(upbeat music) - [Narrator] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.

- This week on "Unspun," dealing with disaster.

Hurricane Helene is gone, but the once in a lifetime flooding is still with us.

The damage from Helene is heartbreaking and the rebuilding will take years here in North Carolina.

We'll talk about how politicians should prepare for a storm like Helene and how natural disasters can also damage a political career.

"Unspun" is next on PBS Charlotte.

(dramatic music) In today's America, welcome to the Spin Game.

Believe me, I know, I'm Pat McCrory.

When I was governor and mayor, I played the spin game, I was played by the spin game, but aren't we all done being spun?

Let's take the spin out of the world we're in, here on "Unspun".

(dramatic music) Good evening, I'm Pat McCrory and welcome to "Unspun", the show that tells you what politicians are thinking, but not saying.

You know, even in a swing state like North Carolina with a presidential election in the balance, some things are still bigger than politics.

- This is an unprecedented tragedy that requires an unprecedented response.

- That's our governor, Roy Cooper, talking about the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

And believe me, I've been there too.

Dealing with the disaster of a major storm is one of the most difficult, emotional and most important things that you face as president, governor of North Carolina, or as a mayor.

Putting politics aside and working side by side when people are at risk.

- People are desperate for help and we are pushing to get it to them.

A massive effort.

Many people are cut off because roads are impassable.

They don't have power or communications.

Restoring communications is critical to saving lives, finding out where people are and getting in supplies.

We're seeing progress, but we know the need is great.

- A disaster like Helene helps remind every politician that once you're elected, you're not just serving the voters who supported you, you're serving all the people.

You know, there's no Democrat or Republican way to rebuild a road that washes away or to open a shelter that provides food and a place to stay.

And when someone loses their home to a hurricane, they don't care what party you're in, as long as you're there to help.

Joining us now to talk more about the challenges of dealing with disasters is Sharon Decker.

She's North Carolina's former Secretary of Commerce, and also a former vice president with Duke Energy Company.

She's now the Chief Operating Officer at the Tryon Equestrian Center, and right now she's in the middle of a massive storm cleanup operation.

Sharon, it's great to see you during such difficult times.

First of all, tell us what's happening at the Tryon Equestrian Center that we don't know about on the news right now.

- So we very quickly shifted from a horse show to a command central for restoration efforts in this part of western North Carolina.

We're right here in the foothills, Pat, just about halfway between Charlotte and Asheville and Greenville, South Carolina.

So we're kind of sitting at the epicenter of all this horrific damage.

So we knew immediately that there was a lot that we could do 'cause we have accommodations here, we have a lot of flat land.

And so what's happened over the last four days is FEMA came in with their swift water rescue crews, actually the night before the storm hit, anticipating a lot of damage, and crews have continued to come since then.

They've been able to deploy from here to try to get into some of the hardest hit areas, to get through the water, to get through the mud, to find the people that have been able to survive this and to get people out of their homes and out of communities to safe places.

Now the North Carolina Emergency Management Group has put a field hospital here.

They have a very large operation that they've established so that we can helicopter in folks that they're now finding in the most western parts of the state.

The hospitals are full, some of the hospitals are not yet fully operating.

So we've become a central place now.

Tomorrow we'll open a distribution center for everything from water and food for humans to horse hay and feed and even distributing water and feed for chickens and goats and pigs, everything, the livestock that's in this area, Pat, the needs are just insurmountable.

It's unbelievable what's happened.

- I imagine one thing that's not being talked about that I had to deal with during the Eastern Hurricane Matthews was the loss of animals, from pigs to chickens, to horses to pets.

- This is a big agricultural area, as you know, governor.

And so there are dairy farms, there are hog farms, there are plenty of horses, there's so much livestock, and just being able to get clean water to them and to be able to get feed to them.

But I'll tell you, the world is responding.

We are getting contributions and we are getting lots of contributions of food, both for humans and for animals.

Folks who are gonna be serving here, free meals.

We've been opened up for meals since the very first day so that we could feed the emergency responders first and then reach out to the community to offer food for them.

And volunteers are coming from all over the country to help us execute on this.

- So one of the things that people don't think about is why the emergency rescue people are trying to help these people in desperate shape right now, who's taking care of the emergency workers?

And I think that's one of your responsibilities.

- That's exactly right.

So we began to house emergency workers immediately and we do provide food for them here, three meals a day, and they need a place they can get a good night's sleep.

We've been able to find beds for all of them so far.

We're getting ready to outfit a additional building that we have with cots and access to shower and bathrooms.

It won't be quite as comfortable, but we'll be able to house more people here because west of us, there are very few accommodations that are actually functioning yet, because many parts of Western North Carolina do not have water, don't have sewer, don't have electricity yet.

It's progressing, as you know, governor, it's hard for folks to understand how the electric system gets restored, but you've gotta start with large voltage recovery first.

So Duke actually lost several transmission lines in this part of the state.

So those have to be restored before you can then get to distribution lines.

But that's beginning to happen now, so the process continues.

So we got power again here on the site just yesterday, and we were very thankful to get it.

Even without power, we were able to use generators to be able to provide food and lodging.

And we're thankful we've been in a position to help.

- So there's a challenge for you, you want to help, but at the same time you've got a business to run and people on your payroll.

You've got horse shows and in fact you told me a story about you've gotta prepare for your business while at the same time taking care of people.

How are you doing both of those things and why the importance of that?

- Yeah, so a lot of prayer first.

Discernment in the decision process, because these are difficult decisions to make.

You know, one thing that happens in a storm like this, as you well know, is that jobs end, you know, and I think about how much of Western North Carolina is hospitality and tourism.

Those jobs are gone for now, because those businesses are not able to get tourists in and won't be for some time.

So I've been trying to weigh the careful balance of getting us back in business for the core horse shows, for the tourism that we support in this region.

And it's important because I've got over 200 employees here I need to keep employed and they need to keep contributing to the economy.

So it's so important as folks look at the recovery process to understand that while we're also meeting basic needs in the community, those who can work, we need to get back to work in businesses that can begin to operate, because the economy's gotta keep turning.

- How are your customers gonna get there and during these next several weeks as you wanna re-employ these people and get them paychecks?

Where are they gonna gonna come from?

Because they can't come from the west where the highway's in such dire straits.

- That's right, so we have housed some of our employees here with us in both places that had power and places that didn't have power, to say we'll give you a safe place to sleep if you can come back to work.

And you know, I'll have folks, Pat, that will be very critical.

"Well, it's all about y'all trying to get that business back up," you know, no business gonna make money in this environment.

What we hope to do is be able to keep people employed and help and helping them get paid.

And so getting these businesses back open is important.

And we're getting folks who are coming from South Carolina, who are coming from the east, from the Charlotte area, who are saying, "We can come help you to get back in order," and we'll be trying to help a lot of small businesses get the same kind of support so that we can get people back to work.

I'm considering things like now, what kind of businesses could we temporarily move on property that would allow people to get back in business, providing them some space to do that.

We're evaluating that with some local small business groups now to say, have you got businesses?

There are people down in the lobby of our hotel today who work remotely who can't work from their homes.

And we've said, "Come use the lobby of our hotel.

We've got internet and as long as you can work from there and be able to do your work, we wanna get you back to work."

And so I think folks are really appreciating that and I hope folks will keep that in mind as these recovery efforts continue.

- Sharon, as we end this interview, what's the question that's not being asked that needs to be asked that people maybe need to get out there right now?

- So I think there are two things, I think I'd say, governor, folks are telling me, you know, "We can't get in touch with folks.

We can't get a cell signal, you know, we can't reach 'em."

And I say, "Leave a message, leave a text."

My children evacuated here from Asheville on Sunday, and I have to tell you, it thrilled them.

It filled their hearts when they finally did get signal here at the Equestrian Center and they were getting, you know, message after message from people who had been trying to get in touch with them.

You just don't know what that encouragement means.

So if you know people in Western North Carolina, use what means you have and what means you think you may not have, be that a text or leaving a message on a phone call, because ultimately they will get it and they're gonna need that encouragement.

Secondly, I would say look online.

You can look online at our site, tryon.com, you can look at the Red Cross, you can look at Western North Carolina Counties and find places that you can send donations.

Governor, this is going to be a very, very long process.

So as things begin to open up again, give them your business, send a check of support so that folks can long term find success.

There won't be many short-term answers, but we're gonna need to be committed to stay in it for the long term, so come back to Western North Carolina when we open up.

- Sharon Decker, I'm proud of you.

You continue to be a great public servant.

- Thank you, Governor.

Appreciate it.

- Next up, PBS Charlotte's Jeff Sonier takes "Unspun" on the street, to hear from those still affected here in North Carolina by Hurricane Helene.

- Yeah, we start here in Gaston County, alongside the Catawba River and the South Fork River, where Helene's high water is finally receding and giving these riverfront towns a chance to clean up and to size up the damage.

(dramatic music) - I don't think I or anyone else living here expected to see what we saw, the devastation that we saw, except for those, I'm sure, who are close to the rushing water.

Just full of buildings and trash and floating boat houses and floating homes.

It just sort of takes your breath away.

I walked across the street to go check on a house that is a friend of mine's and the water was at least 10 feet up from where it should.

(dramatic music) - We live on the river going outta town.

So we kind of see both ends of it.

They started dropping the lake level a couple days ago, trying to keep ahead of the storm, but it just overran everything.

And it flooded at our place, maybe 25 feet over most of our property.

- Western North Carolina is one of the hardest hit areas.

- Yeah, folks have been really having a hard time connecting in places in the area like Swannanoa and Biltmore Village, which went completely underwater during when we did have the big floods.

Search and rescue missions are still going on, but it's been really hard because trees have fallen down, there's telephone wires everywhere.

You know, we have a really mountainous terrain out here, and so there's just a lot of roadblocks, both, you know, topography wise and communication wise that's stopping emergency responders from being able to get to people quickly.

(dramatic music) - I have crossed this actual bridge and water be bumping the bottom.

But as you can see, the main current took over and washed this road out.

I'm trying to get to my 91-year-old grandmother, just make sure she's okay.

Our little area and community, when you get the people like us, we work together.

We're not stepping over each other, we're not jumping lines to buy the last candy bar.

That's the way the world needs.

We need community back.

- Yeah, and what happens next along these swollen rivers kind of depends on when the aid starts flowing in from the cities and towns, from the counties, from Raleigh, and also from the federal government in Washington.

But in the meantime, the folks who live along these rivers and work along these rivers pretty much on their own.

Pat.

- Jeff, that's just heartbreaking to see, in our beautiful state such tragedy.

So what do you think about the issue?

Email us your comments on North Carolina's response to Hurricane Helene at wtvi.org, or even better, send us a video and we might use it on the air.

(dramatic music) Tonight on our "Unspun" countdown, we've got the top five things a political leader must do before, during, and after a natural disaster.

Let's start at number five.

Number five, which was very difficult to do during this terrible hurricane, and that is move the needed resources prior to an event.

The dilemma with this hurricane is there was only about 24 hour notice in order to prepare for this hurricane because no one anticipated this amount of water coming from Florida all the way up to North Carolina.

Number four, communicate, communicate, communicate.

The president, the governor, the mayor, emergency operations personnel have got to get as much communication to the people who are being harmed and also to the people that can provide help.

This is very difficult because the people who are in harm aren't hearing it, because they don't have any communications whatsoever.

They're in the dark.

So this is one of the biggest challenges of political leaders.

They do not see the press conferences, those people in danger, they are in the dark.

Number three, implement short term action and long term plans.

In other words, in the short term, you've gotta show action.

You've gotta get the resources out there as quick as possible.

Trucks, cars, generators, helicopters, you name it, you gotta get there quickly because people lives are at stake at this point in time.

But you also have to be prepared for long term plans during the recovery to make sure this doesn't happen again.

And it might require not having people located in the low floodplain areas, so this disaster doesn't cost future lives.

Number two, the most important, work as a team.

Politics means nothing.

You've gotta work as a team between the private, public, and nonprofit sectors.

You've gotta work between local, state, and federal government.

Everyone works together regardless of your position, regardless of your title.

It makes no difference, just do the work.

And number one, whatever you do, no politics.

No politics.

This is not a time for politics.

This is a time for action.

If you want to get involved in politics during this type of event when lives are at stake, get out of the way.

(dramatic music) PBS Charlotte's Jeff Sonier joins me now for "Unspun" one-on-one.

- Yeah, I wanna start with kind of a flashback to 2016 when you were governor, and it was Hurricane Matthew at the time.

I've got a clip here, let's take a look and then I'll ask you a question.

- It's been a team effort, but as the sunrise rises in North Carolina and the blue sky returns, our state is facing major destruction and sadly loss of life.

This storm is not over for North Carolina.

- It's a serious situation.

So you gotta portray that, but you also have to give people hope.

What's the tone you're trying to set as governor and how much work goes into those comments that you're making to the state in those moments?

- Probably at that time the staff wrote me comments, but those comments were from the heart, because there was such emotion.

I think at that point in time we'd probably lost over 20 people from drowning.

And it hits you emotionally.

It hits you emotionally.

So you've gotta show empathy.

You've gotta be realistic.

You've gotta talk with short term and long term.

You've gotta recognize this is not gonna be a day long event or a two day event or a three week event.

This is gonna be long term.

The media may go in the short term, but the problem's gonna be a long term issue.

The other thing that brings back memories is that the governor actually has an office in the operation center right near the North Carolina State Football Stadium.

And that's the third office I had as governor.

And it was very helpful because you didn't wanna leave the operation center during an emergency and go back to the governor's mansion.

You had to be there almost the whole time.

In fact, I had a cot there where I spent the night one time, on a cot and it's better to be there than away.

You have to get the most accurate information and then determine when do you communicate that information to the people of North Carolina and the nation.

- Yeah, there's, you know, the disaster we have right now in Asheville in particular, it's almost a disaster within a disaster.

There are different things that are in play within the city limits.

You were the mayor of Charlotte.

Talk about the differences between dealing with an Asheville situation right now versus in the rural areas around it.

- Well, in some ways it's the same problem, and the problem is this, you need your emergency operation and public safety personnel immediately on the job.

The dilemma is they have families who are going through the same problem.

They may have lost their house, they may have even lost a loved one.

They're out of water.

They don't have sewage, they don't have electricity or communication.

So in your plan, you've gotta go out and get them and help them first so they can help the entire community.

And this goes from police and fire, to ambulance to even sanitation workers.

I heard earlier this week in a press conference, people were asking, "When is the garbage gonna be picked up?"

Well, probably the challenge the mayor has, of Asheville, is we've gotta get to our sanitation workers.

And that's a major, major issue that most people don't think about.

- Yeah, the first responders are serving the victims, but they're victims as well, their families.

- Exactly.

- Yeah.

- Exactly, and everyone has a different situation.

Some of the operational people may live 40 or 50 miles away, some of them maybe can't get back into Asheville.

In fact, some cities have rules that if you're a police officer you have to live within the city limits just because of this reason.

- Yeah.

You were quoted in the "New York Times" this week talking about how a failed attempt to deal with the disaster can be a graveyard for a politician.

What are the mistakes that politicians make and why do they make them?

- Well, if you're a mayor or governor, you shouldn't leave town when disasters typically come to your region.

Like, you don't leave Chicago in the dead of winter.

You don't leave North Carolina during hurricane season and go to the Caribbean.

That's the biggest mistake you can make, is be caught somewhere else when the disaster is hitting your area.

And the second mistake is, you gotta show empathy and you've gotta communicate and you can't just show up when the media's there.

The best politicians and leaders are the ones who show up a month later when the cameras aren't there because the people are still suffering.

- Yeah.

I wanna go back to 2016 again, this is a same situation, but a couple of months after Matthews blew through the eastern part of the state.

Let's watch the clip and then I've got another question for you.

- During the last three months, North Carolina's citizens have experienced some of the worst natural disasters in our state's history.

The impact from these disasters will be felt for years to come, and that's why I'm calling our general assembly to a special session, requesting approximately $200 million to make sure we rebuild communities in a sustainable way so that future leaders and families won't be faced with the same destruction when the next disaster strikes our state.

- You hate to think about the next disaster, but there's always- - That brings emotions.

I know those towns extremely well and I'm sure as the governor and president fly over these areas, that were going to these areas.

In fact, I went on the ground to some of those areas and set up an operation center in a funeral home because it was the highest place in that town.

And I remember cities like Princeville that were totally wiped out, very similar to what you're seeing in Chimney Rock at this point in time.

You gotta give them hope.

And what's amazing to me is the people that are impacted the most tend to be the strongest and have the most resilience, and they give you strength and all the other emergency operations people strength.

And that's where the emotion comes in, is that, "How can I complain about doing this when they've lost everything?"

And you could see by those videos, and some of that was Lumberton area, some of it was Princeville.

I imagine some of those people are still hurting, eight years later.

- You know, for a governor that's dealing with these people on a daily basis.

You know, you can feel when it's the right time and the wrong time to go visit.

But you know, the president is in North Carolina this week.

Donald Trump, former president, was in Georgia visiting with storm damage victims.

When is the right time to come and the wrong time to come?

How do you walk that fine line between politics and being a hindrance to the response?

- I don't know if it's necessarily politics.

It can become politics and that's what it should not.

It's good for the leaders to show that they care.

And if you don't go, you'll get criticized for not going.

But if you do go, stay the heck out of the way and don't require all the security that you usually require.

Make it quick, make it simple.

Thank everyone, hug everyone, show them you care, and then get the people back to work.

And you go back to your job looking at the big operation of what needs to be done and where the gaps are.

And then afterwards someone will do an evaluation.

Did you do your job and did your team do your job?

But that comes much, much after the disaster ends.

- You know, those folks in North Carolina aren't thinking about the election right now.

They're thinking about survival.

How does this affect this coming election?

'Cause we play a key role in what happens on election night.

- Oh, it could well affect the election and, you know, North Carolina's election is basically dead even.

In the western part of the state, from a partisan standpoint, you got Asheville that's totally blue, the rural area's totally red, but who cares at this point in time?

These people don't care, and you've gotta remember, they're still searching for bodies.

And that could go for a long time at this point in time, the search, searching for people and still recovery.

There are small towns in the mountain areas, which is even more difficult access than Eastern North Carolina.

It's tough for helicopters to get to.

It's tough for emergency personnel, 'cause the bridges are gone.

You got the trees and the forest.

The thing that scares me the most is in the small back roads where you have a lot of people living in mobile homes and the only flat areas are those areas next to creeks.

And these are thousands upon thousands of people, snuck into the North Carolina mountains.

They're very resilient people, but they can be stubborn too.

And I'm afraid some of them didn't leave and they're hanging on for dear life and we need to help 'em.

- Yeah, well thank you, governor, for the insight in how to get that help from the state, from the government and also from the volunteers and business groups.

It's a team effort and it's a big team.

- Yeah, and the private sector is as important as the public sector with phones, with the Verizons of the world and with the water, with the electricity.

If you don't have that, you don't have communications either.

- Thank you, Governor.

That's this week's one-on-one.

(dramatic music) - At City Hall and the governor's mansion, my toughest opponent wasn't the candidate I was running against or the other party trying to make me look bad.

It was Mother Nature, because whether it's a hurricane or a winter storm, a hundred year flood or a drought, nobody gets to debate with Mother Nature.

You can't stop what's coming.

You can only deal with it once it finally gets here.

When I worked at Duke Energy, I had some experience in crisis management and that helped a lot when I was Charlotte Mayor.

So when I became governor, I didn't think I needed any more special training.

Boy, was I wrong.

My emergency director, Mike Sprayberry, demanded I go through a crisis simulation before having to deal with the real thing, which turned out to be three major natural disasters during my four years in office.

One big lesson I learned was about teamwork.

Making sure everybody knows their roles and responsibilities before the disaster hits.

Otherwise your response could become a disaster too.

I also learned that a crisis brings out the best in us, our best people doing their best work, under the worst of circumstances.

No politics, no turf, no blame or bureaucracy, just government and the private sector working together and getting the job done.

So two quick questions.

Why can't government work that way every day instead of just during a crisis?

And why don't we ask candidates how they're prepared for the next crisis before Mother Nature answers that question for us.

That's the reality as I see it.

I hope you'll come back next week as we explore the politics of voting.

Ballots by mail, early voting, voter IDs.

They're not just affecting when we vote, they're also affecting how we vote and they're changing how candidates campaign.

That's on our next "Unspun", where we'll tell you what politicians are thinking but not saying.

Goodnight folks.

(dramatic music) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] A production of PBS Charlotte.