How do community leaders provide vital updates when the power is down and cellphone service is out? One North Carolina town devastated by Hurricane Helene has brought back a decidedly low-tech solution: the town meeting.
How do community leaders provide vital updates when the power is down and cellphone service is out? One North Carolina town devastated by Hurricane Helene has brought back a decidedly low-tech solution: the town meeting.
Residents in Black Mountain, North Carolina, about 12 miles east of Asheville, have pitched in to make signs alerting their neighbors to the daily gatherings, using posters, markers, wooden boards, spray paint and anything else they can get their hands on. It’s working: About 1,000 people are turning out for daily updates in the town square.
Spotty phone service is just one of the many problems facing western North Carolina and the surrounding region, where floods and landslides turned some communities into rubble. Blocked roads have left people isolated and forced them to fend for themselves. In many places, the National Guard has had to use helicopters to get food and water to residents.
But the disrupted lines of communication have compounded those difficulties, making it hard for relief workers to know where people are and what they need. Being cut off from the modern world has also left many residents feeling frustrated and alone.
