North Carolina
No driveway and no road: Volunteers work to get people out of their homes in WNC: 'Stuck'
WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA (WTVD) — As Western North Carolina nears two weeks since Helene hit causing widespread destruction, the recovery and cleanup efforts are still a huge undertaking.
Aerial Recovery is a non-profit made up of veterans and first responders that go to natural disasters all over the country and are now in Western North Carolina. Seth Griffith with Aerial Recovery says, “What we found is veterans and first responders work really well in disaster response. We have skills that we learned in the military we are not afraid to work. We’ve been doing everything from reconnaissance missions in remote areas, to extract people that need to get out.
Griffith says they’ve been getting medical supplies in remote areas along with basic living necessities.
“If we can give them a heater, a generator, bring them food, just talk and be human with them for 10 minutes, pray with them.” He stresses the importance of working with local authorities. “Work along with them, not by ourselves. We want to be a force multiplier, not be the tractor, or come in like cowboys and take over, it’s not our show, we want everyone to work with us aiding and assisting alongside.”
I just stood up on the porch and prayed.
Dee Pitzer, Stuck at home
Dee Pitzer is one of the homeowners who needed help. “I’m still kind of stuck because I can’t get out down there.” The rain and mud from Helene washed out a large chunk of not only the road in front of her home but her entire driveway.
“The water on the road was waist deep. It was just coming in so fast no one could stand up in that, so I just stood up on the porch and prayed.”
Volunteers with Aeriel Recovery brought in skid steers to try and make navigating out of their Garren Creek neighborhood easier. Justin Foles with Aerial Recovery explains what they’re doing, “We are trying to make sure the road is nice is smooth. It’s really just a quality-of-life type thing, so they can get in and get out. If we can we try and put some culverts in that way the water has a place to flow and not just up and over the driveway to erode it even further if any more rain comes in.”
A quality-of-life type thing, so they can get in and get out.
Justin Foles, Aerial Recovery
Another homeowner along the road Van Smith says the outpouring of support hasn’t stopped including visits from the National Guard and law enforcement, who all brought big smiles to his 4-year-old grandson, Oliver when they let him get in their vehicles and escape from all of the destruction around his home.
“We are getting a lot of help. Gotta give your hats off to all of these guys they’ve been super good. Everyone pulling together and making it happen we have to.”
Randy West and his wife also received help from the volunteers. During Helene, two mudslides brought the trees down, some narrowly missing his house.
“That’s all we lost is the back door. We are so fortunate to have this place after everybody around us lost their lives. Their homes, their driveways. We are so fortunate,” West tells ABC11.
A crew with Aerial Recovery surprised West Thursday. Foles said, “We want to make their life a little bit better, give them everything they want and need.”
I cannot thank that crew enough for showing up.
Randy West, WNC Homeowner
Crews spent hours cutting up all of the fallen trees that blocked access to his spring, which is also his source of water. After they finished the job, West said, “It helped a lot. They cut me a trail right here to get up to my spring. I cannot thank that crew enough for showing up.”
Just before the crew left, West let them in on a little surprise, “Y’all don’t realize this, but that is my birthday today and this is the best present I could have gotten, “West said.
Aerial Recovery says they will be in Western North Carolina as long as there is a need.
SEE ALSO | 11 members of same family killed when mudslide wiped out ‘Craigtown’ during Hurricane Helene
One family lost 11 people when Hurricane Helene devastated the community named for them.
ALSO SEE | Brothers stranded by Helene walk 13 miles through thick mud, washed-out roads
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More than 100 dogs were rescued from an apparent puppy mill in North Carolina where they were kept in “egregious conditions”, an animal shelter said.
The SPCA of Wake county on Wednesday removed 101 dogs from a home that appeared to have been functioning as a puppy mill. In a statement online, the shelter said that the dogs had been “surrounded by their own waste, packed 5 or 6 to a cage and stacked floor to ceiling, or free roaming in cramped quarters and filth”.
The shelter, working alongside Raleigh animal control, also said that there had been numerous mother dogs with very young nursing puppies, adding that 19 of those dogs were now in SPCA Wake’s care.
“These events unfolded very quickly. Within an hour of receiving this call for help, we were on the property ready to take as many pets as possible,” the shelter said.
Pictures posted online showed puppies of various breeds in cages and with matted fur as they were being cared for by shelter employees. Speaking to CBS 17, SPCA Wake spokesperson Samantha Ranlet said that many of the dogs were toy poodle mixes, pomeranians, chihuahuas, yorkies and other small “doodle” mixes.
In a follow-up post on Friday, the shelter said that its medical team had been treating each dog’s individual needs, adding that many of them were suffering from skin and dental issues.
“The matted dirty fur is coming off in heaps,” the shelter said.
Additional pictures posted online showed clumps of matted fur being trimmed from dogs of varying sizes.
“We’re seeing a lot of smiles from these guys. This is the biggest moment in these dogs’ lives, and we are feeling so grateful to be a part of their healing. Thank you to everyone who has donated or reached out in support of these efforts. This rescue is a big undertaking, and we can’t do it without you,” the shelter said.
In addition to the 101 dogs, the homeowner, who police said was “cooperative”, also surrendered 21 chickens.
Speaking to CBS 17, Ranlet said: “The dogs in our care are being medically evaluated and some moved into foster homes … They will be placed up for adoption once they have received veterinary care and recuperated. We need to make sure they are healthy and rehabilitated so they can start fresh as somebody’s family members.”
It remains unclear whether the homeowner will face charges. The Guardian has reached out to the Raleigh police department for comment.
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North Carolina
400-pound monster alligator named Pepe ‘detained’ for ‘being a dinosaur without proper papers’ in NC
The scales of justice came for Pepe.
Cops detained – and rescued – a monster 10-foot alligator they nicknamed Pepe the Gator sunbathing on a busy road in North Carolina and “charged” him on suspicion of being a “dinosaur.”
“Witnesses say he was just chilling and snapping, clearly ignoring the ‘no loitering or lounging on roadways’ sign,” the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a playful press release last week. “Pepe has been cited for Suspicion of Being a Dinosaur Without Proper Papers, Public Loitering with Intent to Sunbathe, and Obstructing Traffic.”
The responding deputies and officers from the NC Wildlife Resources Commission who got the call on May 25 managed to safely remove Pepe, but not before posing for pictures where they straddle him like rodeo riders.
“He was 10 feet long, 400 pounds. He was an absolute monster,” Trevor Dunnell, spokesman for the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office told the Post Thursday.
“They did a fantastic job of wrangling him.”
To indicate the scale of the gator, Dunnell pointed out how, in the picture, even with three grown men on top of him, Pepe’s still not covered.
“The picture really doesn’t do it justice, I mean 10 feet … 10 feet is a basketball goal, that is a massive creature,” he said.
Although 10 feet seems big, it’s nothing compared to the largest gator on record – 14 feet and 3 and a half inches.
Deputies and wildlife officials used a towel to cover Pepe’s eyes — eye contact is what triggers the animal’s notorious death roll, Dunnell explained — and electrical tape to seal his mouth shut.
“It was definitely some MacGyver stuff they had to use,” he said. “He may not have a good time during the removal, but he was playfully enough about it later to understand that, ‘Hey, man, you gotta do what you gotta do.’”
Dunnell said the office received blowback from people online wishing the cops had just left Pepe alone. but Dunnell was quick to point out that leaving the reptile on the side of the road could have posed a hazard not only to residents but also to the gator.
“You never know what can happen when kids are running around,” he said. “And the gator could wind up in the middle of the road. It could hurt drivers but it could hurt him, too.”
Dunnell said he hopes to see body camera footage of Pepe’s apprehension. The two deputies and the wildlife official in the picture are happy to be riding him, Dunnell said, adding that if authorities encounter another Pepe, they’ll know who to call.
“But some deputies were absolutely not fine,” he said. “When they got back, they were saying, ‘You’re not going to catch me on that thing. I’m not going to go anywhere near it!’”
Pepe was far from home, and Dunnell suspects that it was a hot day and he was looking for a good spot to bask.
“How far he wandered is anybody’s guess,” he said. “It must’ve been several miles at least.”
After further investigation, Dunnell said, they declined to charge Pepe. Instead, they drove him to a boat ramp at nearby Camp Geiger, a satellite facility of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.
“I think we’ve touched base with the gator and let him know we dropped the charges,” he joked.
“Pepe’s back to his normal routine, he’s hanging out near the beach and lounging in his natural habitat, hunting for his food and looking for a girlfriend.”
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