Christopher Morrison is the Field Operations Delivery Lead at Augury. He narrowly escaped the aftermath of Hurricane Helena after driving from a site survey in New London, North Carolina. And thanks to his work kit – a mobile power supply and an Augury router – he made it home to his wife and child. There’s a lesson here: you never know what’s around the next corner…
Friday, October 7, 2024
I just completed site surveys of two sites of 210 machines in New London, North Carolina. I start to make my way home to Dunlap, Tennessee. The roads are not too crazy as I began my journey at dawn. I go down the 26 freeway, and it abruptly stops. I don’t mean we are creeping down the highway at one mph; I mean fully stopped. And it stops for about an hour and a half.
“But the third roadblock is the most frightening: draped power lines over the road like a spiderweb.”
At 1:30 pm, the highway starts moving, and I see we are all getting off at the next exit. My cell phone now has no signal, and I am working off of offline Waze for navigation. After I exit and start to drive, I run into three roadblocks of three different types. The first is four monster trees that fell and broke the pavement: making it uncrossable. The second road has a freaking river going across it, and a 1990s model Chevy 1500 is stuck in the water three-quarters of the way across (meanwhile, my Audi A4 is not precisely an offroad vehicle). But the third roadblock is the most frightening: draped power lines over the road like a spiderweb.
I somehow return to a small town (Asheville) and get a room for the night since all the roads are impassable. The hotel has no water, no signal, and no power. And I am on the third floor. It’s very musty, with no airflow or sound in my room (my ears ring like crazy). I have had no food that day. The local gas station is cash-only (for food, the gas cannot be pumped due to no power). Then I discover I broke my father’s golden traveling rule: “Always carry a hundred bucks in small bills for emergencies.”
“Then I discover I broke my father’s golden traveling rule: ‘Always carry a hundred bucks in small bills for emergencies.'”
Saturday, October 8, 2024
I wake up at dawn, and on autopilot, I get in the car, move down the newly opened 26, and hop onto the 40. There is no way to know that the 40 freeway was washed out and not there anymore. I U-turn back to the closest town (Canton) to find a place to wait until cell service and power were back up. On that trip, though, I gain two bars of service in Maggie Valley and first phone my wife. Then I let my manager know that due to the circumstances, I might be late to Dallas on Monday. He says okay since there’s nothing he can do.
I find a hotel in Canton and got a room. This hotel has water but still no power or cell service. I move my gear into the room and sit to think for about 20 minutes. I look at my bag and think, ‘Hey, at least I can charge my phone with my mobile power supply for powering routers… WAIT!’ I run to the lobby and make a challenge to the front desk (I didn’t have to, but making a challenge public is a motivating factor).
“One bar!!! Yes! I run to my room, grab my portable power supply and Augury router, set it up right where I am sitting, and use Wi-Fi to call and let my wife know I found a hotel and a safe place.”
When doing site surveys and installs for my job, I constantly look for signals. I walk the property and adjoining properties, searching for at least one bar. I am frustrated when I can’t locate the signal, so I sit by the pool and look at my phone… One bar!!! Yes! I run to my room, grab my portable power supply and Augury router, set it up right where I am sitting, and use Wi-Fi to call and let my wife know I found a hotel and a safe place.
I can’t tell you how the faces looked when my phone starts dialing. The whole hotel stares at me as I talk to my wife on the phone. After I give her the update, I ask if anyone else would like to check in with their families. They do, and the sad part is the people calling loved ones in the area: I have to let them know that just because you have a signal doesn’t mean they do too. Some guests are successful, and some aren’t.
“He is in the same position as me: no cash or gas. I offer the sandwich to his wife and child and she grabs it from me with a quickness.”
It’s 2.30 pm, and my stomach is hurting pretty bad. I am outside, being a dirty cigarette smoker, and see the owner of the hotel. I see he was an Indian man, and I start to speak Hindi to him; he smiles and quickly grabs his wife to talk to me as well. During the conversation, he asks if I wanted a sandwich. Hell, yes, I do. He gives me the sandwich, and I look at it for a few seconds and think about one of the families I met at the hotel when I first arrived. The man is a gov auditor and Afghanistan veteran who has his wife and special-needs child with him. He is in the same position as me: no cash or gas. I offer the sandwich to his wife and child and she grabs it from me with a quickness.
Then, I walk back to where I was standing, and another hotel guest saw the whole thing go down, and he gives me a hot Polish Sausage and two pieces of white bread. I devour it and feel a rush of energy. One of the hotel guests comes and says that in the next town over, they have a gas station that takes only cash, a Publix with internet, and an ATM. I take the risk (gas was at 30 miles). We find the Publix, and they do have emergency power, but still no signal. That means no ATM and no gas.
We make the trip back to the hotel. We don’t have navigation and get directions from a parallel car on the road at 35 miles an hour (crazy). When I pull into the hotel parking lot, the gauge says five miles until empty. Now, you can talk about getting defeated and feeling hopeless. I wait until darkness to hit the rack. At about 10 pm, the lights come on! Yes! I get a knock on the door from the Afghanistan veteran telling me that the gas station across the street has gas. I ask if it was cash-only, and he says yes. I thanked him and went to sleep.
“I can’t describe the feeling when the card works and the gas starts pumping. One hundred thousand pounds are lifted off me, and I can breathe again!”
Sunday, October 9, 2024
I wake up at dawn, set up the router, and call my wife. She was planning on getting 30 gallons of gas and coming to rescue me with her friend. I tell her to stand by and let me check the situation. When I leave the hotel, I see a man getting kerosene for his truck! Good sign! I ask the man, half-motivated, if it was still cash-only. He said, “Nope, used my card.” Running, and I mean running, to the car and got in the gas line. I can’t describe the feeling when the card works and the gas starts pumping. One hundred thousand pounds are lifted off me, and I can breathe again!
After filling up, I use the router to call my wife (the cell signal is still down, and I don’t know how the gas station trick worked). My wife, being the navigator she is, gives me my route home. Once again, I use the router to Google map my route home. I get on the 74 and take off. After Canton, the roads are not too terrible, but for 100 miles, I have no cellular service and see a hundred abandoned cars on the road. After a short 4½ hour drive, I’m home in my house hugging my wife and son. I am so grateful.
“Are you still alive?”
Without my power supply and router, I wouldn’t have been able to communicate or charge my phone. I am fortunate to have escaped the destruction. Some are less lucky. The radio was right: the destruction was of biblical proportions, and it was overall a terrifying experience.
When people at the hotel broke down and started to lose it, I kept asking them, “Are you still alive?” It shakes them into thinking, “Yes, I am, and I am grateful to be here.”
Please donate to the Hurricane Helena relief effort. Take care of each other and stay motivated.
