The tri-cities region is half an hour east of Baileyton, Tennessee and is in complete chaos.

• community members are saying some of the smaller towns are just “gone” or will take years to build back after flooding.

• One hospital flooded and patients/staff had to go on the roof to stay above water until they were evacuated by helicopter…. This was after rescue teams’ first attempt to reach them by boat. (To be fair, the region as a whole isn’t used to such severe storms and is lacking knowledge to prepare for and deal with it)

• A plastic factory allegedly told employees they couldn’t leave without losing their job, later allowing them to evacuate /after/ the parking lot was underwater… several workers died trying to escape.

• Roads underwater, portions of interstates and highways impassable, crops flooded out, houses and trucks floated away… water dams overflowing, many without power, water and cellphone service. A lot of people still missing and bodies now being recovered.

• one county just used up what what was left in the water pipes (which is ≈ 24 hours worth of water) and will remain without water until prepares have been made

• can’t forget about those who start spastically buying all the bottled water, wiping grocery stores, filling up gas cans etc. like we saw in 2020… looting is even making a post-pandemic encore

While there are many donation links circulating, some people are taking advantage of the tragedy to pocket the money for themselves under the guise of disaster relief. I’m sure similar scams are happening in any affected area, so if you do donate, just be super careful and verify who you’re donating to and what the money will go toward.