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Accustomed to the terrible traffic in LA, I found it amazing, almost creepy, how easy it was to get out of town. Asheville is a town of about 100,000 people. I shuddered at the thought of something like this happening where I live, with a population of millions. And someday it would. Within 30 minutes, I was through the airport and getting a single service bar again. Within another 30 minutes, I saw the first of the famous gas stations outside of town, with lines snaking around them. And 15 minutes after that, I was back in normalcy. I ordered a barbecue and realized it was the first hot food I’d had in days. I started shaking a little from the stress of trying to stay calm. I downed two 32-ounce iced teas. Meanwhile, everyone else was… fine.
But things will not be anything close to normal, or even livable, in western North Carolina for long. For most cities, water will be without for weeks or electricity for days. What is needed is infrastructure rebuilding, not substation restoration or plant repair. Getting back connected is a relief and a heartbreak. Whole areas have been wiped off the map, with hundreds of people still missing. Stranded. With no way to SOS. Out of oxygen, medicine, food, in flooded conditions,
with no way out. The spectrum of devastation begins in a terrible place and ends in a catastrophic tragedy a human suffering that is hard to fathom.
I woke up at dawn, packed my bags, and got ready to go. I distributed the remaining groceries and water to neighbors, said thanks, exchanged phone numbers, and said goodbye. I went through my plan several times as if rehearsing lines, noting the highway intersections and routes that would get me out of town safely without any direction. Many things became very clear on Sunday. My faucets were completely dry by Sunday morning. Aid was slow to arrive because only one interstate was passable into town. A press conference later that day would reveal that it would be weeks, not days, before power and clean water were restored. Federal drinking water aid was on the way to Asheville, but I heard at the time that it had not yet arrived. Late Sunday, I received several texts from friends: They were evacuating on an open highway to drive to family homes in eastern North Carolina, Ohio, or Tennessee. I later learned that my neighbors had also left, along with their elderly parents. Most of the locals I knew had no other reason or choice to stay in their homes.
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