Help Tom Lemons and R News Recover from Hurricane Helene

Catastrophe

On Thursday evening, after covering Hurricane Helene from Hernando Beach, I made my way to a location in Aripeka to check tide levels at an acquaintance’s residence. It was still well-below the sea wall, but that didn’t last long.

We stepped inside his residence for a short time to discuss his evacuation, but minutes later, a female who was also visiting, noticed water flooding under her feet. By that time it was too late.

I rushed out to try and move my car but the water was already inside my vehicle. I returned inside the residence to help them try to save what they could but within 30 minutes the water was up to our chest and still rising.

Eventually, we lost power and phone service. The only thing we could do was wait and hope the surge would level off, but it did not.

With contaminated water now up to our necks and rats swimming around us, we decided to swim outside and climb onto the roof. Thankfully, after a few hours, the water finally stopped rising just a few feet below the roofline.

After several hours the water began subsiding and we could begin accessing the damage. Unfortunately, my friend and countless neighbors lost everything they owned.

In light of the catastrophic events that destroyed my vehicle, all my electronics, including my phone, R News will need some time to recover. We hope that will only be a matter of days.

For the time being, we are unable to respond to messages or publish news until our equipment has been replaced.

This is what makes being an Independent news outlet so difficult. There is no big corporate backing to help us make a fast recovery. I chose this path to deliver news that is unadulterated and not controlled by government. This is all part of the risk.

We will be back, so please be patient.

please make a donation If you would like to help expedite our recovery.

Thank you for your support.

Tom Lemons

Hudson, Florida