Day 17 of the Apocalypse, ground Zero, Gerton, NC, pop. 231

Our next-door neighbor Kate, who is a chainsaw specialist, has been leading recovery teams in our community for 2 weeks+. A few days ago she led a crew in clearing 200 trees off the road that goes to our friends Stan and Dave’s house.

This is one of the roads we were most concerned about, as it was taking Stan and Dave two hours to walk to the Fire Station, in what is normally a 20 minute trip.

The poplar trees on their property are some of the largest that have needed to be cleared in our community. We think there may have been a micro-burst of the hurricane directly over their property due to the extensive damage.

I’ve attached a photo Kate took of our friend and neighbor Bud, a 69-year-old general contractor, scaling one of the poplars to cut it. Note that he cut steps in the poplar in order to climb it and that an excavator is holding the tree in place to relieve pressure, and assist with safety for this very technical cut.

There are many more trees like this in our community that still need to be cut down by skilled sawyers (not just volunteers with chainsaws).