How it ought to work Thousands of people, government agencies, military, and private volunteers, responded to Hurricane Helene’s devastation in western North Carolina. Don’t let the People of the Lie tell you otherwise. The official death count here is mounting. Our county sheriff reports over 70 so far. Search and rescue teams expect to find more victims among the tangles of branches and debris left behind by the flooding. Neighbors helping neighbors Not only is the military here, but an army of volunteers. Drew Reisinger, Buncombe County Register of Deeds, turned his office into a relief center for coordinating welfare checks on thousands of people unaccounted for (mostly because of lack of cell service, thankfully). Many of those processing incoming reports worked remotely. Everyone has heard that Asheville’s drinking water system will be down for weeks, so they’re sending in cases of bottled water. And cases. And cases. And cases. Thank you. What they’re missing is you can’t flush your toilet (or bathe) with bottled water. (The city’s waste treatment plant never went offline.) So for the elderly and less mobile, another immediate need is water for flushing. These volunteers responded. Family Assistance Center Oct. 6 – Final Summary 2,685 volunteers — managed by a team of hundreds of volunteers — through the Family Assistance Center at the Buncombe Co. Register of Deeds deployed to check and re-check 15,982 high priority households with 10,000+ care packages distributed and 4,413 toilets flushed. 13,049 of our neighbors confirmed safe and sound by…