Hello, everyone, and welcome to a special episode of getting hammered.

We don't usually do guests and straight news reports.

However, I felt like this story was getting overlooked.

So a little intro to my interview with Matt Van Swal,

who is a Western North Carolina citizen from a small town outside of Asheville,

who's been on the ground doing work there.

Just to preface it, I'll give you guys a readout

on where Western North Carolina is right now.

In late September of 2024, Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida.

You guys remember that.

But it did most of its damage biblical in scale in Western North Carolina.

Historic flooding affected 30-plus counties.

It wiped out entire towns, infrastructures, devastating Swananoa, Canton, chimney rock, spruce pine, parts of Asheville, among many others.

The North Carolina State Climate Office at NC State University reported at one point from a weather station in a state park,

24.4 inches of rainfall during the storm. Just insane stuff. There are 104 dead on the official list,

though that number is somewhat in doubt because of the chaos in the area, which was without

power, cell, internet service for sometimes weeks after the storm, making rescue, recovery,

reporting, very difficult. You don't hear much about it in national media.

I kept waiting for major news anchors to be in their waiters in the water there, and I just

didn't see them.

But the situation remains dire for many families in this affected region four months later.

Civilians and nonprofit agencies report that they've been filling

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