The Environmental Journal of Southern Appalachia
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Friday, 10 January 2025 15:31

Saving barrens full of life

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tennessee coneflower couchville cedar gladeTennessee coneflower is seen in Couchville cedar glade, a prime example of cedar glade habitat that is a target of preservationists — such as the land acquired recently in Rutherford County by TennGreen Land Conservancy. The Couchville property is managed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. It is similar in nature to the TennGreen property in Rutherford County, and is part of a nexus of such glades around the Cumberland Plateau. According to TDEC: “Couchville supports one of the largest known and best quality populations of the Tennessee coneflower (Echinacea tennesseensis), which was delisted as a federally endangered species in September 2011. Couchville also provides one of the finest examples of a glade-barrens complex and protects many rare plant species. The glades are distributed where limestone outcropping and shallow soils limit growth of perennial plants and support annual species like leavenworthia, sporobolus, and sedum. The barrens species, that also includes Tennessee coneflower, occur where soils increase and grasses like little bluestem and side oats grama become dominant. The glades and barrens interface forming a complex.”  Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation

Cedar glade habitat protected in fast-growing Tennessee county

MURFREESBORO — To close out 2024, TennGreen Land Conservancy and Allen Patton protected 50 acres of globally unique cedar glade habitat in Middle Tennessee’s Rutherford County with a conservation easement.

Called Rockdale Cedar Glades and Woodlands, Patton’s land abuts TennGreen’s Lamar Cedar Glades & Woodlands Conservation Easement, increasing this connected corridor of protected land to an expansive 256 acres. Limestone cedar glades and barrens, which are incredibly diverse but under threat from development and pollution, are found on the protected properties. This additional 50-acre easement is also within the Spring Creek HUC 12 Watershed and the Stones River Upper HUC 12 Watershed, marking it as critical habitat.

(Hellbender Press has previously reported on the special nature and importance of cedar barrens, including one located in Oak Ridge, just on the cusp of the Cumberland Plateau, which is better known for its cedar glades).

 IMGP0083 2 ENHANCED FOR PRINT 768x541Cedar gladecress (Leavenworthia stylosa) during a prescribed burn at Couchville State Natural Area; this wildflower is only found in the Central Basin of Tennessee.  TDEC

Published in News, Earth, 15 Life on Land
Last modified on Monday, 13 January 2025 11:24

4 cbc pileated caneycreek Evan Kidd photo 600x846A pileated woodpecker is seen seeking dinner; it is a common denizen of winter Southern Appalachian forests and likely made many Christmas bird lists.  Evan Kidd via Smokies Life

Citizen-led Audubon Christmas Bird Count tallies our feathered friends for yet another year

Holly Kays is the lead writer for Smokies Life.

GATLINBURG — Since its origin in 1900, the Christmas Bird Count has become a holiday fixture for ever-expanding numbers of birders across the globe, giving a valuable gift to generations of wildlife scientists — a massive trove of data on bird populations in the Western Hemisphere.

This annual avian census, set to commence for the 125th time, began in an era when many bird species were facing steep declines, especially waterfowl prized for their feathers. The Christmas Bird Count was the National Audubon Society’s answer to the traditional Christmas Side Hunt, a team competition that encouraged participants to kill as many furred and feathered creatures as possible in a single outing.

“The Christmas Bird Count really got started as an alternative to those kinds of hunting efforts,” said Curtis Smalling, executive director of Audubon North Carolina. “This year is the 125th annual Christmas Bird Count, and that makes it the longest-running community science project in North America.”

Anyone can participate in the CBC, regardless of their birding skill level, by joining one of the thousands of circles, each 15 miles in diameter, that comprise the event. The organizer of each circle chooses a day between December 14 and January 5 to conduct their count. On the appointed day, all participants in the circle have 24 hours in which to tally as many birds as they can. In addition to listing the individual species spotted, they also count the number of individual birds seen and participant hours logged.

The Great Smoky Mountains region includes circles in Gatlinburg, Cades Cove, Knoxville, Franklin, Highlands, Waynesville, Hot Springs and Asheville.

3 Common mergansers Warren Bielenberg 768x512A male (left) and female common merganser perch on a rock. Though this species may winter in coastal areas, it tends to prefer freshwater habitat and winters in the Smokies in small numbers.  Warren Bielenberg via Smokies Life

Last modified on Monday, 06 January 2025 15:54
Wednesday, 18 December 2024 14:21

Learn about using your forest as a carbon sink

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KNOXVILLE — The next installment of Conservation on Tap is set for 7 p.m. Jan. 8 at Albright Grove Brewing Company, 2924 Sutherland Ave., Knoxville.

Join forester Sean Bowers to learn about the Family Forest Carbon Program, a partnership between the American Forest Foundation and The Nature Conservancy. The program allows owners of small tracts of forest access to carbon markets, empowering them to improve the health and wellbeing of their forests and help tackle climate change.

All proceeds from Conservation on Tap benefit Discover Life in America.

Last modified on Monday, 13 January 2025 00:00

foothills map

Conservation groups have cautioned against the zombie roadway between Wears Valley and Gatlinburg; EIS-level study uncertain

This story will be updated.

The National Park Service (NPS) said Dec. 9 it “will conduct additional design work and technical studies for Foothills Parkway Section 8D. This decision was based on feedback from subject matter experts and public comments received during a 30-day public comment period that ended Aug. 21.
“The NPS will reinitiate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process and inform the public of opportunities for future public engagement once this additional work is completed. A schedule for completing the additional work has not yet been established,” according to a release from NPS public affairs specialist Dave Barak.
 
Conservation groups, including the National Parks Conservation Association, say the road would further fragment forest habitat and present unacceptable water-quality hazards.
 
The NEPA offers a range of alternatives, however, and it was not immediately known whether the park service would again embark on a more detailed environmental impact statement (EIS) or proceed with a relatively cursory environmental assessment.
 
A draft of the previous EIS process for this parkway project were completed decades ago, as reported by Hellbender Press.
 
The federal government last year opened the latest round of public comment on the project, which would traverse Buckeye Knob and Cove Mountain and multiple aquatic and karst environments.

 

Concerns raised by the public over the decades range from impacts on domestic water supplies and endangered or threatened species to the fact the roadway might be a catalyst for excessive tourism infrastructure in Townsend and Wears Valley. 

Last modified on Monday, 09 December 2024 23:34

NOAA’s Teek and Tom bring fun and free science to classrooms and homes

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It’s all about the ocean-weather-climate connection!

Join intrepid student explorer Teek from planet Queloz and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) climate scientist Tom Di Liberto as they explore planet Earth’s weather and climate. This five-part science series covers a range of scientific topics, including how the ocean influences weather and climate on Earth, and the technologies scientists use to gather information about our planet and its changing climate.

Each episode is supplemented by two lesson plans designed for students in the fourth through sixth grades — all of which are compiled in a single Educator’s Guide. Each lesson allows students to explore and investigate NOAA data, visualizations and content, allowing them to build knowledge of and skills associated with important Earth science concepts.

An understanding of how the Earth works as a system and how humans interact with the Earth is important for all inhabitants of our planet. Teek and Tom are a fun and engaging way to grow that understanding!

Teek and Tom: Educator’s Guide

The Teek and Tom Educator’s Guide includes 10 lesson plans — two supplementing each episode. The lessons allow students to build knowledge of and skills associated with important Earth science concepts. Through the exploration and investigation of NOAA data, visualizations, and content, the lessons support the videos in telling a cohesive story of key Earth systems, and how those systems impact each other.

Each lesson is aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), national standards for mathnational standards for English and language arts, and the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards. These standards reinforce the interdisciplinary nature of ocean, weather and climate studies, and support the teaching of these topics. The lessons engage students in content that is locally relevant; and use the 5E model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate) to provide a structure for students to connect science ideas with their own experiences, and apply their learning to new contexts.

To access this high-caliber, free science lesson, download the educator’s guide.

HeleneBarrett1Water rose an estimated 15-18 feet on this side channel of North Fork of the Catawba River near Marion, N.C.  Photos by Mark Barrett

Impromptu backcountry hike reveals extent of remote storm wreckage in WNC

Mark Barrett is an Asheville-based journalist. He reported for the New York Times at the height of Tropical Storm Helene.

MARION — I had a lot of chores to do Saturday but went hiking instead. I had read that the Mountains-to-Sea Trail was open from Woodlawn, N.C., a few miles north of Marion, east to the North Fork of the Catawba River so I decided to see what was left of the pedestrian bridge across the river after Helene.

I took a logging road part of the way there and before I reached the river I managed to make a wrong turn. Once I realized my mistake I decided to go cross country instead of retracing my steps since that would be shorter.

I walked into one of the scenes folks living in Western North Carolina are familiar with: Helene blew down two out of every three trees. Places like this make hiking a contact sport, and a slow and laborious one at that. Still, it was interesting to see.

HeleneBarrett3

 After maybe half a mile of walking on, under and over downed trees, I made it into open woods and not far after that, to the spot where the bridge once stood. The only things visible were the abutments on either end and the pier, which had washed 50 to 100 yards downstream. Photos of the pier taken before Helene show it sitting on dry ground with an area behind it where it looks like water washed through during a flood. On my way back toward my car, I saw the main part of the bridge on the opposite side of the river a third of a mile or so downstream. 

Last modified on Wednesday, 04 December 2024 00:18
Wednesday, 20 November 2024 12:12

Park service opens trail to forever in Great Smokies

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Trail crew taking a breakA trail crew takes a breather after laboring on the Ramsey Cascades Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Crew members and park officials formally opened the rehabilitated trail this week after three years of work.  National Park Service

Radically enhanced Ramsey Cascades Trail leads to national park’s highest waterfall

Dave Barak is a public affairs specialist with the National Park Service.

GATLINBURG — In collaboration with Friends of the Smokies, the National Park Service (NPS) completed a three-year restoration of the Ramsey Cascades Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Located in the Greenbrier area, this popular trail ascends through beautiful hardwood forests to the 105-foot Ramsey Cascades, the tallest waterfall in the park. The trail is now open seven days a week following an extensive reconstruction and rehabilitation.

The NPS and Friends of the Smokies celebrated the milestone at the Ramsey Cascades trailhead. Following remarks and a ribbon-cutting, several participants hiked the newly restored trail together.  

Improvements to the Ramsey Cascades Trail include:

— Two new footlog bridges. 
— New decking and handrails on a 20-foot hiker bridge. 
— 151 trail drains. 
— More than 600 new steps for hiker safety and erosion control. 
— Regrading of 2.5 miles of trail surface for improved safety and better trail drainage.
Removal of tripping hazards, including roots and rocks. 
Pruning of overgrown vegetation in the trail corridor to improve the hiking experience and allow the trail to better dry.
 

Throughout this rehabilitation, the NPS restored Ramsey Cascades — with the original trail design in mind — in a way that blends in with the natural landscape. Trail crew members used natural materials and hand tools and transported most tools and equipment by hand or pack mule. A helicopter delivered several loads to five drop sites that the mule team could not access. The trail crew used 1,200 black locust logs and 760,000 pounds of rock crush for fill for this rehabilitation.

Deploying 1,200 logs. Back-breaking labor! Crews had to carry many materials and tools to the site by hand or mule.  National Park Service

“Trails Forever is an excellent example of the collaborative partnership between Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Friends of the Smokies,” said Boone Vandzura, Acting Deputy Superintendent. “Together we’ve preserved and rehabilitated trails that enhance the recreational experience of millions of visitors.”  

Last modified on Sunday, 15 December 2024 16:57

Ukraine forest Serhiiy Skoryk 2A range of vegetation has moved into the former Kakhovka reservoir in Ukraine. Russian occupying forces destroyed the dam along the Dnieper River in June 2023.  Photos by Serhiiy Skoryk

Russia’s bombing of Kakhovka Dam in 2023 killed hundreds of people and tens of thousands of animals, but it also provided a potential ecological reset.

This story was originally published by The Revelator.

KYIV — In the early hours of June 6, 2023, two large explosions reverberated across cities and small towns located on the banks of the Dnieper River in southern Ukraine. The Russian military had reportedly set off multiple bombs, destroying the three-kilometer-long Kakhovka Dam and draining its massive reservoir into nearby settlements.

Water from the dam flooded the plains, killing hundreds of civilians and countless livestock, destroying farms, and displacing the residents of more than 37,000 homes.

The bombing made headlines around the world. It’s the long-term impact of the attack on the local biodiversity, however, that has scientists and experts concerned. In the weeks following the explosion, researchers from Ukrainian ministries and independent organizations carried out several assessments as best they could to the backdrop of the war.

They found that the attack had flooded about 60,000 hectares (230 square miles) of forest in at least four national parks, threatening an estimated population of 20,000 animals and 10,000 birds.

Serhiiy Skoryk with minesSerhiiy Skoryk, a national park director, is seen with landmines that are typical of those that have literally flooded the conflict zone during the Russian occupation of parts of Ukraine. These mines and other hazards complicate efforts to gauge the impact of the Russian invasion on Ukraine’s unique natural environment. 

Published in News, Earth, 15 Life on Land
Last modified on Tuesday, 19 November 2024 23:35

kingston tm 2008357In the early morning hours of Dec. 22, 2008, the earthen wall of a containment pond at Tennessee’s Kingston Fossil Plant gave way. The breach released 1.3 million cubic meters (1.7 cubic yards) of sludge, infiltrating a nearby river and damaging dozens of homes.  NASA Earth Observatory

Journalist’s book offers deep sweep of 2008 coal-ash disaster at TVA’s Kingston coal plant

CHATTANOOGA — Jared Sullivan’s book, Valley So Low, is “A courtroom drama about the victims of one of the largest environmental disasters in US history — and the country lawyer who challenged the notion that, in America, justice can be bought.” Those words from the publisher’s dust jacket sum up the story, but the pathos of workers, certain that they got sick on the job, and the lawyer’s struggle against a well-funded corporate defense, is in the details.

Most residents of the Tennessee Valley remember the 2008 disaster when a wall of a coal ash slurry rushed out of the Kingston Steam Plant, flooding the Emory River and inundating 300 acres of the surrounding countryside. 

Sullivan offered insight into the story to an audience in Chattanooga in October. When workers fell ill after the cleanup, local personal injury lawyer Jim Scott challenged Jacob’s Engineering, a private company the Tennessee Valley Authority contracted to manage the cleanup. Scott was the only lawyer willing to take their case, according to Sullivan. 

Last modified on Tuesday, 19 November 2024 23:59

1 Hiram Caldwell House NPS photo 600x800The Hiram Caldwell House looks out over a road rendered impassable following major flooding on Rough Fork Creek. Cataloochee Valley is closed until further notice.  National Park Service

Damage to park infrastructure widespread on North Carolina side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Holly Kays is the lead writer for Smokies Life

GATLINBURG — As Hurricane Helene gathered strength in the southern Gulf of Mexico, it seemed likely Great Smoky Mountains National Park would take a direct hit. The storm was a category 4 before slamming Florida’s Gulf Coast; then it headed north toward the Smokies.

But its course shifted east. Helene and its predecessor storm dropped unfathomable amounts of rain across Southern Appalachia — many places received well over a dozen inches in a matter of days, with some locations recording two dozen or more. The storm’s severity was unprecedented in the region, causing flash floods and landslides that have so far claimed at least 95 lives in North Carolina alone. Asheville, where extreme flooding destroyed entire neighborhoods and decimated the water system, logged more than 14 inches between September 24 and September 28.

Most of the park fell far enough west of Helene’s path to escape with only minor flooding, but its extreme eastern region — Cataloochee, Balsam Mountain, Big Creek — was inundated. Record-setting rains tore out trails and roads and damaged historic buildings, leading the park to close these areas until further notice.

7 Cataloochee closed NPS photo 1536x1152Cataloochee Valley is closed until further notice after flooding from Rough Creek Fork rendered Upper Cataloochee Valley Road impassable.  National Park Service

Last modified on Friday, 08 November 2024 00:10
Wednesday, 23 October 2024 14:01

Helene: Climate change fed the monster

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image000001The CSX rail line through the Nolichucky River Gorge near Erwin, Tennessee was one of many transportation and vital commerce links destroyed by epic river flooding spawned by Tropical Storm Helene Sept. 26-27, 2024.  Jonathan Mitchell for Hellbender Press

ORNL Climate Change Institute: Weirdly warm water that spawned and fed Hurricane Helene was 500 times more likely due to climate change

OAK RIDGE — Hellbender Press spoke with Oak Ridge National Laboratory Climate Change Science Institute Director Peter Thornton about whether Hurricane Helene and its subsequent and disastrous impact on the Southern Appalachians was made worse by climate change. Citing an increasing scientific ability to link climate change to specific weather events, he said in a very matter-of-fact manner that yes, Helene was fueled by the symptoms and consequences of global warming caused by human emissions of carbon and other pollutants.

Thornton cited a World Weather Attribution report as a main source for his data and commentary, and summarized its research on Helene for Hellbender Press. Here is the interview, edited for clarity and brevity:

Hellbender Press: Can you please state your credentials?
 

“I am the director of the Climate Change ScienceInstitute at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. I am a corporate fellow researchstaff at the laboratory in the area of earth system modeling and coupled carbon-cycle climatefeedbacks at the global scale all the way down to local scales.” 

HP: The effects of Hurricane Helene were worsened by preceding rain events, correct?

“The event as it played out along the sort of the eastern flankof the Southern Appalachians was influenced strongly by precipitation that came beforethe storm even made landfall. There was what’s referred to as a stalled cold front, which was sitting over that SouthernAppalachian region and the front, kind of a linear element, stretched from Atlanta up along the flankof the Southern Appalachians.

“There were river stages that were already approaching record levels in some areasof that region before the storm arrived. There was probably moisture being pulled in from theouter bands of the storm into that stalled cold front, which was making that precipitation eventslightly bigger than it would have been otherwise. But it was an independentsynoptic-scale meteorological event.

(That could be linked to increased moisture, a hallmark of climate change, on the fringes of the tropical system, but there’s no data on that yet).

ThorntonNGEE 2Peter Thornton, director of the Climate Change Science Institute at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is shown here doing climate-research field work in 2015. ORNL

Last modified on Saturday, 26 October 2024 01:29

PHOTO Archive Room NCEI NOAANCEI’s Physical Archive in Asheville, N.C. contains historical environmental data on paper and film. The Physical Archive remains safe and secure following Hurricane Helene and catastrophic flooding in the Southern Appalachians.  NOAA

Staff and data holdings safe; webpages, products and services in the process of coming back online

John Bateman is a public affairs officer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

ASHEVILLE — NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), headquartered in Asheville, is recovering from the impacts of Hurricane Helene. NCEI has confirmed that all of its employees and staff are safe, and is continuing to support them through the storm recovery. NCEI data holdings — including its paper and film records — are safe. 

NCEI’s broadband internet provider is now fully operational. In addition to the recently reestablished connectivity, NCEI is leveraging facilities and staff in Colorado, Mississippi and Maryland to bring some system and data “ingest” capabilities back into operation. NCEI has resumed the majority of its data ingest streams and can confirm that data are being securely archived. We expect all ingest data pathways to be fully operational in the next two weeks.

NCEI continues to work with data providers to recoup data that were not ingested while systems were down. This work will take up to three months to be completed. NCEI will recover as much data as possible, however, some observations might eventually be unrecoverable. 

Last modified on Saturday, 19 October 2024 22:19

462488639 8961191437226763 607069345985306525 n 1Debris hangs from trees on the banks of the French Broad River near the main building of Hot Springs Resort and Spa. The river gauge at Hot Springs was offline during the main rain events immediately preceding the Sept. 27 floods but registered a peak just under 21 feet. The record stage is 22 feet, but that record will likely fall after review of provisional weather-gauge data by the National Weather Service.  Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press

Two weeks after epic floods, a far cry from normalcy; utility repairs continue; Del Rio still reels; Hot Springs limps; outpouring of help and mountain grit as battered communities take stock

This story will be updated.
The original story and updates continue below. We have been adding more images, videos, links, live or interactive graphs and specifics to our earlier reporting and updates.

GATLINBURG — Great Smoky Mountains National Park staff continue to assess the damage sustained by the country’s most-visited national park during Tropical Storm Helene. (The storm was at tropical storm strength when it struck the mountains Sept. 26-27, prompting a rare tropical-storm warning for Western North Carolina).

The Cataloochee and Big Creek areas on the North Carolina side in Haywood County were particularly hard-hit, and significant damage was reported to park cultural resources and road and bridge infrastructure. Those areas remain closed. Most roads and trails on the Tennessee side of the national park are open. Cataloochee is a valuable tourist draw during the fall rutting season of elk populations successfully reintroduced to the park in the 1990s.

 HeleneCataloocheeTropical Storm Helene destroyed Upper Cataloochee Road in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and damaged other park infrastructure and historical resources.  National Park Service

Here’s an update from the National Park Service:

“The park experienced substantial damage, particularly in North Carolina, including Balsam Mountain, Big Creek and Cataloochee Valley.

“Within the park, the Cataloochee Valley saw the most significant impacts from Hurricane Helene and will be closed until further notice as staff address damage. Flooding from Rough Fork Creek washed out several roads in the valley. Upper Cataloochee Valley Road saw the worst damage and is not drivable. Various levels of erosion and flooding impacted all trails in Cataloochee Valley and nearly all footlog bridges in the area were washed away during the storm. Cataloochee Valley also experienced fallen trees, flooding at campsites and damaged power lines. There were impacts to historic buildings, particularly the Caldwell Barn, which park staff are currently working to stabilize.
“The Balsam Mountain and Big Creek areas are also currently closed until further notice because of storm damage and safety concerns.

“Most trails on the Tennessee side of the park are open; several trails on the North Carolina side are closed. The park continues to assess the trails on the eastern end of the park to find the western edge of the damage in the backcountry. Examples of trails that were severely impacted include Big Creek Trail, which saw damage throughout its length and lost a 70-foot steel bridge and its abutments. Gunter Fork Trail experienced a landslide that took out 100 feet of trail.
“While there has been some significant damage in the eastern area of the park, many miles of trails in western sections of the park have low impacts and few downed trees. Visitors planning to hike in the Smokies are encouraged (as always) to check the park website and/or talk to staff in visitor centers or the backcountry office about current trail conditions.”
Last modified on Monday, 14 October 2024 01:06

Helene BlackMarbleBYC Sept 26 2024 NOAA20 v2

Helene fallout continues; hundreds still missing; at least 60 dead in NC; flooding and wind damage still widespread in Southern Appalachians; National Guard in action; land access, supplies, communications, water and power still spotty

This story will be updated.
The original story and updates continue below.
We have been adding more images, videos, links, live or interactive graphs and specifics to earlier updates, too. So, keep scrolling to glean them after touching the More… button. You may want to bookmark some of the interactive features for your own present and future use.

erwin102Demolished vehicles are seen in the area of what used to be Red Banks Campground in the Chestoa area of Unicoi County.  Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press

ERWIN — The death toll from Hurricane Helene climbed to at least 180 people on Wednesday, making it the deadliest hurricane to hit the United States in 50 years with the exception of Hurricane Katrina, which claimed over 1,800 lives in 2005 in what was also a largely impoverished area.

In one-hard hit community in the mountains of northeast Tennessee, emotions grew high as Spanish-speaking family of missing loved ones accused first responders through an interpreter of showboating, classism and preferential rescues during a tense press conference broadcast live on X.

The mounting death toll and increasingly fruitless searches came as millions of people spent their sixth day without running water or power and an ad hoc army of first responders, volunteers and National Guard troops struggled to deliver life-saving supplies to communities throughout the Southern Appalachians that were cut off by the record breaking flash floods spawned by the storm.

In Erwin, a town of 6,000 in Unicoi County, officials confirmed that a criminal investigation had been launched into the conduct of a manufacturing company that was accused of forcing employees to keep working even as floodwaters rose to dangerous levels.

The alleged decision by the management team at Impact Plastics led to the deaths of at least two employees while four others remain missing, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) has been tasked with determining whether there’s enough evidence of wrongdoing to warrant criminal charges.

“At the request of First Judicial District Attorney General Steve Finney, TBI agents are investigating allegations involving Impact Plastics,” said TBI spokesperson Leslie Earhart in an e-mail exchange with Hellbender Press. 

Earhart referred questions to Finney, who said “there will be no further comment from my office … until the investigation is complete.”

According to the company — which denied any wrongdoing — five employees and one contractor were lost while trying to leave the facility on Friday.

“When water began to cover the parking lot and the adjacent service road, and the plant lost power, employees were dismissed by management to return to their homes in time for them to escape the industrial park,” said a company press release. “At no time were employees told that they would be fired if they left the facility …. While most employees left immediately, some remained on or near the premises for unknown reasons.”

Several workers tried to escape the premises on a truck but were swept away when the vehicle overturned, according to the company.

“We are devastated by the tragic loss of great employees,” said Gerald O'Connor, who founded the company in Erwin in 1987. “Those who are missing or deceased, and their families are in our thoughts and prayers.”

A Spanish-speaking woman clutching a blown-up photo of a missing relative blasted Unicoi County Emergency Manager Jim Erwin through an interpreter.

“My daughter was screaming ‘help, help,’ but the people in the hospital were a bigger priority than she was. I want my daughter! I want my daughter,” she implored in Spanish, referencing the water and air evacuation of Unicoi Hospital on Friday morning.

Officials responded that the Unicoi County 911 dispatch center had received multiple requests for a timeline of Sept. 27 911 calls. They assured her the search continued, and that Erwin had visited with family of all the known missing.

Erwin, who said he was among those trapped at the hospital, appeared flustered for a moment at the woman’s insistent quest for answers, noting that the discussion, practically speaking, was not helping locate her missing daughter.

“If I was white and rich you would be looking for me,” the mother cried through the interpreter. “Labor workers never matter to you, because they work in a factory.”

Migrant laborers live throughout northeast Tennessee, working mainly in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors. Many have very limited resources, and already live within some of the poorest counties in the state.

461841346 8892997500712824 4883749489977696955 nMassive piles of debris, hastily plowed aside, are lining the edge of the Nolichucky River.  Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press

Officials said Wednesday that Hurricane Helene killed 91 people in North Carolina, 36 in South Carolina, 25 in Georgia, 17 in Florida, 9 in Tennessee, and 2 in Virginia.

In Newport, the county seat of hard-hit Cocke County about 45 minutes east of Knoxville on I-40, hundreds of people lined up in parking lots or flocked to grocery stores in a desperate scramble to secure the basic necessities of survival.

As is often the case in such disasters, the storm was a vivid reminder of the value of being prepared for the unexpected. 

The Jenkins family, who lives in the rural Cocke County community of Bybee, said the floods developed so quickly that most residents didn’t have enough time to prepare and those who did still weren’t fully prepared for such a powerful deluge.

“The aftermath was something out of an adventure or post-apocalyptic film,” said Tiffany Jenkins, who lives on Knob Creek Road with her husband, Steve, and his two children from a previous marriage. 

“Cars standing on their front ends, bridges completely washed out, and no safe route to or from civilization,” she said. “Finding ways out of town was almost impossible in itself, even with intimate knowledge of the area and typical flood zones. The problem is this was not a typical flood.”

Most Cocke County residents are still without clean water thanks to damage to the area’s water treatment plant. The Jenkins, however, are grateful to have resources that allowed them to ride out the storm and even help their neighbors in the aftermath.

“Luckily, my family has well water, which allows us to fill jugs of water for our friends and anyone else who needs it who could get to us but couldn’t get to Newport, where they were giving away free supplies,” she said.

“My family bought a used generator we could not afford because emergency services warned us to be prepared to be without electricity for a week or longer, though the power outage only lasted about 24 hours for us personally.”

She added: “The big problem was, and still remains, the lack of city water services.”

According to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA), Cocke was one of 21 counties experiencing problems due to storm damage to their water treatment stations, 17 of which had been forced to issue Boil Water advisories.

Officials from TVA said that all dams in the affected region had been inspected and “were secure and stable.”

IMG 4769 copyUnaka Springs Freewill Baptist Church. The entire paved parking lot was flushed away. The spire lost its characteristic woodwork, merely its concrete scaffolding remains.  Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press

 

During the storm, the most severe crisis faced by TVA was the potential failure of the Nolichucky Dam, prompting authorities to repeatedly warn people living downstream about the potential for a cataclysmic dam failure.

nolichucky damNolichucky dam before Hurricane Helene.  Tenessee Valley Authority

TVA Nolichucky Dam 

“TVA’s River Forecast Center is monitoring all other tributaries in the impacted areas, where rivers are gradually returning to normal levels. The team is also working to manage downstream reservoirs, which are rising. TVA’s focus is on preventing additional flooding and moving water through the system to recover reservoir storage,” a statement posted on TVA’s website website said.

Large segments of the Appalachian Trail were shut down by the storms while the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina sustained “catastrophic damage,” which is still being assessed, according to the National Park Service.

In the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Foothills Parkway East near Cosby and Lakeview Drive remain closed while park staff address storm damage.

Balsam Mountain, Cataloochee and Big Creek roads and campgrounds also remain closed, according to the Park’s website.

“The National Park Service has deployed its Eastern Incident Management Team to assist parks in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina with damage assessments and recovery as conditions allow,” said a statement issued by the Park Service. “The team is coordinating with parks, FEMA, and other agencies on their actions.”

Here’s another look from the federal level

Normally a fairly prolific X user, Rep. Tim Burchett of Knoxville doesn’t represent the worst affected regions but flooding occurred within Knox County and down the road in Newport and other points along the Pigeon River and French Broad River, which joins the Holston to form the Tennessee River, which flows directly through Knoxville. He didn’t post about the disaster or offer any warnings or assistance until late Sept. 27, when his first reference to Hurricane Helene’s effect on the mountains was a repost of a user conflating flood relief and  U.S. support of Ukraine. The worst flooding had occurred hours before. His only other post on that fateful day was another claim of pending election irregularities.

After a flurry of obligatory reposts of aid requests and resources; Burchett wrapped it up late Wednesday with a repost of a follower claiming FEMA was confiscating money and homes. He told the follower he had checked it out, and FEMA denies that is happening.

I-26 at ChestoaThe Nolichucky River deposited entire mature hardwoods on both sides of I-26 in Tennessee near the North Carolina border in the Chestoa area during extreme flooding Sept. 26-27.  Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press

Last modified on Wednesday, 20 November 2024 22:34

springcreekPreservation of the Spring Creek watershed near Cedars of Lebanon State Park will protect water resources in a rapidly growing part of the Southeast.  TennGreen Land ConservancyTennessee cave salamanders, other wildlife will benefit from creation of unique preserve

LEBANON — TennGreen Land Conservancy joined with Headwaters Reserve LLC to protect and restore a high-risk stream habitat adjacent to Cedars of Lebanon State Park. Located on approximately 47 acres, the property’s streams and wetlands are protected by a conservation easement held by TennGreen in perpetuity.

The waters of this property, called Cedar Forest, are within the Spring Creek watershed, which has been noted to contain more than 28 rare species, including the Tennessee cave salamander (Gyrinophilus palleucus).

Stream restoration, a vital process that breathes new life into natural aquatic environments, is a key objective of this conservation easement, offering numerous benefits to both wildlife and the community.

This permanent protection and intentional restoration will help to remove pollutants from waters in one of the nation’s fastest-growing counties while protecting the resource for generations to come.

TennGreen has previously conserved land in the area to expand Cedars of Lebanon State Park and Natural Area and Cedars of Lebanon State Forest.

Last modified on Thursday, 26 September 2024 23:29
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