As officials deploy helicopters and high-water response vehicles to aid North Carolina communities devastated by Hurricane Helene , mules are being used to reach otherwise inaccessible areas.
Volunteers on mules are transporting essentials like food, water and insulin to Helene victims in mountainous parts of western North Carolina. All roads in western North Carolina are declared closed to all non-emergency travel by the NC Emergency Management due to the extensive damage.
Mules hauled food and supplies to the Buncombe County town of Black Mountain on Tuesday, Mountain Mule Packers wrote on Facebook. The organization said volunteers would head toward Swannanoa, where homes have been flattened and roads are impassable.
“They have had many roles in their careers, from hauling camping gear and fresh hunt, pulling wagons and farm equipment; to serving in training the best of the very best of our military special forces, carrying weapons, medical supplies, and even wounded soldiers,” Mountain Mule Packers wrote.