, tragedy, and loss firsthand--and the concerns of NC locals about being depicted holistically is so meaningful and important. Above all else, we are human, and continue to move forward despite harsh conditions in the world around us--in the words of Rafeef Ziada, "We teach life".
My partner is from Hendersonville and she still has family out there, they got luckier than many but it's still been insane to see the damage. Her dad in particular is in this small community where they basically had one bridge to get in and out, and it was completely destroyed, they're saying it might not be rebuilt until March. But I love your attention on the positives. He and his community have been working non stop clearing roads, getting people food and water, just coming together in any way they can, and I think we need that reminder. I think COVID fucked our perception of the good will of people amidst disaster, so many people unwilling to do the bare minimum to protect others, but that was wrapped up in so much politics and disinformation and propaganda that it clouded the truth for so many, what we see in these disasters when there are no politics, when you're seeing it all with your own eyes and no proganda can break through the reality is that there is still that good will, to help each other in hard times. And I think we need to remember that now more than ever.
you talk about this tragic event so beautifly and I can relate - i was in primary when my small town was flooded by heavy rain that broke two water dams in the matter of minutes.. it was amazing what it did to the comunity, everyone was helping out, rebuilding (and even improving!) the damaged homes, people were offering shelters to those who lost their houses.. it's amazing to see the same thing happening across the world! I'm wishing you best of luck (also with your document! hopefully we'll get to see it someday :)) and stay safe ♡
Im glad you and yours are ok. As horrendous as this disaster is and was and will be, its genuinely heartwarming to see that generally our response is to come together. Thank you.
The first day I could, I think it was maybe the following Sunday, I drove around just making sure everyone was ok. I had been stranded for some time, the waters had made lakes out of the roads and farms. I played courier, making sure everyone knew that not only we were ok but passing along what information we could. I dropped off water with a friend who couldn’t get out, and unlike other people in the area didn’t have running water to even try and clean. I’m grateful to have had a gas stove myself. When we finally could, I went to see Asheville itself. My god, seeing the river arts district just… underwater like that. All that time and money spent making the place alive again, the art museums and antique stores down there… and then seeing some buildings just gone. GONE. Asheville, a place I had grown up in and around, a place that had never changed since I was kid, had become permanently scarred. It’s been some time and biltmore village still looks like an apocalypse, and I’m sure the mud won’t come out for a very long time. I’ve seen rails out in Fletcher completely destroyed, the bloody rail lines! Warped and twisted! It’s utterly unbelievable! I hope everyone is ok. Worse may yet be to come.
Thanks for this analysis. Many thanks. -Brisbane. ❤🇦🇺 (it’s very hard to watch & absorb, but necessary. Bringing in the loss of homes, not houses, says a lot more).
My family members live in Boone North Carolina while I live on another country entirely. My only exposure to these events where through social media and the videos that my family was sending me. And while I did feel sadness and grief at the damage and loss that I could see in those images, a part of me was completely disconnected. I didnt feel the amount of sadness I thought I had to be feeling. There was a glass screen protecting me from the reality of things. And when I realized that I was desensitized to all this pain, despite the fact that my own family was going through it, that moment of realization was one of the saddest in my life.
I am from Asheville too, I never expected to see photos of Grail or hear coverage of Helene from anyone I follow on UA-cam as it seemed like the whole world has already moved on. I evacuated from Asheville a week after the storm, and had not yet seen photos of the true devastation due to the lack of service. I remember sitting in the car of a friend’s mother, parked on a random side of the road with one bar, and we all just cried as we finally started to see photos of the pure devastation. I don’t know what the point of me commenting is, I suppose it just touched my heart to be reminded of how many of us went through this together. Hope you are well.
Very good choice of subject & well thought out & conveyed. In the 80's, pictures of starving children sold records - but now we're bombarded more & more with horrific carnage that it's too much for most folk to process, & go into various forms of denial. Sorry to say it's gonna get worse.
I’m so sorry you, your loved ones and your community are going through this. Thank you for sharing what’s going on in your reality both with this video and analysis but also in the work you’re doing to document and reconstruct. This is a spot on message that we need for a lot of reasons ❤
I'm deeply sorry for the loss you've experienced, both personally and within your community. I want you to know how much I appreciate your videos-your research is always so thorough, and your thinking is incredibly structured. I especially loved how you brought in Susan Sontag; her philosophy on 'pictures' has always resonated with me, on the imitations & traps of imagery but also on the dangers of metaphors. Wishing you all the best, and I really hope to see you back soon with more of your amazing content!
The disconnect you described between reality and media during these events brought back so many memories of the black summer Australian bushfires. Seeing international news cover an event our country had been experiencing for months was very strange. The bushfires were affecting millions of people, including those in cities like me who don’t normally experience them with months of smoke, and people walking around wearing masks due to the air quality, but the media only seemed to take interest strangely towards the end of everything. The news coverage was so surreal and surface level to consume, when I personally knew people who’s homes had been burnt down, and it felt in those months that the entire country was confused and angry and grieving and wondering how this had happened and been allowed to happen. News coverage made me feel so frustrated that the people consuming it were never going to know what was really going on.
It's amazing how drastically differently I experienced the shots you had of the destruction without anyone in the frame compared to the ones with people in the frame. My reaction went from "What can possibly be done to come back from that level of destruction?" to "Oh, things are already being done." Just bringing the experience to the human level is enough to point out that hope is still in the room with us. I'm looking forward to your documentary!
I have a lot of friends in NC and haven’t heard personally from them since the hurricane and it’s been tough….hope you guys are okay and sending hope and love (I think I already donated a week or two ago). It also makes me really worried for climate refugees that will show up increasingly in the next few decades. I can’t imagine having no hope for your home getting better, no feasibility of rebuilding as you know the environment will only get worse around you and having utterly no choice but to leave with as much of your community as can come and be forced to reckon with borders and people sending you away and telling you they do not want you there despite being the people who caused the crisis on some level. Let’s all do what we can to make change and dismantle the systems that don’t care that these extreme disasters will only get more extreme the more the world heats up because they only care about profit.
Thanks for putting this together. This was a really fantastic video. I watched it on Nebula and actually came back here just to give it additional engagement. Looking forward to you documentary too.
Im so sorry you ans yiur community are going through this. As a native New Orleanian, i understand what it's like to see a beloved location lying in ruins on the news, displayed without context.
I was just here mid-video thinking this video essay sounded like a modern adaptation of Sontag's Regarding the Pain and bam here we go. Thank you for this insightful refresher, Thomas. We wish you and Ashville the best.
I went through something similar to you when I was younger in that a huge earthquake hit and destroyed my city and when I got back to my apartment I still had power and internet and could watch the news feed of my own city live. It was a really bizarre experience and it made me realise how disconnected the coverage is from the reality of the experience. From home you can see Birds Eye views of it all from helicopters and it feels like a movie set. Even having gone through that, I find it hard to connect with the images and videos from places elsewhere because without a connection to a place, the destruction is difficult to measure. Towns and places that look very different look the same when destroyed. It’s just another of many photos of rubble we have seen in our lives. What strikes me most though is the feelings. I know the feelings. I know how kind and connected people feel in the beginning. How communities come together and adrenaline pumps bodies and heroes emerge. But I also know how this begins to fade weeks or months after the disaster while people deal with the aftermath for years and even decades. My parents lived in a house taped up with duct tape for ten years after our earthquakes because the insurance company wouldn’t acknowledge the destruction and refused to pay them out. And the media cycle moves on. Especially now, more than ever, with so many of these events hitting all over the world. It’s becoming more common place in a post climate change world.
I think part of why we forget about how people can come together and work for better is that for many people, at least in my age cohort, the most lasting memory of disaster is still hurricane Katrina, a disaster in which people failed each other at all levels, from the government that didn't maintain the levees properly to the police who sat on a bridge shooting people of color for the crime of scavenging for food. That event was an outlier in a lot of ways, but that also made it a sort of perfect microcosm of all the bad parts of America. This video is a helpful reminder that sometimes our own confirmation bias can get in the way of seeing the actual humanity living through a disaster.
Had no idea you were Appalachian. I still have family in the mountains in West Virginia and that's all I could see when i looked at those images. My sister, her husband, and their kids already struggle with roads washing out. A flood like this is so devastating in those mountains. Donated. Hang in there, much love ❤️
As someone who has experienced many disasters firsthand through my profession, it is always so much different than one expects. I have been experienced suprise, tiredness, and awe from each one. I work in wildland fire with the federal land agencies and each on is different and has different lessons. One I think can be overlooked is the longevity and return of these happenings, which hard to appreciate sometimes. The one that I think of most is the Dixie fire in the Northern Sierras. In 2021 I came as part of a fire crew and fought it as it raged, with many long and humbling days. Now going on 4 years since it happened I am still responding to it as an ecologist with the forest service. This involves restoring the highly disturbed landscape, and preparing for the future of climate and fire. Because it will happen again, and the climate is changing, so let's hope we are better prepared next time, while we continue to work from the last time. I hope all the long work continues and all of you are able to restore.
My partner and I went to Asheville for a vacation back in July, and it's been surreal seeing images of all the places we went to underwater and/or completely destroyed. As a movie guy, one of my favorite places we went to down there was the Grail Moviehouse, and it just breaks my heart that it was destroyed by the flooding. I hope they are able to rebuild the affected parts of Asheville, because it really is a wonderful city.
I too am from Asheville, and went to college for the first time in Greensboro, it was so surreal to see friends and family go through something that I should have gone through, I felt guilty in that way. I’ve since been back to see the ghosts of grailhouse and so many other buildings, I keep AVL in my thoughts and memories.
Thank you for sharing this, despite how hard it must be. It's horrendous to consider how much you've lost. It's heartening to to hear how people are working together, helping out. Donated a humble amount. Wish I could do more. If possible, let us know how you all are doing. Take care.
I live in Asheville and have been here for the entire storm and aftermath. Disaster footage puts tears in my eye now, after seeing what has happened to the city I call home. In a few years, it’ll be just the same as before the storm, I’ll hardly bat an eye at it, I’m sure. That’s how powerful the constant, desensitizing feed of destruction is.
Growing up in central Oklahoma, I’ve seen a lot of devastation from natural disasters and have had friends and family devastated by these events. I’ve been through neighborhoods before and immediately after being leveled by F5/EF5 tornadoes and seen how the areas look years, decades afterwards. No amount of documenting or sympathizing from afar can convey how catastrophic events like these can be on both those affected and those spared but still near the disasters. Everything you’ve spent your life building up and holding dear; memories, heirlooms, pictures, milestones, stability, all ripped away in a matter of moments. There’s something so tragic about not knowing where to start, not because everything is a mess and it’s not clear where you need to start, but because there is nowhere to start as literally everything is just gone. Working with insurance companies are often the only thing to corral your mind at first and remind you the world hasn’t stopped spinning. With how hyper aware society is to the point of sensory overload, numbers and events add up quickly and it dehumanizes that behind every number is the story of someone having to recover after losing so much and even further beyond the numbers are those that were spared but have another event that adds to the fear that they might be next. It can weigh on a community but at the same time it builds a resilience and camaraderie that oddly creates a sense of belonging when everything is turned upside down. There’s something about suffering, specifically suffering together, that brings out the most meaningful aspects of the human experience.
The “most beautiful thing” in such tragic moments in life is the gathering of everyone. For a short time, all other problems going on in the world are forgotten and everyone works together to help each other.
I've seen a few previous Thomas Flight videos. This personal testimonial made me realize I hadn't thought about him as a real person, like an interesting neighbor and valuable member of his community. Hold strong to your humanity, Mr. Flight.
having lived in asheville from 2021-23, knowing grail movie house isn’t around anymore is heartbreaking. loved that place. thank you Thomas for making this p.s. - go to farewell for coffee if they made it through. they make the best chai latte i’ve ever had
I live just a few hundred miles northeast of you in coastal Virginia, and it hurts my heart knowing that sometime in the next few years there's a fair chance it'll be my community's turn. We already get the edge of hurricanes every couple years or so, and a head-on tropical storm once in a while. And my heart hurts for my best friend with severe anxiety and a host of other mental and physical disabilities, when I wonder how (or whether) she'll be able to survive with her sanity intact if her home and only safe space gets destroyed.
Sorry to hear about your situation man. Been following your page for awhile, learning a lot. I live in Hickory, didn't know you were that close. This is a great thing to do.
I worked behind the scenes on a documentary about Hurricane Katrina, specifically the people trapped inside the Superdome. 4 days of listening to them pour out their traumatic stories left me Absolutely broken. And i cried so hard when it was over
Praying for you and your community. Donated as well. Hope everything works out for all of you... in fact, I hope that anything that can will eventually come to be better than it was before. Good luck to you all!
Difficulty in appreciating and understanding the scale of things is a root, common issue across many challenges we face in our society. Pictures of destruction don't convey the reality, and without the reality or even a sense of it, true empathy is difficult... it's the same as needing an average athlete performing beside olympians in order to truly appreciate the level olympians operate at - we lack the reference points for perspective, for context in so many aspects of what information we ingest.
It seems some way curious to me to see how your story feels so similar to the current situation we are living now in Spain due the floods . Send you encouragement, hope and strength. Thank you dor your video .
I live in Boone, and I watched as River St. became a river itself. I'm glad to see people from here are talking about how much it sticks around. Seeing mud caked onto streets is such a bizarre experience when you know where it came from and how it looked when it showed up. I saw what hurricane Matthew did too, but it pales in comparison to how unprepared we were for anything to happen.
I subbed to you like three years ago and never realized you were from AVL! Thanks for making this video. It's really hard to get perspective on this stuff, even when you're actively trying to.
An oak tree fell on my home and destroyed it. The house I just bought last year as a single woman in her 30s. One of my greatest achievements, gone in an instant. The process after that instant has been... something. I've always been interested in what happens *after* disasters. I've tried so hard to find documentaries detailing the days and months *after* 9/11. It's hard to find information like that. Now I'm living it, and it's crazy to see it firsthand.
Our village was hit by a flood last year and it's still so strange to see how much of our high street has closed permanently because it cost too much to repair.
It's one thing to just be awash in contextless images of a disaster on a newsfeed. To acknowledge that on the other side of your screen is humanity which you are only perceiving in a very abstract sense by looking at a photo takes one more step. The earnestness and the emotional depth of your telling takes the media yet one step further. I don't live in NC anymore, but I grew up there. When I was in elementary school in the 90s, we got hit pretty hard by Hurricane Fran. Watching this makes me remember that. We didn't have power where I lived for the better part of two weeks I think. I remember that frenzy in the first few days after the storm. Everyone in the neighborhood being outside all at once; that never really happened otherwise. People had chainsaws and were walking between lots carving trees out from the all places they had implanted into their neighbors' yards and homes. I remember how the adrenaline wore off a lot faster than the damage did, too. Despite the limitations of disaster media, you use it so thoughtfully here. While you're talking about the experience of time, for example: ok yeah, a clock, but a clock sitting on the floor, caked in mud. Earlier in the video, there was an image with a similar feel - at 5:15, it was the one with all the pottery & plates, sitting in the dirt outside in front of some wreckage. If you've ever walked through an abandoned building, sometimes you find liminal stuff _superficially_ like that. A magazine from the 80s, a plastic cup with a logo the brand has long since stopped using, random certificates and paperwork, or an empty bottle of aspirin. But then it hits you that the clock, the pottery & the plates, that drawing of the horse... they are _not at all_ like those abandoned objects. Practically just yesterday, they were the built-up personal clutter that made someone's home feel homey, or the stock on the shelves of someone's thriving store. Someone who, most likely (and hopefully), is still physically nearby, maybe even behind the camera, and who likely still feels all the loss quite acutely. Thanks for making this.
Powerful video. Lots of thoughts. And take this with the love I intend. During a big storm in burning man 2022, I remember thinking - this is gonna be very helpful for society somehow - like training grounds for what’s coming These past few weeks our burner friends lost sooooo much, and rebuilding is going to be impossible. Yet they’re happy and going out and helping others and trying to make the most out of it. Things might continue getting worse. Maybe things are getting better statistically. Who knows. What matters is how we show up for each other ❤
As someone who lives in Asheville and was trapped in their home for three days. What amazed me the most was the whole community coming together and helping each other out. Because of the shotty cellphone reception, I had friends hike up to me through all the downed trees and powerlines just to see if my family and I were ok. When I got out I wanted to do the same and have been volunteering with Beloved Asheville since. They're a great organization that has been and still is putting in amazing work to help support and rebuild Asheville. I've lived in Asheville all my life and it'll never be the same but I know we will rebuild it into something even greater. I hope you can donate.
This was my experience in natural disasters in my city and it’s actually a well documented part of the 5 stages of recovery. People band together and form community in collective experience. It’s really beautiful and I don’t want to dampen it but it’s also sadly short lived. The problem is that the energy cannot be maintained and people burnout as the initial emergency fades. Sadly the impacts continue for years and even decades afterwards and disillusionment usually sets in. I really wish you the best and hope that your community gets the long term help it needs to recover
Yeah it's already changed and lot here we've been learning this, and some of the folks I've interviewed for the doc are already beginning to shift into disillusionment phase.
@@ThomasFlight Have you seen Bruce Conner's films? His short on the media coverage of jfk assassination is very biting.
"Don't just show me how things got destroyed, show me how they got fixed."
What a paradigm shift this simple yet powerful concept could bring if this would be adopted in all media, be it cinema, legacy media or social media.
Hope your community recovers and you guys rebuild your future together.
Bless you brother! Sending prayers and love
We're working hard to rebuild what we can! Some things will never be the same or are gone forever, but some will come back stronger and better. I'm not looking forward to how long the recovery will take but I'm inspired to see what lies on the other side.
I never thought I would be able to relate to a video like this from firsthand experience but here we are. I live in Valencia where, a little over a week ago, we were hit with catastrophic flooding. There’s a lot I can say about it but the biggest thing this situation has impressed upon me is the sheer goodness of people.
In the face of catastrophic destruction and a government that failed to not only send out alerts telling people to stay off the streets but also didn’t dispatch the military for 4 days, the people showed up. People from all over have gone into the affected areas on foot in droves to help those who have suffered. They bring shovels and brooms and food and clothes and anything else the victims need. I’ve watched how people really truly will put aside any difference to take care of each other. It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. And this is whilst being in a town that looks as if it went through an apocalypse. You need something? Some food, water, a mask, gloves, hand sanitizer, a hug, whatever. Someone will give it to you without a moment’s hesitation.
This kind of humanity is difficult to properly comprehend by watching a video. And there’s a certain disconnectedness in looking at images of destruction. The firsthand experience of both alters you in a way that is so incredibly difficult to quantify.
Love from Valencia 💙❤️💛
Very sorry for what you're going through as well, but glad to hear that the community has been strong there too. It sucks, I wouldn't wish any of it on anyone, but getting to see how generous, resilient and resourceful the people around me can be is something I'm really grateful for out of this. Sending love back!
Fuerza amiga ❤
El gobierno Valenciano fue el culpable en una gran mayoría. No solo el estatal
I think one of the best documentaries I have ever seen in my life is Spike Lee’s ‘When The Levees Broke’ and its sequel If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise. Absolutely heartbreaking and brutal recording of the disasters they cover and a fearless and unwavering critique of the systems that allowed the disasters to happen.
Oh my god yes, I recommend it constantly and years later I think of it constantly.
Thank you for the recommendation. That sounds really interesting.
Watched it earlier this year. Was very surprised on how much about Katrina that I didn’t know while growing up. Truly a stain on modern America
Democrats did this
The media thrives on the horror of despair. "Disaster porn" is spot on. We as a collective have become so desensitized to events in the world because of the oversaturation. When I was a kid, we got small snippets on the 6 or 11 o'clock news. NOW, it is constant on SM for the younger generations. I am greatly saddened that for the next 4 years, these kind of events will again be reduced to a photo op for a man of power who truly does not care for the people and their suffering . We will go back to departing from environmental issues as a nation. These events will only become worse. At least, hopefully with SM, the donations and help can used for good. We are in really big trouble. Sending much love with donations.
Wondering how the many, many fundraisers & donations are being tracked.
Recently, I've felt a stronger sense of duty to connect and interact with my local community. And I owe it to my business professor who is 65~ years old and knows of every single thing that changes in our neighborhood - shops going up and down, local festivals, streets being renamed - and it made me realize how younger generations who have access to technology often begin to believe that the narratives told on social media are more "real" and "satisfying" than the narratives of the real world. I was certainly in this demographic; I had a sense of misplaced pride about it. I felt so informed and connected with the world, when in reality I was losing sight of the lives of the people around me. I think more young people should try to be involved with their communities -- that's what allows you to truly learn about the lives of others and empathize with them.
100% agree. Engaging locally is rewarding, and you have more real world influence. And as I've learned through this- those relationships and bonds formed locally are vital if you ever face a difficult situation.
I am a student learning Disaster Science to hopefully work for with FEMA soon. Thank you SO much for pointing out what is often ignored or even intentionally buried about natural disasters. We humans come together after these horrific events, when everything goes wrong, and we are all so hurt. We consistently come together to help one another, we protect each other, we save strangers, and make up with rivals. A disaster is a genuinely awful event, but there isn't looting, murder, and lawlessness afterwards, there is fellowship, love, and cooperation.
When everything collapses, we still have each other.
Until today, I was simply a quiet, silent, and grateful consumer of your content. That changed - not because of your images which are heartbreaking - but because of your earnest, personal and heartfelt words that have moved me (and hopefully many many others ) to action. And know this - what I find great in every video of yours isn't the images or editing (tho they are always brilliant). It is your thoughts, your perspective and your words. I think that is what what truly transforms images into action. Thoughts and prayers for you and all those in NC that have suffered.
I'm from Valencia, Spain. We have suffered something very similar to what you describe in the video. Many people died, many people lost houses, life projects, many valuable things. And still, the most predominant feelings are that of hope, belonging to a community and supporting each other. This video is important and universal in the climate landscape we have now
I work in the "Disaster Industrial Complex." Specifically, for a private security company that specializes in post-disaster security. Everything from house and building fires/floods/etc., to larger events like forest fires, area floods, etc.
Basically, things go wrong, and we move in after the heroes (first responders) have done their work, and secure the building or area. We keep an eye on what's left, to keep out looters and squatters, and also prevent the innocently curious from poking around in places that just aren't safe.
This video really resonates with me. While, yes, there are bad people who will try and take advantage, mostly the opposite happens. Communities come together to help each other, old fueds are set aside, friends people forgot they had, reach out to offer help.
I've see the entirety of an un-incorporated town that was physically razed to the ground as a wildfire rolled through, re-convene by the side of the highway in campers and tents, sharing babysitting duty, making an impromptu schoolhouse under a tarp, sharing groceries and fuel to make sure everyone has a meal and a warm place to sleep.
The media never really covers that aspect.
They also don't cover the emotional strain that months long , and sometimes years long, rebuilding and recovery efforts take on the people affected.
Expect cracks to appear in the mutual help and friendship that comes in the immediate aftermath. The long term stress of rebuilding is more than many people can handle, both emotionally and financially.
The "government" - in all its many layers and forms, will bog itself and the recovery down in layers of bureaucracy and an attention span no greater than the wider media.
People are going to start to look for someone to blame, some government agency or individual politicians, for not having the foresight to have seen it coming and making better plans and preparations, for not helping enough in the aftermath.
All that long term affect, is something the media is terrible at conveying.
I hope you document it well. It's a story that needs to be told, with skill and compassion.
Good luck.
This is so important to keep in mind. The Goodwill fades as people acclimate, and burn out. The war ends, and PTSD sets in. Where is the long-term mental health equivalent of FEMA? Where is the funding for Grief Work and Therapy for those who lose everything and then give everything for years in the recovery process that seems to have no end?
I too hope Thomas tells this story as it unfolds. It's so important.
@stephen-torrence part of me hopes he doesn't tell it, for his sake. I've been in some form of private security since I was 18 and started working in nightclubs to put myself through college.
That was 35 years ago.
I've tried a few times to escape to a "normal" life but... I just can't. I simply can't function in an office or corporate environment, where people stress about petty bureaucratic stuff and office politics.
The only way I can deal with the accumulated PTSD is to remove the "Post" and keep it "Current." So here I am, in my 50's, currently sitting in a truck in the burned out section of Jasper (where I've been posted for 3 months), surrounded by wreckage and oddly at peace with it. Because I "understand" it.
If Thomas follows the story too closely for too long, he might end up the same way. Like a war journalist who keeps going from one war to the next. I've met a few of those over the years. First responders, war correspondents, soldiers, "Peace Corps" rebuilding types... All flavours of the same thing. You stare into the abyss for too long, eventually it consumes you and it's all you know how to deal with.
@@johnbaker867 Wow, Brother. Real stuff here. I respect your candor and vulnerability. Sending love 🫂
My city suffered a natural disaster that caused the entire place to be evacuated for 6 weeks and destroyed several thousand homes. Your insights really resonated me. I remember the feeling of hopefulness. I remember being amazed by how everyone pulled together. Extraordinary acts of kindness. I also remember having so many feelings about the media coverage. There was positivity to it but just being apart of the thing that was being reported on sometimes felt hurtful. Like sometimes i just wanted to not tjink about it because i was mentally exhausted but I couldn't escape from it because it was all over TV and social media.
At first I was going to social media to get info and see what was happening, but then later I wanted to get on social media to "escape" from it but couldn't since now the algorithms thought I wanted to see nonstop disaster footage including stuff from other (unrelated) events. It's a small part of the experience but it certainly adds to the exhaustion in a strange way.
I did not expect an analysis of this topic from your account and love it. Living down in Greenville SC, I've had the opportunity to see the devastation in Asheville and it's heartbreaking. Something that just doesn't hit you over a phone or computer screen. The rebuild is going to take years, and I appreciate your support for the community. Thank you sir
“This is what you voted for. Dont like it? Leave!”
Dont like hurricanes? Leave.
@CyrusChennault The hurricaneS? In the Smoky Mountains?
The last time there was a storm this bad in Asheville was over 100 years ago. Don’t like the hurricanE is more like it lmao
I lost my home in Hurricane Helene, I wasn't in this area, I wasn't even in a disaster zone. A large, 50 year old, pine tree landed through my house while me and my mom were still in it. It was terrifying. It's been a month and I still feel terified, despite (thankfully) having a roof over my head, that it'll happen all over again. I can't relate to everyone's story but I can relate to the fear, the fatigue, the emotion. It is so hard to understand unless you're in it. Thanks for this video, and to everyone in the comments sharing your story: I hope you the best.
I was in New Orleans the summer after Katrina. My grandparents lived there, so I was used to the city, its sounds and atmosphere. The disconnect is impossible to capture on film. Driving in, seeing the signs still shattered on the side of the road. Seeing how many neighborhoods on the side of the highway were dark and empty, while my memory insisted that was not how it used to be. I was too young to gut houses (yes, work still happening 10 months later), but I worked a table handing out nonperishables. The exhaustion was palpable. We drove down to the lower 9th ward and walked around. There were no bugs. In July. In Louisiana. It was silent. And everything about that just broke my brain. When something is familiar, you know when it's changed, even if you can't quite identify that. Film already transforms past familiarity, so the uncanny radar is turned off with a suspension of disbelief.
New Orleans did come back. Asheville will too. Even if, like your Louisiana compatriots, you mark your life by, "before the storm" and "after the storm".
The lack of bugs or birds in the scarred areas haunts me. The silence. That's what will stick with me the most about being here in Asheville during this time. The land itself is wounded. 😢
I went to school for emergency management. The thing we were taught that people truly do not realize until it happens to them, personally, is that disaster recovery takes YEARS. The incident isn't truly over until sometimes a decade or more.
I live in Porto Alegre/Brazil, we had a massive flood this May, with almost 200 dead and thousands of people losing their homes. It's such a terrible thing seeing this disasters happen all over the world. Hope you can rebuild and help each other. Nature is striking humans back for all the damage we have done for "progress".
Lived in Asheville for 10 years but left for Charlotte last year. It's been gutwrenching to see restaurants, music venues, and homes that I've been to countless times completely destroyed. Thank you so, so much for the fundraiser.
Special shoutout to Salvage Station and all of the people who made that music venue so wonderful. I sincerely hope that they're able to recover.
I think this is the biggest reason also why tornado destruction videos, usually the drone shots of a tornado's path, doesn't leave as much of an impact to me as someone who lives in a country where tornadoes don't form much (yet interested in tornadoes). I still feel sympathy for everyone affected and can also be in awe with how destructive a tornado is, but I've noticed that it doesn't really move me as much as people who live in tornado-stricken states would have been. The same way that news of a fire doesn't impact me as much until it was a news report of a fire that killed 3 of my neighbors. The same way that news of floods doesn't impact me as much until our house was flooded from Typhoon Ondoy. Experience really changes how you look at destruction, because a destroyed house feels impersonal and incomprehensible until it's your house or from someone that you know.
I also live in Asheville. In tears reliving this, but so grateful to you for putting a light on things in the way I experienced it. Thank you for making this beautiful vid (and all your vids). Hope to run into you one day so I can give you a hug…
I’m glad you’re safe. I’m in the Florida Big Bend area which was directly hit by Helene and my family is all in NC near Boone. I couldn’t believe they somehow had it worse than I did. It’s exhausting and no, nothing does it justice. And the images and videos can’t capture how it feels to be terrified that your roof is going to be ripped off over your head. Or the shock after as you walk around and the weather goes back to sunshine as you grapple with a landscape that’s unrecognizable.
5:27 I understand this. I am a New Jerseyan who experienced Hurricane Sandy. The image of the roller coaster at the sandy hook pier in the ocean was like a gut punch rather than awe inspiring. That place holds so many memories. I could never imagine it would literally be taken by the sea. Everyone in NJ knew what that pier looked like. So crazy. I feel for you all. Do you guys have access to gasoline? That was the worst after Sandy. Wishing you all the best.
There is a CDC study report that explains this solidarity. We tend to save ourselves, then family, then strangers. Happens everytime. E.g 1.5m people volunteered to help in a big Mexico City earthquake. In California when the earthquake collapsed the highway, first responders were the people neighboring the highway, saving complete strangers. Really good read. Article titled:
Common Misconceptions about Disasters: Panic, the “Disaster Syndrome,” and Looting
Thomas, this gives me goosebumps. As someone from Porto Alegre, Brazil, I feel you. We passed through the exact same thing on May of this year and it's weird to see that the story, feeling, and experience is the same, even if we live so far from each other. For me, what hit was that the event didn't pass. We're used to seeing something on the news, or on our phone and just scroll away. Mt friends from other parts of the country would call me and ask if it was already over, but while the rain may have stopped, the destruction was still going strong. Unfourtunately, I feel like I've fallen back on the behaviour of ignoring (?) when these things that happen away from me. I know have a deeper understanding of what is to live through a disaster and how the world is changing for the worse, but I don't think it's possible to fully embrace every tragedy without going mad. I wish all the best to you, your frineds, your community, and city. Just as we did, you all will come out different and better from all of this.
I had a very similar experience to yours, here in the south of Brazil, during an unprecedented flood. In short, all of my closest extended family and most of my friends and loved ones lost nearly everything. We were lucky no one died. All I could do was follow the news and eventually send money to help.
One thing that stuck with me was the aftermath, getting things back up again. A whole neighborhood smelling like death and garbage, people arriving from other towns to help with the very, very tough clean-up, salvaging what they can from the fruits of whole lives of hard work that were just destroyed. I will never forget discarding so many lovely reminders of my childhood, things like my old Harry Potter books, that I didn't even realize I cared about.
This is the one thing I think every single disaster movie, apocalypse movie, every fictional depiction of calamity fails to recognize... humans are resilient. Even in the storm we find optimism and community. There is a great tragedy, no doubt about it, but the people fight to rebuild and rebuild it better.
With all the horror and terror of the world today, that in itself gives me hope. We will rebuild. We will continue on, and work together for a better future.
Thomas, I've been subscribed to you for a bunch of years now and have always enjoyed your content. This video brought back some memories of Hurricane Sandy in New York. I grew up in the suburbs on Long Island and luckily my house was virtually untouched by the storm surge, folks 4 houses down from me were not so lucky. My grandparents' house a couple towns away had their entire first floor destroyed by the flooding. There was over 2 feet of water in their living room. Me, my dad, and my sister's husband stripped it down to the studs and rebuilt it over the course of several months for them. I'll never forget the FEMA trucks and national guard tanks in the streets and in the parks. They were there to help and to keep us safe, but man it was kinda scary to see. We even had a Papa John's truck parked in the park near their house. That was the absolute worst free pizza I ever ate, but god damn was it incredible to just have hot food on those insanely cold days when we were working on the house.
It took a long time for people to rebuild and the ripple effects were endless. I'll never forget when I started going back to work a couple weeks later, everyone on the train just looked like zombies. We were all so, so exhausted from dealing with everything. But, you build back stronger and put the pieces back together as best you can. I'm glad to hear your family is safe and your property wasn't damaged too badly.
Thanks for making this video. Also wanted to say that I've been to Asheville a bunch of times and it's one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. Can't wait to see it rebuilt.
This gets to the feeling of trying to convey the disaster to others who didn’t experience it as well. I remember evacuating to my Moms house after the storm in Asheville and trying to explain how bad it was using pictures etc but like you have pointed out. Nothing will REALLY get that emotion across of seeing your community displaced/destroyed.
Also, so glad that you mentioned Grail Moviehouse. I only got to see one movie there before Helene but it had so much character and life to it.
The severity of suffering is often determined by its duration, which is something media definitely lacks the capacity to truly convey to an audience. Disasters like this are twofold, there’s the survival of the initial event and then the long struggle to survive the aftermath, rebuilding is an incompressibly long process to go through, both on an individual level and as a collective of townsfolks.
"1916 flood" is the "flood we never thought would happen again"
Going forward, this is a dangerous assumption anywhere.
This is worse than I thought. Thanks for sharing your experience. Our town in Kansas has been without clean water for a week and we are beginning to feel the stress. It’s amazing how we take for granted a society that provides drinking water.
As another member of the Asheville community, I just wanted to say thank for you sharing this. It’s the best distillation of the experience I’ve seen or heard. We were fortunate to not need to leave our home, but have lots of repairs to get back to functional. Like everyone from the region, my perspective is permanently changed. I find myself saying things like “PTSD” and not really knowing if it’s appropriate. But it sure seems like it is. Either way, thanks for describing something I keep feeling every time I make a turn down a road and see something awful - which hits different in real life than onscreen.
I work for Save the Children as a producer / DoP and will be flying into Asheville on Friday to highlight some of our programs and local orgs we've partnered with + show the need that is still there. I would be interested in hearing your / your UA-cam communities perspectives on improving the inadequacies of media portraying events like this that you've been experiencing.
The first thing I noticed when the video opened was the red spray-painted cross left by rescuers. I was immediately transported back to 2005, watching the news of New Orleans in horror at how narrowly we missed the same fate.
We didn't have the same social media presence for Katrina and Rita back in 2005. But when Laura and Delta hit the same area in 2020, and I was living out of state in the middle of a pandemic, all I had was the news and social media. Seeing it on my phone was one thing, but when I visited the area for a funeral, seeing the destruction was completely different. It was like the sunset analogy, but in the worst way. Awe inspiring, and heart breaking. I was already destroyed by the loss of my friend, but I could also feel the loss of my hometown. About 2 months ago, the imploded the only "skyscraper" in the area, after it had sustained too much damage from the storms to be financially feasible to repair. I had grown up in the shadow of the building, playing in nearby parks. I explained to a friend that it was like watching an elderly family member begin to struggle. I know my hometown will never be the same. It can't be. There were things we lost in Rita that were still not repaired for Laura. Some buildings still have that red spray-paint still lingering, though faded in the 20 years since. Even the people who really made the area will never be the same. There's a haunting look in the depths of the eyes of the ones we didn't lose, and a gaping hole in their hearts because of the ones we did lose.
This is Asheville's Katrina, Rita, Laura, and Delta, and my heart goes out to them from North Florida, formerly Southwest Louisiana.
In 1992 I was living with my husband and four children 12 and under when Hurricane Andrew came through our neighborhood in south Miami.The following two years taught me, and more importantly my kids, that mommy and daddy are at the mercy of big bad events and can’t fix things quickly. It changed us for better and for worse. Insecurity was built into our future lives in a way I had not anticipated. Nowhere is completely safe and the physical objects you take for granted can be ruined or disappear. As you point out, the goodness and kindness of neighbors was a prominent feature of the recovery, but also the limitations of media in portraying the events. I remembered a book I read in high school: The Medium is the Message in 1967. What enters the various media is the stuff future viewers will have no matter how limited, biased, inadequate or insightful. Such is history. I’m glad you are part of the media with your video. Thank you.
❤🙏 thank you. I live in Fairview and we got hit pretty hard out here. Over the last several weeks I have spoken with so many relief workers who don’t even know each other, and they all say the same thing….”we have never seen a community so resilient as we have seen here.”’ There was a thread on a local social media group I’m in, and the question was “Are you leaving or staying after Helene, and why?” About 98% of everyone said STAYING and the reason was all about the goodness of the people here and how we have come together much stronger. I’ve lived in a lot of places over my lifetime and there is nowhere I would rather be than here….despite it all. Collectively I’ve lived here over 15 years. One of the ways I’m able to give back as an herbalist is by distributing free formulas for Grief Support and Stress and resilience. We are all doing our part. Thank you for deepening the conversation about the aftermath of life here in WNC. 🙏❤️🌎
It’s wonderful to see folks coming together in community. I’m sorry for the loss and difficulty. Love the channel.
Thank you for making this.
I live in Asheville too, and I had similar existential thoughts about perception and media. I imagined people on the outside scrolling past our destruction, because...well, I've done that before. But it was especially weird to have those thoughts while it was happening. Even when I was in survival mode, standing in water lines, I kept thinking about the optics versus the real experience. "This doesn't look the way it feels."
A tornado hit my block a few years ago. The most terrifying media cannot replicate the spine chill of having to get underground so fast and when you poke your head out 2 min later buildings, trees, etc that have been there your entire life are just GONE.
Everyone affected came together but people who weren't affected were kind of awful. For weeks there was just a parade of people coming down our street to the point where they stationed cops around the block. People just taking cell phone pics of you and your neighbors trying to put your lives back together, getting in the way and making the entire situation less safe but doing nothing to help made me so incredibly sad.
I hope the recovery goes as smoothly as possible for everyone involved.
Thank you for this video, just donated to BeLoved Ashville directly on their site
Thomas, thank you for putting words to something I've not been able to describe in years. This video has sat with me all week, and I realize now it's because it's the first time I've seen images of a disaster imbued with humanity and given such a personal context or appropriate respect before.
I think the discussion often seems to stop when we all agree that images are inadequate as a medium, because of course images can never come close to the images that still play in my brain to this day or one's lived experience. I saw my entire town and every single one of my friends home's devastated by two once-in-a-lifetime floods, and assisted in both clean-ups as an "unaffected" resident. I moved away to a "safer" city in 2022, as did nearly all my friends, only to lose my home and nearly my life when flood drainage failed and my road turned into a river in the middle of the night in January this year.
But I think you really hit at something I've not been able to name (despite also loving John Berger and "Ways of Seeing" like a bible), which is that only incredibly personal and respectful context can render an image as close to accurate as it can be for those who have lived it - and that is an incredibly important bit of nuance for all disaster media to hit.
I've watched years of media footage describe what happened to me and utterly fail, and I'm realizing now it's because there's a fundamental detatchment from what the context is and needs to be to make an image of disaster as close to justice. The definition of context we're so often fed is still images of before and after side by side, or a human interest interview with someone in the incredibly private wreck of their home, or inspiration porn of the brave community pulling together. These all still fail to capture because they do not stop and acknowledge that the viewer and the maker of images are never a passive observer. If the maker (media) views themselves as passive and outside what actually happened looking in, it flows on to the viewer. It never acknowledes that actually we are all inside a larger interconnected community (the world) experiencing this and part of it too.
I think you've achieved this though, which is why your video hit me so hard despite the fact I didn't live through Hurricane Helene and live across the globe. It's the first time I've watched disaster media made by an insider that invite me to respectfully experience what has happened in Ashville, rather than just look at it as a vouyer.
Thank you for sharing this with us, Thomas.
Hey Thomas, I live in the Boone/Banner Elk area near there. I have never seen anything like it, but I had to sit through it, and I'm definitely traumatized by that experience, but I definitely had some of the most meaningful bonding experiences with my neighbors. Solidarity from your nearby neighbor.
I really appreciate this as a way to discuss this situation. Cheers.
"That's not a building that's a friend" oof
Thomas I can't tell you how much it means to see this. 😭 I've been volunteering here (in Marshall and at BeLoved) since returning to town a month after Helene, and there is something about the Vibe here that's impossible to convey in media. Your video comes the closest yet. It's so good. I signed up to your Patreon and I look forward to the documentary you make (even if it takes years, because "this is just the beginning"). Thank you, Bless you 🙏🙏🙏 Would absolutely buy you a coffee anytime
This video gives me so much hope. I strongly dislike disaster movies, they always made my heart ache. I watched 2012 when i was 10 years old with my classroom. I remember it being such a shocking and traumatising experience, because I kept thinking “what about people’s homes? Loved ones? Animals? Favourite places?” And all the suffering that is generated from disaster and death. Im so happy that your community remains hopeful and strong. Its relief to know its not like in the movies… Good luck to you and your community Thomas ❤
Same apply to wars ,because we often talk about the parties that are causing and moving the conflict further not talking about the stories of the brave people who wanted to help and save and the victims who have lost everything and changed their lives forever,you know those stories that really makes us feel similar humain beings
I’m so sorry for everything you and your community have endured. Seeing how everyone has come together with such kindness and support is incredibly moving. Wishing you all strength, hope, and brighter days ahead.
Hi Thomas, I've followed your channel for quite some time. I want to thank you for this video and I admire your humanistic coverage of your community and thoughtful reflections~ I've definitely felt this same crazy disconnect when watching video after video of horror in Gaza, and all the brutality that has been enacted upon these families and anyone that speaks against it. I think there's a lot of work to be done to center the experiences of those dealing with disaster, tragedy, and loss firsthand--and the concerns of NC locals about being depicted holistically is so meaningful and important. Above all else, we are human, and continue to move forward despite harsh conditions in the world around us--in the words of Rafeef Ziada, "We teach life".
My partner is from Hendersonville and she still has family out there, they got luckier than many but it's still been insane to see the damage. Her dad in particular is in this small community where they basically had one bridge to get in and out, and it was completely destroyed, they're saying it might not be rebuilt until March. But I love your attention on the positives. He and his community have been working non stop clearing roads, getting people food and water, just coming together in any way they can, and I think we need that reminder.
I think COVID fucked our perception of the good will of people amidst disaster, so many people unwilling to do the bare minimum to protect others, but that was wrapped up in so much politics and disinformation and propaganda that it clouded the truth for so many, what we see in these disasters when there are no politics, when you're seeing it all with your own eyes and no proganda can break through the reality is that there is still that good will, to help each other in hard times. And I think we need to remember that now more than ever.
you talk about this tragic event so beautifly and I can relate - i was in primary when my small town was flooded by heavy rain that broke two water dams in the matter of minutes.. it was amazing what it did to the comunity, everyone was helping out, rebuilding (and even improving!) the damaged homes, people were offering shelters to those who lost their houses..
it's amazing to see the same thing happening across the world!
I'm wishing you best of luck (also with your document! hopefully we'll get to see it someday :)) and stay safe ♡
Im glad you and yours are ok. As horrendous as this disaster is and was and will be, its genuinely heartwarming to see that generally our response is to come together. Thank you.
The first day I could, I think it was maybe the following Sunday, I drove around just making sure everyone was ok. I had been stranded for some time, the waters had made lakes out of the roads and farms. I played courier, making sure everyone knew that not only we were ok but passing along what information we could. I dropped off water with a friend who couldn’t get out, and unlike other people in the area didn’t have running water to even try and clean. I’m grateful to have had a gas stove myself. When we finally could, I went to see Asheville itself. My god, seeing the river arts district just… underwater like that. All that time and money spent making the place alive again, the art museums and antique stores down there… and then seeing some buildings just gone. GONE. Asheville, a place I had grown up in and around, a place that had never changed since I was kid, had become permanently scarred. It’s been some time and biltmore village still looks like an apocalypse, and I’m sure the mud won’t come out for a very long time. I’ve seen rails out in Fletcher completely destroyed, the bloody rail lines! Warped and twisted! It’s utterly unbelievable!
I hope everyone is ok. Worse may yet be to come.
Thanks for this analysis. Many thanks. -Brisbane. ❤🇦🇺 (it’s very hard to watch & absorb, but necessary. Bringing in the loss of homes, not houses, says a lot more).
Had no idea you were a fellow WNC resident! Thank you for promoting BeLoved and sharing your experience.
My family members live in Boone North Carolina while I live on another country entirely. My only exposure to these events where through social media and the videos that my family was sending me. And while I did feel sadness and grief at the damage and loss that I could see in those images, a part of me was completely disconnected. I didnt feel the amount of sadness I thought I had to be feeling. There was a glass screen protecting me from the reality of things. And when I realized that I was desensitized to all this pain, despite the fact that my own family was going through it, that moment of realization was one of the saddest in my life.
I am from Asheville too, I never expected to see photos of Grail or hear coverage of Helene from anyone I follow on UA-cam as it seemed like the whole world has already moved on. I evacuated from Asheville a week after the storm, and had not yet seen photos of the true devastation due to the lack of service. I remember sitting in the car of a friend’s mother, parked on a random side of the road with one bar, and we all just cried as we finally started to see photos of the pure devastation. I don’t know what the point of me commenting is, I suppose it just touched my heart to be reminded of how many of us went through this together. Hope you are well.
This is one of your best videos ever. You’re always so thoughtful but this is really something else
Very good choice of subject & well thought out & conveyed.
In the 80's, pictures of starving children sold records - but now we're bombarded more & more with horrific carnage that it's too much for most folk to process, & go into various forms of denial. Sorry to say it's gonna get worse.
I’m so sorry you, your loved ones and your community are going through this. Thank you for sharing what’s going on in your reality both with this video and analysis but also in the work you’re doing to document and reconstruct. This is a spot on message that we need for a lot of reasons ❤
I've been watching your videos for a while now, I had no idea you live in Asheville! I live in Chapel Hill now, super glad to hear you're okay.
I'm deeply sorry for the loss you've experienced, both personally and within your community. I want you to know how much I appreciate your videos-your research is always so thorough, and your thinking is incredibly structured. I especially loved how you brought in Susan Sontag; her philosophy on 'pictures' has always resonated with me, on the imitations & traps of imagery but also on the dangers of metaphors.
Wishing you all the best, and I really hope to see you back soon with more of your amazing content!
The disconnect you described between reality and media during these events brought back so many memories of the black summer Australian bushfires. Seeing international news cover an event our country had been experiencing for months was very strange. The bushfires were affecting millions of people, including those in cities like me who don’t normally experience them with months of smoke, and people walking around wearing masks due to the air quality, but the media only seemed to take interest strangely towards the end of everything. The news coverage was so surreal and surface level to consume, when I personally knew people who’s homes had been burnt down, and it felt in those months that the entire country was confused and angry and grieving and wondering how this had happened and been allowed to happen. News coverage made me feel so frustrated that the people consuming it were never going to know what was really going on.
It's amazing how drastically differently I experienced the shots you had of the destruction without anyone in the frame compared to the ones with people in the frame. My reaction went from "What can possibly be done to come back from that level of destruction?" to "Oh, things are already being done." Just bringing the experience to the human level is enough to point out that hope is still in the room with us. I'm looking forward to your documentary!
I have a lot of friends in NC and haven’t heard personally from them since the hurricane and it’s been tough….hope you guys are okay and sending hope and love (I think I already donated a week or two ago). It also makes me really worried for climate refugees that will show up increasingly in the next few decades. I can’t imagine having no hope for your home getting better, no feasibility of rebuilding as you know the environment will only get worse around you and having utterly no choice but to leave with as much of your community as can come and be forced to reckon with borders and people sending you away and telling you they do not want you there despite being the people who caused the crisis on some level.
Let’s all do what we can to make change and dismantle the systems that don’t care that these extreme disasters will only get more extreme the more the world heats up because they only care about profit.
Thanks for putting this together. This was a really fantastic video. I watched it on Nebula and actually came back here just to give it additional engagement. Looking forward to you documentary too.
Im so sorry you ans yiur community are going through this. As a native New Orleanian, i understand what it's like to see a beloved location lying in ruins on the news, displayed without context.
I was just here mid-video thinking this video essay sounded like a modern adaptation of Sontag's Regarding the Pain and bam here we go. Thank you for this insightful refresher, Thomas. We wish you and Ashville the best.
I went through something similar to you when I was younger in that a huge earthquake hit and destroyed my city and when I got back to my apartment I still had power and internet and could watch the news feed of my own city live. It was a really bizarre experience and it made me realise how disconnected the coverage is from the reality of the experience. From home you can see Birds Eye views of it all from helicopters and it feels like a movie set.
Even having gone through that, I find it hard to connect with the images and videos from places elsewhere because without a connection to a place, the destruction is difficult to measure. Towns and places that look very different look the same when destroyed. It’s just another of many photos of rubble we have seen in our lives.
What strikes me most though is the feelings. I know the feelings. I know how kind and connected people feel in the beginning. How communities come together and adrenaline pumps bodies and heroes emerge. But I also know how this begins to fade weeks or months after the disaster while people deal with the aftermath for years and even decades. My parents lived in a house taped up with duct tape for ten years after our earthquakes because the insurance company wouldn’t acknowledge the destruction and refused to pay them out.
And the media cycle moves on. Especially now, more than ever, with so many of these events hitting all over the world. It’s becoming more common place in a post climate change world.
I think part of why we forget about how people can come together and work for better is that for many people, at least in my age cohort, the most lasting memory of disaster is still hurricane Katrina, a disaster in which people failed each other at all levels, from the government that didn't maintain the levees properly to the police who sat on a bridge shooting people of color for the crime of scavenging for food. That event was an outlier in a lot of ways, but that also made it a sort of perfect microcosm of all the bad parts of America. This video is a helpful reminder that sometimes our own confirmation bias can get in the way of seeing the actual humanity living through a disaster.
Had no idea you were Appalachian. I still have family in the mountains in West Virginia and that's all I could see when i looked at those images. My sister, her husband, and their kids already struggle with roads washing out. A flood like this is so devastating in those mountains. Donated. Hang in there, much love ❤️
The loss of the grail was the first thing that finally made me break down. It was the first place that I fell in love with when I moved here.
As someone who has experienced many disasters firsthand through my profession, it is always so much different than one expects. I have been experienced suprise, tiredness, and awe from each one. I work in wildland fire with the federal land agencies and each on is different and has different lessons. One I think can be overlooked is the longevity and return of these happenings, which hard to appreciate sometimes.
The one that I think of most is the Dixie fire in the Northern Sierras. In 2021 I came as part of a fire crew and fought it as it raged, with many long and humbling days. Now going on 4 years since it happened I am still responding to it as an ecologist with the forest service. This involves restoring the highly disturbed landscape, and preparing for the future of climate and fire. Because it will happen again, and the climate is changing, so let's hope we are better prepared next time, while we continue to work from the last time.
I hope all the long work continues and all of you are able to restore.
My partner and I went to Asheville for a vacation back in July, and it's been surreal seeing images of all the places we went to underwater and/or completely destroyed. As a movie guy, one of my favorite places we went to down there was the Grail Moviehouse, and it just breaks my heart that it was destroyed by the flooding. I hope they are able to rebuild the affected parts of Asheville, because it really is a wonderful city.
Grail hopes to rebuild, and I'll definitely sharing here how people can support when they do!
I too am from Asheville, and went to college for the first time in Greensboro, it was so surreal to see friends and family go through something that I should have gone through, I felt guilty in that way. I’ve since been back to see the ghosts of grailhouse and so many other buildings, I keep AVL in my thoughts and memories.
Thank you for sharing this, despite how hard it must be. It's horrendous to consider how much you've lost. It's heartening to to hear how people are working together, helping out. Donated a humble amount. Wish I could do more. If possible, let us know how you all are doing. Take care.
I live in Asheville and have been here for the entire storm and aftermath. Disaster footage puts tears in my eye now, after seeing what has happened to the city I call home.
In a few years, it’ll be just the same as before the storm, I’ll hardly bat an eye at it, I’m sure.
That’s how powerful the constant, desensitizing feed of destruction is.
Growing up in central Oklahoma, I’ve seen a lot of devastation from natural disasters and have had friends and family devastated by these events. I’ve been through neighborhoods before and immediately after being leveled by F5/EF5 tornadoes and seen how the areas look years, decades afterwards. No amount of documenting or sympathizing from afar can convey how catastrophic events like these can be on both those affected and those spared but still near the disasters. Everything you’ve spent your life building up and holding dear; memories, heirlooms, pictures, milestones, stability, all ripped away in a matter of moments. There’s something so tragic about not knowing where to start, not because everything is a mess and it’s not clear where you need to start, but because there is nowhere to start as literally everything is just gone. Working with insurance companies are often the only thing to corral your mind at first and remind you the world hasn’t stopped spinning.
With how hyper aware society is to the point of sensory overload, numbers and events add up quickly and it dehumanizes that behind every number is the story of someone having to recover after losing so much and even further beyond the numbers are those that were spared but have another event that adds to the fear that they might be next. It can weigh on a community but at the same time it builds a resilience and camaraderie that oddly creates a sense of belonging when everything is turned upside down. There’s something about suffering, specifically suffering together, that brings out the most meaningful aspects of the human experience.
One of the most important videos of this year. Wish there was more we could do, thanks for staying strong.
Just wanna say that I really love your videos. Keep it up for us!
The “most beautiful thing” in such tragic moments in life is the gathering of everyone. For a short time, all other problems going on in the world are forgotten and everyone works together to help each other.
I've seen a few previous Thomas Flight videos. This personal testimonial made me realize I hadn't thought about him as a real person, like an interesting neighbor and valuable member of his community. Hold strong to your humanity, Mr. Flight.
having lived in asheville from 2021-23, knowing grail movie house isn’t around anymore is heartbreaking. loved that place. thank you Thomas for making this
p.s. - go to farewell for coffee if they made it through. they make the best chai latte i’ve ever had
Hi I live in Canton, just down the road. Thank you for making this.
I live just a few hundred miles northeast of you in coastal Virginia, and it hurts my heart knowing that sometime in the next few years there's a fair chance it'll be my community's turn. We already get the edge of hurricanes every couple years or so, and a head-on tropical storm once in a while.
And my heart hurts for my best friend with severe anxiety and a host of other mental and physical disabilities, when I wonder how (or whether) she'll be able to survive with her sanity intact if her home and only safe space gets destroyed.
Sorry to hear about your situation man. Been following your page for awhile, learning a lot. I live in Hickory, didn't know you were that close. This is a great thing to do.
This is really touching, good luck mate to you and your community ❤
I worked behind the scenes on a documentary about Hurricane Katrina, specifically the people trapped inside the Superdome. 4 days of listening to them pour out their traumatic stories left me Absolutely broken. And i cried so hard when it was over
Praying for you and your community. Donated as well.
Hope everything works out for all of you... in fact, I hope that anything that can will eventually come to be better than it was before.
Good luck to you all!
Brilliant video, I greatly appreciated your message! The concept of over viewing destruction content was an eye opener, today i learned. Ty ❤
Difficulty in appreciating and understanding the scale of things is a root, common issue across many challenges we face in our society. Pictures of destruction don't convey the reality, and without the reality or even a sense of it, true empathy is difficult... it's the same as needing an average athlete performing beside olympians in order to truly appreciate the level olympians operate at - we lack the reference points for perspective, for context in so many aspects of what information we ingest.
It seems some way curious to me to see how your story feels so similar to the current situation we are living now in Spain due the floods . Send you encouragement, hope and strength. Thank you dor your video .
Glad to hear that you and yours are okay. Stay safe out there
Finally someone with a decent sized following who lives in asheville and experienced this. Thank you for making this.
I live in Boone, and I watched as River St. became a river itself. I'm glad to see people from here are talking about how much it sticks around. Seeing mud caked onto streets is such a bizarre experience when you know where it came from and how it looked when it showed up. I saw what hurricane Matthew did too, but it pales in comparison to how unprepared we were for anything to happen.
Thank you Thomas, you've really landed on something here that i've been having a hard time articulating
Donated! Thank you for creating and sharing this video
I subbed to you like three years ago and never realized you were from AVL!
Thanks for making this video. It's really hard to get perspective on this stuff, even when you're actively trying to.
An oak tree fell on my home and destroyed it. The house I just bought last year as a single woman in her 30s. One of my greatest achievements, gone in an instant. The process after that instant has been... something. I've always been interested in what happens *after* disasters. I've tried so hard to find documentaries detailing the days and months *after* 9/11. It's hard to find information like that. Now I'm living it, and it's crazy to see it firsthand.
Our village was hit by a flood last year and it's still so strange to see how much of our high street has closed permanently because it cost too much to repair.
It's one thing to just be awash in contextless images of a disaster on a newsfeed. To acknowledge that on the other side of your screen is humanity which you are only perceiving in a very abstract sense by looking at a photo takes one more step. The earnestness and the emotional depth of your telling takes the media yet one step further.
I don't live in NC anymore, but I grew up there. When I was in elementary school in the 90s, we got hit pretty hard by Hurricane Fran. Watching this makes me remember that. We didn't have power where I lived for the better part of two weeks I think. I remember that frenzy in the first few days after the storm. Everyone in the neighborhood being outside all at once; that never really happened otherwise. People had chainsaws and were walking between lots carving trees out from the all places they had implanted into their neighbors' yards and homes. I remember how the adrenaline wore off a lot faster than the damage did, too.
Despite the limitations of disaster media, you use it so thoughtfully here. While you're talking about the experience of time, for example: ok yeah, a clock, but a clock sitting on the floor, caked in mud. Earlier in the video, there was an image with a similar feel - at 5:15, it was the one with all the pottery & plates, sitting in the dirt outside in front of some wreckage. If you've ever walked through an abandoned building, sometimes you find liminal stuff _superficially_ like that. A magazine from the 80s, a plastic cup with a logo the brand has long since stopped using, random certificates and paperwork, or an empty bottle of aspirin. But then it hits you that the clock, the pottery & the plates, that drawing of the horse... they are _not at all_ like those abandoned objects. Practically just yesterday, they were the built-up personal clutter that made someone's home feel homey, or the stock on the shelves of someone's thriving store. Someone who, most likely (and hopefully), is still physically nearby, maybe even behind the camera, and who likely still feels all the loss quite acutely.
Thanks for making this.
Powerful video.
Lots of thoughts. And take this with the love I intend.
During a big storm in burning man 2022, I remember thinking - this is gonna be very helpful for society somehow - like training grounds for what’s coming
These past few weeks our burner friends lost sooooo much, and rebuilding is going to be impossible. Yet they’re happy and going out and helping others and trying to make the most out of it.
Things might continue getting worse. Maybe things are getting better statistically. Who knows. What matters is how we show up for each other ❤