Speaker 1: All right, welcome back, and joining us now is Lee Brown.
Speaker 1: She put together a relief organization that is still going on,
Speaker 1: and as she points out, this is not over yet.
Speaker 1: People's attention span is very short and they move on
Speaker 1: to the next story or the next hurricane or whatever. Right,
Speaker 1: but this is still going on and it's going to
Speaker 1: go on for a long time, and so we need
Speaker 1: to keep people's attention focused on this and fight against that.
Speaker 1: And there's also a concerted effort to keep this quiet.
Speaker 1: I want to begin by telling you where you can go.
Speaker 1: The official donation page is on giftsend Go and it
Speaker 1: is at we Love WNC for Western North Carolina. We
Speaker 1: Love WNC. That's on gifts End Go. We'll give that
Speaker 1: at the end of the broadcast as well. But thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us, Lee Brown, thank you very much
Speaker 1: for coming on.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you for having me honored to be on
Speaker 2: your show.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you.
Speaker 1: I want to, you know, let's talk about what is
Speaker 1: going on in the ongoing need here. But I think
Speaker 1: a lot of people are just curious as to what
Speaker 1: it looks like on the ground. But maybe we could
Speaker 1: start with how this all began and how you got
Speaker 1: involved in this what was it like what you saw
Speaker 1: being there on the spot.
Speaker 2: Well, just to be very clear, I'm located about an
Speaker 2: hour outside of the impact zone, but being a native
Speaker 2: North Carolinian and having a lot of friends and family
Speaker 2: in the affected area, it just it hit home for me.
Speaker 2: And so when the storm hit and we were watching
Speaker 2: the flooding in the very early coverage, which there was
Speaker 2: a little coverage at the beginning, I could see where
Speaker 2: this was headed. And I have helped with natural disasters
Speaker 2: in the past, because North Carolina does happen to get
Speaker 2: hurricanes on a regular basis, and being in real estate,
Speaker 2: I think real estate agents often don't get the credit
Speaker 2: they're due for the way realtors just love to dig
Speaker 2: in and help their communities. Well, my husband and I
Speaker 2: celebrated our wedding anniversary on September twenty seventh. Then this
Speaker 2: is the third year that we've spent our anniversary doing
Speaker 2: relief efforts. So I don't know how we got lucky
Speaker 2: like that, but I knew it was coming and I
Speaker 2: said told my husband, I said, well, let's load the
Speaker 2: real estate company moving truck up and we'll let our
Speaker 2: clients bring donations and we'll be prepared to help, not
Speaker 2: knowing how bad it was going to be, but knowing
Speaker 2: there was going to be a need, so I put
Speaker 2: the word out that we would let people come help
Speaker 2: us build the truck up. And then as the news
Speaker 2: hit of the breadth of the disaster and the gravity
Speaker 2: of what was going on, it turned into it an
Speaker 2: accidental grassroots effort that has been embraced across the well,
Speaker 2: actually it's international at this point because my videos talking
Speaker 2: about it had gone viral. And it's hard to put
Speaker 2: into words what it looks like in western North Carolina
Speaker 2: because it's truly warzone kind of conditions in many areas
Speaker 2: where the roads have collapsed. I forty between North Carolina
Speaker 2: and Tennessee collapsed with vehicles stranded on the highway. You
Speaker 2: have the city of Ashville, which is a decent sized
Speaker 2: small city, fourteen feet of water over the water treatment station,
Speaker 2: so no water in the city and town's gone. Chimney
Speaker 2: Rock is gone. That's one of the few situations you
Speaker 2: can actually find evidence of on the social networks. Swana
Speaker 2: Noah went under water, Montreat, the home of Billy Graham
Speaker 2: just virtually destroyed. And it's all I can describe it.
Speaker 2: As is. It's the flood of biblical proportions. It's the
Speaker 2: highest amount of flooding we've ever seen in the state.
Speaker 2: It was four feet higher than the previous generational flood
Speaker 2: in nineteen sixteen. So it was, it was, and it
Speaker 2: is because we're still right now on day thirteen, I
Speaker 2: guess we're still doing rescue efforts for people who were
Speaker 2: in their homes and then the driveways washed away and
Speaker 2: the roads washed away, and the only way you can
Speaker 2: access these people is with ATVs. And unfortunately there's as
Speaker 2: many well there's probably at this point more that have
Speaker 2: perished than have survived in those survival situations, just because
Speaker 2: of where the geography had it located. And it's staggering.
Speaker 2: It's just just staggering.
Speaker 1: I've never seen anything like it, quite frankly, you see
Speaker 1: when damage. I grew up in Florida, saw hurricanes all
Speaker 1: the time, and to see homes demolished with tornadoes and hurricanes,
Speaker 1: that's one thing. But I've never seen the kind of
Speaker 1: force that we saw with this water just washing away
Speaker 1: you know, not only homes, but highways and the foundations
Speaker 1: of where the highways were. I mean, it's it's like
Speaker 1: a nuclear bomb went off. Truly amazing. What has happened there?
Speaker 1: What about the when you got there? What did you see?
Speaker 1: I mean you drive up to you you didn't know
Speaker 1: how bad this was going to be, and what was
Speaker 1: the situation there? I guess at that point in time
Speaker 1: people were doing rescue work. Tell us a little bit
Speaker 1: about that.
Speaker 2: Well, I think the rescue work was actually slightly delayed
Speaker 2: because of the breadth of the disaster. I mean, you're
Speaker 2: talking a geographic area that's the size of other states,
Speaker 2: so there's a shock factor involved. And I have some
Speaker 2: friends that are mayors of small towns because I'm fairly
Speaker 2: politically active, and I talked to a friend of mine
Speaker 2: in one of the small city large town status just
Speaker 2: to check in and see what was going on. And
Speaker 2: he told me his town had no water, that their
Speaker 2: water station had gone out, And of course my immediate
Speaker 2: reaction was, let me get you some water. So I
Speaker 2: talked to a friend of mine who had a horse trailer,
Speaker 2: and so we called Low's to see if we could
Speaker 2: get a hold of some palettes of water. And this
Speaker 2: was on the first day. So we chase down the water,
Speaker 2: We get the water into her truck and head west. Well,
Speaker 2: while we're heading west, they're closing down access points. And
Speaker 2: I forty is the primary interstate going obviously from east
Speaker 2: to west, and it was shut down, so we had
Speaker 2: to go on seventy. And then when we got on seventy,
Speaker 2: there were only certain ways you could get into this
Speaker 2: town because of the road wash outs, but also because
Speaker 2: of the blockades that had been put up to restrict traffic,
Speaker 2: because of the uncertainty of the roads, and it was
Speaker 2: and what would normally be a drive of a little
Speaker 2: over an hour took three and a half hours to
Speaker 2: drive like this to get to the town, just to
Speaker 2: give some water because there was no water. I mean,
Speaker 2: the municipal system is out. And I don't know that
Speaker 2: any of us really understand how much we take for
Speaker 2: granted are clean and safe drinking water. I mean, unless
Speaker 2: you traveled in the third world, it's hard to understand
Speaker 2: how spoiled we are as Americans. And when that water
Speaker 2: supply is gone, people on a well would normally be
Speaker 2: all right, but they're electricities out and if they have
Speaker 2: a generator, did they have fuel for it? Because not
Speaker 2: everybody is thinking ahead all the time. Most folks don't
Speaker 2: have a stockpile of water. So we got there with
Speaker 2: this pallette of water, and the people came over and
Speaker 2: got it immediately, just sheer gratitude, and it was the
Speaker 2: beauty of it was nobody was grabbed more than they
Speaker 2: should have. There was a very big desire to make
Speaker 2: it go as far as it could. And that was
Speaker 2: day one, and so looking at the road closures was
Speaker 2: it was very unsettling to think you could no longer
Speaker 2: travel freely because of all the blockades. If you could
Speaker 2: travel freely, the roads may not be accessible. And if
Speaker 2: the roads aren't accessible, how do you get to your
Speaker 2: neighbors with life saving things like clean water? And then
Speaker 2: that was day one. By day three there's the smell
Speaker 2: of decomposition, and that's a it's nothing anybody ever wants
Speaker 2: to experience. But that's if you remember the temperatures when
Speaker 2: this hit still in the end summer, so still warm enough,
Speaker 2: and the human body is not made for lying around
Speaker 2: in the sun. And that's that's continuing to go on
Speaker 2: because we still have not gathered all of our neighbors
Speaker 2: who perished. They have not all had a decent burial,
Speaker 2: of course, because we haven't. We haven't located everybody, and
Speaker 2: so it's it's just it's hard. And so when you
Speaker 2: see it now, the news is already showing the parts
Speaker 2: of towns that are intact, their messaging being it wasn't
Speaker 2: that bad, but it is. It's just devastation. And the
Speaker 2: example I can give you of a town called Rollins
Speaker 2: is a very tiny hamlet in the North Carolina Mountains,
Speaker 2: had about fifteen homes prior to the Great Flood. I
Speaker 2: guess there's four houses left, and that's one of the
Speaker 2: lucky little hamlets. The rest of the houses are gone
Speaker 2: because it primarily sat on the banks of a river.
Speaker 2: And when you see what's left, it is just things
Speaker 2: are gone. It's hard to get your mind around it.
Speaker 2: And for me as a North Carolina native who's gone
Speaker 2: to the mountains for years for vacations and for going
Speaker 2: out hiking and church retreat I mean every church I've
Speaker 2: ever gone through, the retreat places are up in the mountains.
Speaker 2: Your geography has changed forever. So you have the loss
Speaker 2: of life. We've lost humans, the geography is different. Towns
Speaker 2: are gone, and so there's a grief over what the
Speaker 2: state was prior to twenty twenty four and what it
Speaker 2: is now because it won't ever be the same. Oh,
Speaker 2: it's just it really makes the Bible come to life
Speaker 2: when you look at the way that things went in
Speaker 2: the Terrah and what happened with these towns as they
Speaker 2: they warred with each other and they would wipe them
Speaker 2: out and salt the earth, And you can't help but
Speaker 2: feel that there's obviously a visual of the spiritual battle
Speaker 2: that we're in.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh, it's amazing. And so at this point now,
Speaker 1: as you said, all the roads are closed, there weren't
Speaker 1: any roads in many cases, so they would black people
Speaker 1: off from that. In terms of the logistics of trying
Speaker 1: to get stuff in, that's got to be so incredibly challenging.
Speaker 1: And we've had all kinds of reports that we've talked
Speaker 1: about over the last week about people trying to come
Speaker 1: in with helicopters and evacuate people out, other people pulling
Speaker 1: rank on them and stopping that. Organizations like the one
Speaker 1: that was in bat Cave, and they've done a great
Speaker 1: job logistically of putting stuff in and getting things distributed.
Speaker 1: How are you operating with this and who are you
Speaker 1: partnering with in order to get these is pies in
Speaker 1: when there's not a clear path or a road to
Speaker 1: get there.
Speaker 2: Well, when my video went viral, I got calls from
Speaker 2: people with trucks and trailers literally all over the country
Speaker 2: who are patriots who are not afraid of figuring it out.
Speaker 2: And we have had this ragtag group of people who
Speaker 2: never knew each other but responded to a call, who
Speaker 2: have come in found their way through truckers who had
Speaker 2: the right permits and knew how to navigate road closures
Speaker 2: better than a regular person. Local people with an suv
Speaker 2: or a pickup truck or a four by four. And
Speaker 2: that's my group has just kind of filled gaps wherever
Speaker 2: we've been called upon. The organized groups have helped us
Speaker 2: to know where are the polaris guys needed, Where can
Speaker 2: we get an ATV up, We need toachs to put
Speaker 2: food in, to go up the side of a hill
Speaker 2: to get to a family. So it's none of the
Speaker 2: big groups. I will give good credit to Samaritan's Purse,
Speaker 2: Franklin Graham's organization. They were in Bune as of day
Speaker 2: one with their organization, they were set up and distributing
Speaker 2: and my goodness, a super well oiled machine. Very impressed
Speaker 2: with the work that they've done, and the Baptist churches,
Speaker 2: the Baptist Coalition got busy on day one as well,
Speaker 2: and they've been spreading out through the church network to
Speaker 2: some of the smaller areas. But other than that, we've
Speaker 2: operated with people we find on Facebook or people that
Speaker 2: have been referred to us as reputable and kind, thoughtful
Speaker 2: people who are looking out for their neighbors. And so
Speaker 2: it's just what happens when people decide to pitch in together.
Speaker 2: It's not a five ZHO one C three, and we're
Speaker 2: not any true organization. And in fact, those of us
Speaker 2: that swung into action a few days ago are now
Speaker 2: trying to figure out, all right, we still have jobs
Speaker 2: to do because we're not relief workers, and there are
Speaker 2: professionals available, but they're still overwhelmed. So how do we
Speaker 2: continue to help while we manage our own lives so
Speaker 2: that we can continue to support. But the way people
Speaker 2: have pitched in is it's the spirit of what America
Speaker 2: was founded on, and it's encouraging to see that it's
Speaker 2: still there.
Speaker 3: It is.
Speaker 1: And you know, just before he came on, I finished
Speaker 1: off with Alexis Totokville, who came to the US basically
Speaker 1: look at the prison system. But he was just amazed
Speaker 1: at how people in America would come together to solve
Speaker 1: a common problem voluntarily as a community. And it is
Speaker 1: wonderful from a perspective of where I am. It's wonderful
Speaker 1: to see that happening again, to see that that's not dead.
Speaker 1: That when people see that there's a need, they can
Speaker 1: organize themselves and people come together and offer their services.
Speaker 1: I've seen this in the past when there's been a
Speaker 1: localized stuff, it's not many times when it's really big,
Speaker 1: then you get FEMA, you get the military, other people
Speaker 1: come in and they essentially shut that down and take
Speaker 1: it over. Whether they do a good job or not.
Speaker 1: They didn't allow people to participate and they shut that down.
Speaker 1: And so that's why I think so important about this
Speaker 1: and part of what you're doing. I think you're kind
Speaker 1: of focused on trying to get supplies. And as I
Speaker 1: look at the site that you've set up, you got
Speaker 1: an Amazon wish list, and in that wish list you
Speaker 1: put in things that people you know that people need,
Speaker 1: medical supplies, general needs, a wish list, and other things
Speaker 1: like that, and I guess you're then handing that off
Speaker 1: to some of these other organizations that are there.
Speaker 2: No, we're taking it in ourselves.
Speaker 3: Okays.
Speaker 2: We have had three scenarios where my teams have been
Speaker 2: interrupted by FEMA, and FEMA has a plan to inventory
Speaker 2: everything that they can get their hands on. We choose
Speaker 2: not to let them inventory it because there's a need
Speaker 2: and I don't think they fully grasp how geographically challenging
Speaker 2: an area like this is because you're not talking a
Speaker 2: city an urban center of you in a flat area.
Speaker 2: You're talking fifteen houses here, sixty eight houses there. And
Speaker 2: the centralized information tends to be the volunteer fire department.
Speaker 2: So we've reached out to many of the volunteer fire
Speaker 2: departments because they know who in their community needs insulin. Well,
Speaker 2: I probably don't have insulin, but I may have a
Speaker 2: contact who can help get the prescriptions and handle all
Speaker 2: the details on that. And so we're removing more quickly
Speaker 2: because we're not trying to follow the red tape of
Speaker 2: the government. And we understand that FEMA wants to have
Speaker 2: a central supply hub, But if you have a central
Speaker 2: supply hub in a huge geographical area, then how are
Speaker 2: you going to deploy that in a timeframe that makes sense,
Speaker 2: especially with falsh warnings now because now we've moved into winter,
Speaker 2: so our job today we moved another we'll move thirty
Speaker 2: generators up today to give to thirty different homes so
Speaker 2: they could keep the heat on. We moved another dozen
Speaker 2: propane portable heaters into some other homes for elderly who
Speaker 2: don't want to leave can't leave. And I just I
Speaker 2: don't know that FEMA's interests it in dropping generators at
Speaker 2: people's houses so that they can stay put. They would
Speaker 2: rather put you through a red tape nightmare to get
Speaker 2: a little bit of cash. But the little bit of
Speaker 2: cash their offering doesn't even cover the cost of a
Speaker 2: generator that I got at wholesale price, and they're not
Speaker 2: going to deliver it. So if you're elderly and you
Speaker 2: apply for this little bit of money on FEMA online,
Speaker 2: so you have to have internet access, they want receipts,
Speaker 2: They want a doctor's note if it's say a breathing machine.
Speaker 2: We also got thanks of oxygen delivered up today as well.
Speaker 2: They want a doctor's note for your oxygen. Okay, so
Speaker 2: FEMA is only going to give you money if you
Speaker 2: prove your power was out while you're on the internet.
Speaker 2: And if you prove that you have a doctor's note
Speaker 2: for what you need, and if you have receipts, and
Speaker 2: then you'll get this seven hundred and fifty dollars. Well,
Speaker 2: I have found that if the donations I've received are
Speaker 2: going to buy thirty generators, I called my guiet Low's
Speaker 2: and Low's has been amazing by the way they were
Speaker 2: so quick to help us with hunting down what we needed,
Speaker 2: giving us wholesale ing even though I'm not a builder,
Speaker 2: and Lows helped us hunt them down. We talked to
Speaker 2: a guy with a trailer, and the guy with a
Speaker 2: trailer who's not working today, put the generators on and
Speaker 2: ran them up so that they could be distributed from
Speaker 2: a church to these thirty homes. If femas in charge,
Speaker 2: what's that a month process? And in that month process,
Speaker 2: how many help issues occur because somebody's cold in their
Speaker 2: home in the mountains in the winter in North Carolina.
Speaker 2: So yeah, we're we're circumventing, but not because we're you know,
Speaker 2: breaking any laws. We're just doing it a better way.
Speaker 2: And well, idea how the communities were built though we
Speaker 2: took care of each other. Churches used to be the
Speaker 2: center churches knew who was hungry, and we fed them,
Speaker 2: and we knew who was sick, and we took care
Speaker 2: of them, because the Bible says you take care of
Speaker 2: aliens with those and orphans, and so that's what we're
Speaker 2: looking at here, is how do we take care of
Speaker 2: those that are passed out, those that are alone, and
Speaker 2: those that are unable to care for themselves.
Speaker 1: That's right, and you know, the bureaucracies have their own agenda.
Speaker 1: But the other part of it is the centralization that
Speaker 1: you're talking about. If you've got a decentralized thing that
Speaker 1: is happening, it can happen so much more effectively and
Speaker 1: quickly than the centralized bureaucracy. They took them a long
Speaker 1: time from what I've seen, to even show up, and
Speaker 1: then when they do, their obstructionists because of their imposed procedures,
Speaker 1: because of centralized planning and distribution and all the rest
Speaker 1: of the stuff. So that is what is so essential,
Speaker 1: and that is also that's why we need to talk
Speaker 1: about this for everybody. It shows the power of community,
Speaker 1: it shows the power of volunteerism, and it shows just
Speaker 1: at the same time the callousness and the ineffectiveness of
Speaker 1: a distant, centralized bureaucracy, and that's the key story I
Speaker 1: think here, And as you point out, this is going
Speaker 1: to go on for quite some time. I mean, I've
Speaker 1: seen some of the organizations. There was some Mendnight organization
Speaker 1: that has a history of going and they spent two
Speaker 1: and a half years at an Indian reservation. FEMA wouldn't
Speaker 1: do anything to help them, but they're wiped out with
Speaker 1: a storm and I don't know why it didn't fall
Speaker 1: into their bureaucratic checklist of something they would help with.
Speaker 1: But this group went there and they stayed there for
Speaker 1: like two and a half years, and they said, we're
Speaker 1: going to be here for several years because we're going
Speaker 1: to be here helping people rebuild. I guess at this
Speaker 1: point right now, the rescue operation is really more recovery
Speaker 1: of bodies. But the people that are there, they need
Speaker 1: a constant resupply of things because they really can't help themselves.
Speaker 1: It's really reliant on outside help.
Speaker 2: Would you say absolutely? Because the infrastructure has just experienced
Speaker 2: catastrophic damage. The city of Ashville is not expected to
Speaker 2: have water back for another three weeks. Wow is the
Speaker 2: optimistic estimate. That's a city.
Speaker 3: Wow?
Speaker 2: Now if you go to some of the outlying areas,
Speaker 2: there is some return of power, but there has not
Speaker 2: been a return yet of water services because being mountainous,
Speaker 2: you've also got some groundwater concerns now with the way
Speaker 2: that the flooding occurred. So even if you're on a well,
Speaker 2: the newest thing we're adding to our wish list or
Speaker 2: well water testing kits, we are begging people to test
Speaker 2: the water before you use it, because you don't know
Speaker 2: what has come into your water source now. And part
Speaker 2: of what we've received from our donations from around the country,
Speaker 2: and obviously I am just one of the many, many
Speaker 2: voices that has been a voice to cry out for
Speaker 2: western North Carolina. But the water that has come in
Speaker 2: has just been astonishing. We actually have had to hold
Speaker 2: some back in storage because there's nowhere else to put it.
Speaker 1: And what about you let me ask you this. We're
Speaker 1: talking about water. This is a comment from somebody on here. McGowan,
Speaker 1: a fan, thank you for that, says, make sure you
Speaker 1: have a gravity filter, a non electric distiller to make
Speaker 1: sure it's as pure as possible. I imagine that would
Speaker 1: really be a priority rather than bring in the water,
Speaker 1: bringing in something that's going to be able to you know,
Speaker 1: water filters that are gravity feed that don't have to
Speaker 1: have power. I'm sure that's on your list as well.
Speaker 2: Right well, yes, and we have folks that have sent
Speaker 2: us some very good explainer videos for how people can
Speaker 2: get those set up and what we're doing right now.
Speaker 2: We're in triage phase right now, and when you're in triage,
Speaker 2: it's palettes of water and how do we manage it
Speaker 2: for this moment. And as we get the systems in
Speaker 2: place and we figure out how to get people through roads,
Speaker 2: we have these I guess you could call them hillbilly
Speaker 2: road repairs where you have a bunch of guys that
Speaker 2: show up and put a road back together during the night,
Speaker 2: old school style. As we get those things fixed, then
Speaker 2: we can look at more of the bigger picture, because
Speaker 2: we have people that would like to take a shower,
Speaker 2: and so an item like those gravity filters is something
Speaker 2: that if you do it big enough and put it
Speaker 2: up a little bit, you can actually clean with it.
Speaker 2: And so there's we're still in triage phase. Is the
Speaker 2: hardest thing to explain to folks that we won't think
Speaker 2: to be fixed. Our whole society is and immediate gratification society.
Speaker 2: We want it fixed, we want it better. When we
Speaker 2: took up the generators, we took up some dehumidifiers because
Speaker 2: if you think about this, a lot of the houses
Speaker 2: have water intrusion. As somebody in real estate, I want
Speaker 2: to save those houses, so we have to get dehumidifiers in,
Speaker 2: get the moisture out so they don't wind up with
Speaker 2: the mold problem. When we invariably hit a little warm street,
Speaker 2: which is North Carolina, is going to do warm cold, warm, cold, warm,
Speaker 2: cold for a while, and we want to make sure
Speaker 2: these people's houses are still safe to live in. So yes,
Speaker 2: there's lots of things we can do. And for those
Speaker 2: of y'all that are curious, one of our best prepper
Speaker 2: communities that I've ever known is in one of the
Speaker 2: affected counties. Build doing pretty all right now. They've actually
Speaker 2: been able to take what they had prepared and they
Speaker 2: are helping their neighbors. In fact, one of my dear
Speaker 2: friends in that community was frustrated with the distribution, so
Speaker 2: she put a pop up tent in her yard and
Speaker 2: put out some supplies that we brought to her house
Speaker 2: just on the back of a trailer, and the neighbors
Speaker 2: all came right out and were served. And that's a
Speaker 2: blessing to be prepared enough that you can serve. And
Speaker 2: I don't know that we talk about that enough with
Speaker 2: people who are organically just taking care of the future
Speaker 2: and thinking ahead. It's not just a selfish desire to
Speaker 2: take care of yourself, but if you're taking care of
Speaker 2: you have the bandwidth to help other people. So just
Speaker 2: a reminder that prepping is not selfish.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, oh yeah, and it's not crazy either, as
Speaker 1: we see they like to treat that's a crazy thing.
Speaker 1: It's like, I'm sorry, We've seen too many things happen
Speaker 1: in the last few years for people everythink that prepping
Speaker 1: is crazy. It is crazy not to prep a question.
Speaker 1: This is from someone here, the people, they said, a
Speaker 1: lot of people. The government is already telling people they
Speaker 1: can't rebuild in certain places because it's not safe, says them.
Speaker 3: Sellers, is that something that you're seeing.
Speaker 1: Of course, Lee, you're a retail a realtor, and her
Speaker 1: website is Lee Sells and she spells her name l
Speaker 1: E I G. H. Lee Sells dot com will find
Speaker 1: information about this relief effort. But of course you can
Speaker 1: also find that at giftsen go and give sing go.
Speaker 1: You look for we love w INC for Western North Carolina,
Speaker 1: we love W and C. That'll give you that information.
Speaker 1: I'm sure probably link back to the other thing as well.
Speaker 1: But as a realtor, what are you hearing about that?
Speaker 1: Because that's been a concern of a lot of people.
Speaker 1: You know, we've got these situations with a couple of
Speaker 1: different minds, a very rare quartz mind, a big lithium
Speaker 1: mind that people didn't really want to see that come in.
Speaker 1: Are they going to shove people out? Are we hearing
Speaker 1: any of that kind of stuff?
Speaker 2: Well, it's a valid concern when we see what happened
Speaker 2: in Maui, and that's a situation that I don't think
Speaker 2: will ever be adequately explained, although a lot of us
Speaker 2: have our theories. North Carolina is fortunate, though, we have
Speaker 2: a very strong state constitution that is very much protective
Speaker 2: of private property rights. So when all of the when
Speaker 2: all of this stuff went down, The lithium vein that
Speaker 2: gets referenced runs from Ashville all the way down through
Speaker 2: Gaston County, and it's been there obviously since the Lord
Speaker 2: created it, but it became very valuable as we've moved
Speaker 2: more towards these electronic vehicles that are being forced on us,
Speaker 2: and that Gaston County is where we saw the first
Speaker 2: mining operations really kick in, and that's generally you've got
Speaker 2: a lot of black rock stakeholders. So there's a lot
Speaker 2: of I would say nefarious actors afoot. But this storm
Speaker 2: unless the cloud seating situation really is what happened, and
Speaker 2: even if it were, I don't know that the bad
Speaker 2: actors can get a hold of the land unless the
Speaker 2: property owners sell because our state constitution protects illegal takings
Speaker 2: by the government. And if something were to happen, it
Speaker 2: would be that a phone call comes into Bob from
Speaker 2: some little shyster investor who says, your land ain't worth
Speaker 2: then I'll give you cash, take it off your hands.
Speaker 2: So if our neighbors can't give in to bad sales pitches,
Speaker 2: then there could be some takings going on. But as
Speaker 2: of right now, and I talked to the Speaker of
Speaker 2: the House in North Carolina. He's a very he's a
Speaker 2: very savvy lawyer, and he told me there's no legislation
Speaker 2: needed at this point because the constitution is strong. But
Speaker 2: he did ask the real estate community to please get
Speaker 2: the word out to people. Don't sell cheap, don't give
Speaker 2: in to what you read on the internet, because that's
Speaker 2: the risk. The risk is that the chatter on x
Speaker 2: and Instagram and Facebook scares people enough that they go
Speaker 2: ahead and sell. I will point out there's a lot
Speaker 2: of chatter about a town hall meeting that happened in
Speaker 2: Chimney Rock that did not happen. That's in internet urban myth.
Speaker 2: And so it's important to be alert because our government
Speaker 2: is full of bad actors who do value money more
Speaker 2: than they value life because they serve the wrong God.
Speaker 2: And as we look at what they do on a
Speaker 2: general basis, it is possible to believe it. But in
Speaker 2: North Carolina, what I don't think they counted on at
Speaker 2: Black Rock is the absolute stubbornness of mountain people who
Speaker 2: are not going anywhere. And there was a lady that
Speaker 2: we spoke with on Sunday of last week and she
Speaker 2: had basically moved herself up under what was left of
Speaker 2: her lean to her house is pretty much gone and
Speaker 2: there's a flagpole in the yard. She said, I ain't
Speaker 2: going anywhere, and so we said, all right, we're going
Speaker 2: to get you. The heated tent that you can stay put.
Speaker 2: But you know, they might be thinking that the attitudes
Speaker 2: are more of the people they encounter in the ashvills,
Speaker 2: the urban areas that go to the breweries and our
Speaker 2: university kids. But mountain people are generational, hard scrabble folks.
Speaker 2: They're used to pulling a living out of very unforgiving land.
Speaker 2: They have made home sites mountain sides, and I think
Speaker 2: they're going to prove to be a tougher fell than
Speaker 2: anybody realizes.
Speaker 3: Good.
Speaker 1: Well, along those lines, what about insurance, because we're seeing
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff about how insurance companies are trying
Speaker 1: to weasel out of this kind of thing and what
Speaker 1: you know as a realatory. Again, what do you hear
Speaker 1: in terms of people dealing with their insurance companies.
Speaker 2: Well, now that is a concern because the property values
Speaker 2: have gone up so much since the COVID era started
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty, and for most people, if you owned
Speaker 2: a property and you had insurance on it, it's probably
Speaker 2: surely unlikely that you called the insurance company and said, hey,
Speaker 2: my property went up from two hundred and fifty thousand
Speaker 2: to five hundred thousand, please increase my coverage. Most people
Speaker 2: don't do that because they don't want to pay the
Speaker 2: increased premium. However, if you did not increase your coverage,
Speaker 2: then your insurance policy may be enforced and you may
Speaker 2: have paid on it dutifully. But if the value of
Speaker 2: your house exceeds the policy, that's not even the fault
Speaker 2: of the insurance company. That is the challenge of a
Speaker 2: rising market. And when you're in a home that's in
Speaker 2: good shape or you're selling it, you love the rising market.
Speaker 2: When you're buying, you hate the rising market. When you're
Speaker 2: a homeowner who's enjoying your three percent interest rate that
Speaker 2: you got seven years ago, it doesn't bother you until
Speaker 2: something like this hits. And so what I would say,
Speaker 2: is what we have been saying on the real estate
Speaker 2: side for some time, is please check your policies and
Speaker 2: make sure that you have the appropriate amount of coverage
Speaker 2: because what you paid two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
Speaker 2: for six years ago cannot be built for that now,
Speaker 2: even if you had the money. Labors high, materials are high,
Speaker 2: and the biggest cost we have is permits and regulations
Speaker 2: trying to get something built. So we should all be
Speaker 2: paying attention to our policies. Now that being said, if
Speaker 2: you are watching this or listening to this and you're
Speaker 2: in an affected area, don't tell the insurance company that
Speaker 2: you experienced a flood. You got to tell them it
Speaker 2: was high water and rain because you get covered if
Speaker 2: you don't use the word flood. And I'd also point
Speaker 2: this out, there's a lot of experts on the internet.
Speaker 2: I love Internet experts in the comments, and they keep
Speaker 2: telling us that these people should have had flood insurance. Really, really,
Speaker 2: you put a house on a mountain side. No, they
Speaker 2: didn't have blood insurance. And that's normal because again, we're
Speaker 2: in an inflationary environment where people are trying to pay
Speaker 2: the bills. They're not going to add on flood insurance
Speaker 2: for the side of a mountain where it's not necessary
Speaker 2: because you're not in a flood zone and you don't
Speaker 2: think it's ever going to happen. But I can't blame
Speaker 2: an insurance company for being nervous about a generational native generational.
Speaker 2: I think this is a it's a century long era
Speaker 2: we've been dealing with here. They can't anticipate it, and
Speaker 2: they're not made out of money either. The only crowd
Speaker 2: that's made out of money is the government who keeps
Speaker 2: printing it and taking it out of our pockets where
Speaker 2: nobody can afford anything. So that's a challenge too. But
Speaker 2: the other thing people don't know about flood insurance is
Speaker 2: even if you had it, even if you've got your
Speaker 2: claim approved, it's a max payout of two hundred and
Speaker 2: fifty thousand, and the way the markets have changed, that's
Speaker 2: not even going to buy you a nice double wide.
Speaker 2: When you consider all of the foundation things that have
Speaker 2: to be reset. We've got to redo deptic tanks. We're
Speaker 2: going to have to redo wells, We're going to have
Speaker 2: to redo water and sewer taps. If it's on the
Speaker 2: infrastructure lines, it's just it's going to be interesting. And
Speaker 2: I don't know what the answer is. But as I've
Speaker 2: said in the video a couple of days ago, I
Speaker 2: sure hope that the banks like JP Morgan and Bank
Speaker 2: of America, who make a lot of money off of homeowners,
Speaker 2: I hope they'll forgive these mortgages because I do worry
Speaker 2: about the people who no longer have a collateral. They
Speaker 2: have no house left, but they still have a mortgage.
Speaker 2: And so that's right. What's going to happen there. Are
Speaker 2: they going to get foreclosed on no house or is
Speaker 2: the bank going to forgive it? I don't know the answer,
Speaker 2: but I just it's what everybody has to do is
Speaker 2: pray for the affected people because they're going to need
Speaker 2: strength and resilience to process all of these things. While
Speaker 2: they find water and food, while they do without a
Speaker 2: hot shower in their house. And now they've got to
Speaker 2: think about mortgages for houses that don't exist, and it's
Speaker 2: it's untenable for a lot of people.
Speaker 1: So and then how do they work? You know, how
Speaker 1: they work? The roads are washed out? I mean, what
Speaker 1: happens to their income? That's the other part of it.
Speaker 2: Well, the stores are gone. A lot of our employers
Speaker 2: have lost their businesses. I mean, I look at my
Speaker 2: real estate people and we don't get a lot of
Speaker 2: sympathy because we have a terrible perception of us has
Speaker 2: been created by the mainstream media and by Hollywood. But
Speaker 2: I think most of your viewers and listeners, when you've
Speaker 2: engaged with the realtor, they're very hard working, thoughtful people.
Speaker 2: Well what are they going to sell? There's no inventory
Speaker 2: for them to sell. They live on commission and I've
Speaker 2: talked to several who are in a panic right now
Speaker 2: because they did have something under contract, but now the
Speaker 2: house has either gone or damaged. Buy or can't buy.
Speaker 2: A seller can't sell house isn't going to receive the loan.
Speaker 2: So you've got a whole profession that's out of work
Speaker 2: unless they relocate. Well, if a real estate agent relocates
Speaker 2: to work for me an hour away, I'd be glad
Speaker 2: to have them, but they don't know anybody where I am.
Speaker 2: In real estate's relationship based, and it's competitive, and then
Speaker 2: you have to learn a new county and you learn
Speaker 2: a new market, so it's challenge on top of challenge.
Speaker 2: But I'm hopeful that because North Carolina has had so
Speaker 2: many employers come in with Eli Lilly and Toyota and Boomsonic,
Speaker 2: that will see those new big employers rise up and
Speaker 2: making a concerted effort to provide employment to people, even
Speaker 2: if it's a one year contract, to give him a
Speaker 2: chance to get started again. It's so multifaceted, but I.
Speaker 3: Just thought about it.
Speaker 1: You know, how do you get to work and is
Speaker 1: the place that you worked at even still there? I
Speaker 1: mean that's.
Speaker 2: Because cars are gone. I think the car's flooded.
Speaker 3: Too, that's right, Yeah, no car.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I talked to a guy, so he's
Speaker 2: an asphalt trucker, and of course I told you trucks
Speaker 2: and trailers have come in from around the country. This
Speaker 2: wonderful gentleman has a new dump truck. He works for
Speaker 2: an asphalt company out of Tennessee, and it's one of
Speaker 2: our largest asphalt companies in the southeast. They got a
Speaker 2: bid to come fix some roads, but the main facility
Speaker 2: was gone because of the floods, and so this company
Speaker 2: received a bid. He lost fifty nine pieces of equipment.
Speaker 2: And then you have to ask yourself, my gracious, how
Speaker 2: crazy is the volume and force of the water that
Speaker 2: fifty nine pieces of asphalt lay in equipment could get destroyed.
Speaker 2: So I look at that, and in a normal time,
Speaker 2: he'd be glad to have that kind of job. That's
Speaker 2: a huge job. It's a huge bid. But here he
Speaker 2: gets a bid, no equipment to serve it, and even
Speaker 2: if he could, his men can't get to and from work.
Speaker 1: Right now, Well, yeah, it's going to be a real
Speaker 1: religious situation that the difference between a rain and a flood.
Speaker 1: You know, as you point out don't use the word flood,
Speaker 1: you know, use don't use the word flood. Yeah, rain
Speaker 1: and wind and everything, but they're going to say that
Speaker 1: it's a flood. That's where the fight is going to be.
Speaker 1: I can see that being really religious. So it's such
Speaker 1: a bad situation. And again it's important to have you
Speaker 1: on so people know this is an ongoing situation. It's
Speaker 1: going to go on for a very very long time
Speaker 1: as we're talking about all these different aspects that are here,
Speaker 1: but it's going to pass out of the news cycle.
Speaker 1: Everybody's going to get interested in politics and all the
Speaker 1: rest of the stuff, and there'll be another storm and
Speaker 1: another hurricane somewhere, just as we see. A lot of
Speaker 1: the tension was redirected away from North Carolina because of
Speaker 1: Milton coming in this line last week, and so that
Speaker 1: type of thing is going to be there. But the
Speaker 1: needs continue on there. And again if people want to
Speaker 1: help it is we love w NC as in western
Speaker 1: North Carolina. We love WNC at give Send go, And
Speaker 1: I guess there's links there to your page there under
Speaker 1: Lee Sales dot com. You've got a page and I
Speaker 1: guess you've got a link back to that from probably
Speaker 1: the easiest way for them to find it is going
Speaker 1: to gift, send go and look at we love w NC.
Speaker 1: It is so wonderful to see people helping other people
Speaker 1: and it's tragic that this has happened, but I think
Speaker 1: that is a silver lining that is there and it's
Speaker 1: important lesson for everybody to see throughout the country. And
Speaker 1: anything else that you would like to say, I mean,
Speaker 1: we've got a little bit more time. What would you
Speaker 1: like to stress to people?
Speaker 2: Well, one thing I would just like to say is
Speaker 2: that it was disturbing to me as somebody who read
Speaker 2: a lot, follow a lot of the information trails, and
Speaker 2: I didn't realize how deep the overall distrust is of
Speaker 2: not just our government, but of our traditional organizations like
Speaker 2: the Red Cross. I mean I watched the Red Cross
Speaker 2: drag their feet coming to town because they said it
Speaker 2: was too dangerous to get here. But then I saw
Speaker 2: the leaked emails from the current administration that said they
Speaker 2: were going to delay their response because it was not safe.
Speaker 2: So I wonder if the Red Cross was following the government,
Speaker 2: but that would explain why nobody trust them. And it's
Speaker 2: just it's a shame that we fall into that as
Speaker 2: a society that we no longer trust our government. I
Speaker 2: certainly don't trust big pharma. I don't trust the school system,
Speaker 2: as you mentioned in your piece before I came on,
Speaker 2: I don't trust most of these relief organizations. And I
Speaker 2: thought that by opening up chance for people to give
Speaker 2: me their donations, that I could fill my truck up
Speaker 2: with some supplies. I did not anticipate that so many
Speaker 2: people said, hey, lady, I saw on the internet in
Speaker 2: a video, you seem more trustworthy than big organizations and FEMA.
Speaker 2: And so when they've sent me these gifts, they've thanked me.
Speaker 2: They know that I'm directing the dollars to actual neighbors,
Speaker 2: and all of them have said, just please keep going
Speaker 2: around FEMA, because they understand that that's the speed is
Speaker 2: for the need. And it's encouraging and discouraging at the
Speaker 2: same time. But then I remember how much my grandmother, Oh,
Speaker 2: she longed for the end times, and I remind myself
Speaker 2: it's a privilege to get to live in them. And
Speaker 2: so all I can do is be a laborer in
Speaker 2: the harvest. And I'm grateful for everybody that's laboring, as
Speaker 2: well those that are doing the helicopter lifts and the
Speaker 2: ATV search and rescues and cutting logs to get people
Speaker 2: out of driveways, and you really do see the best
Speaker 2: in people. And hopefully we as a people will decide
Speaker 2: that we've had enough of the corrupt elites that diminish
Speaker 2: us and we will either put this to rights like
Speaker 2: happened with the people of Israel so long ago, or
Speaker 2: where God's gonna He's gonna have his way. So right,
Speaker 2: I hope everybody in the sound of my voice chooses
Speaker 2: Jesus and chooses to repent before you miss your chance.
Speaker 2: They have to talk that in there.
Speaker 3: Oh, absolutely, absolutely, yeah, And that's the key thing.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: It used to be that it was all about the community,
Speaker 1: about helping neighbors, and as you pointed out, we knew
Speaker 1: who needed help. So you know, once you institutionalize this stuff,
Speaker 1: what you're doing is you're institutionalizing and efficiencies and graft
Speaker 1: and corruption and that type of stuff. And it is
Speaker 1: at the point now where everybody sees these established institutions
Speaker 1: and we don't trust them. That's why it is so
Speaker 1: important for individuals like you to step up and to
Speaker 1: do the right thing. And and it is great to
Speaker 1: see that and You've gotten a good deal of support
Speaker 1: there on gifts and go and so again that it
Speaker 1: is we love w n C is how you can
Speaker 1: keep track of what is happening there, and we've been
Speaker 1: talking to Lee Brown. Thank you so much for what
Speaker 1: you're doing, for stepping up with that. Coming into that
Speaker 1: area truly is amazing, and I know that it is
Speaker 1: very challenging, but it's also very blessing to be able
Speaker 1: to help other people. We don't ever want to be
Speaker 1: in the situation where we need the help, but it
Speaker 1: is wonderful to be able to offer the help. And
Speaker 1: so thank you for what you're doing. Thank you for
Speaker 1: stepping up, and we really do appreciate the example that
Speaker 1: is being set there by all the people voluntarily stepping
Speaker 1: in and helping their neighbor. It's great to see that
Speaker 1: that has not died out in America. It hasn't been
Speaker 1: smothered by this massive bureaucracy of these corrupt institutions that
Speaker 1: we see both public and private. It's great to see
Speaker 1: people just stepping up on the spur of the moment
Speaker 1: and doing this type of thing. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for what you do. Appreciate it well.
Speaker 2: I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you to you and your
Speaker 2: listeners and viewers.
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you Lee. We're going to take a
Speaker 1: quick break, folks, and we will be right back.
Speaker 4: Stay with us, Liberty, it's your move.
Speaker 3: And now The David Night Show