<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2j6SAy_0vz6gj4700" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2j6SAy_0vz6gj4700" width="1400" height="787" >STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: You know, during all the days when there was political discussion about whether people affected in Appalachia by Hurricane Helene were getting enough attention, during all those days of debate, they were getting attention thanks to this public radio network that many of you support. NPR member stations are throughout Appalachia. They've been covering the story, and so have NPR network reporters. For some of the most isolated areas - people in the mountain hamlet of Poplar, N.C., for example - restoring power may take months. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports on the preparations.JENNIFER LUDDEN, BYLINE: Poplar's community center is now a food and water pantry bustling with cars and helicopters for drop-off and delivery. Misty Hughes is coordinating all of it.MISTY HUGHES: Do you know the horseshoe curve back the other way after you go through the mud?UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yes, ma'am.LUDDEN: She says fewer than 300 people live here and the ties to this place go back generations - five in her case. The community sits along the beautiful Nolichucky River popular for whitewater rafting. When it rose up violently, Hughes' home survived, but her aunt and uncle's did not.M HUGHES: They ran. They ran out with the clothes on their back, and they're both in their late 70s.LUDDEN: Hughes says most people here are seniors. And she's worried about them.M HUGHES: They're sticking with it. It's not the first time they've sat in the dark. That's a quote (laughter). So they're going to rough it.LUDDEN: But the last estimate she got was that it could be up to five months without electricity, phone lines or internet. So she's scouting for propane and kerosene heaters to see people through the cold, dark winter.M HUGHES: These elderly that once used wood stoves have aged to the point that they're unable to supply that need for themselves.LUDDEN: Another priority? Medication. Rick Hughes - no close relation to Misty, he says - has a 94-year-old mother with high blood pressure.RICK HUGHES: So we're not even staying in our house right now. We're staying in her house, trying to keep the generator going. And she has to go to the hospital a lot, so we're just trying to keep her calm.LUDDEN: One major source of help for Poplar? The paddling community that's long passed through here to raft the Nolichucky. River educator Trey Moore has been rounding up donations, supplies and volunteers.TREY MOORE: Yeah, what I hope for is that now my neighbors know me and that we're friends and that some of us are going to become family through this.(SOUNDBITE OF VEHICLE WHIRRING)LUDDEN: Moore drives up the road to where he would put boats in the river. It's now a wasteland of deep, muddy silt. In the middle of it is his friend and fellow paddler, Patrick Toups.MOORE: There he is, digging with a shovel.LUDDEN: Until Helene hit, Toups lived on this spot in a house built in 1910. He retreated up the hill and watched the floodwaters rise.PATRICK TOUPS: That house picked up in one beautiful piece, it floated out upstream into the eddy, completely majestic like a ballerina.LUDDEN: Toups is now staying in his workshop, not ready to give up on this place he loves.(SOUNDBITE OF ATV REVVING)LUDDEN: Down another road, volunteers on ATVs check on an older couple. Jarrell Peterson says they could use more gasoline for the generator.UNIDENTIFIED VOLUNTEER: I'll run down there and get you some real quick, all right?JERRELL PETERSON: The Lord will bless you for it.LUDDEN: They're lucky to have a water well, he says, but he sure misses hot showers. Inside the house, his wife Jewel says she is making do.JEWEL PETERSON: And we have a grill that we heated water on to do dishes and bathe all in. And, you know, when you live in the mountains, you kind of do things different.LUDDEN: She says that means being prepared. Peterson is thankful her husband dug up the potatoes before the flood. She has canned food, and as long as the generator holds out, the freezer is full.Jennifer Ludden, NPR News, Poplar, N.C.(SOUNDBITE OF EMMANUEL FISCHER'S "EL MAYOR")Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

This mountain hamlet hit by Helene flooding preps for a winter without power

You know, during all the days when there was political discussion about whether people affected in Appalachia by Hurricane Helene were getting enough attention, during all those days of debate, they were getting attention thanks to this public radio network that many of you support. NPR member stations are throughout Appalachia. They've been covering the story, and so have NPR network reporters. For some of the most isolated areas - people in the mountain hamlet of Poplar, N.C., for example - restoring power may take months. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports on the preparations.

This mountain hamlet hit by Helene flooding preps for a winter without power

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