In this vlog, Victor Justin Rhodes (Speaker A) documents his family’s real‑time response to the extreme rain and flooding caused by Hurricane Helene on their farm. The video opens with a warning that the storm’s severity exceeded any preparation they could have made, noting that the rainfall levels haven’t been seen since the 1700s. The family observes massive runoff from the nearby mountain, an overflowing silt pond, a clogged culvert, and a creek forming across their driveway and bridge. They improvise flood‑mitigation actions: digging, damming the silt pond overflow, placing rocks, clearing debris, and considering larger culvert installations. Throughout the chaos they tend to livestock (sheep, cows, dogs, and smaller animals), manage daily chores (milking, canning tomatoes, cooking), and maintain a sense of normalcy with meals and family banter. The vlog also showcases the use of an Insta360 waterproof camera to capture angles unavailable to the main camera. By the end, water levels recede slightly, the bridge stabilizes, and the family reflects on what worked, what didn’t, and hopes for a manageable rain tomorrow.
Chapters
What you're about to see is us preparing for the hurricane. There is nothing we could have done to prepare for what really happened, so please know that. And there, you know, hindsight is 20/20. So much rain came. We're all okay, the house is okay, but so much rain came. We haven't seen this since the 1700s. We couldn't have prepared. We fared well considerably. But much of the lower farm is destroyed, including some of the animals, some of the smaller animals and whatnot. So just know that as we prepare. And tomorrow's video, Friday, we start with hurricane action, live coverage, or, you know, real, real reality coverage coming out. So thank you for your attention during this time. We love and appreciate you. Enjoy the show. Hurricane rains came early. It's been pouring all night. We have a gush coming down our parking lot. Where is that water coming from? Literally accumulates right there. Really? That's just coming off the mountain? Literally just comes off. We're gonna go double check. Winnie, they're eating your dog food. They're eating your food, girl. You want to go up top? From here, first time filming the farm with the Insta360. It says it's waterproof. We'll see. And this should be able to get some angles I can't get with the main camera because it's raining. But Josiah dug out right there. Let's see how the bridge is doing. Well, we're on the bridge, so wait till the lake fills up. It's not overflowing. Okay, our water coming down our driveway, it's going in just like I cleared it nicely. Oh my gosh, yeah, I'm afraid that might fill up. Pretty sure this is only going to get worse because it's going to rain at least 24 more hours. All right, you got your drain unclogged and it's, it's draining nicely. Why do we have a creek coming down our Driveway. We're literally driving through a creek. Oh, the silt pond's overflowing. Oh my gosh. Okay, Jonah, we gotta dam this up. The silt pond has filled up, is overflowing, and it's birthed it out of the overflow. We just gotta dam it up right here. This is so much rain. Culvert pipe is full speed. We need to put in a bigger culvert pipe. What is this? I've never seen this coming off the mountain. Oh my gosh, Jonah, just to flow off the mountain. I've never seen those run. This is just where the mountains converge like that, and it's just, it's just the runoff from the mountain. Let's go get some shovels. Put the big rock right there. Yeah, we'll have to do more than that. I think we put a rock over— that did nothing. There's a literal creek going down to our driveway. Checking out the neighbor's lake, which is just above us, filling up. They have it in drain mode, but they don't drain when it rains like this. Definitely be full soon. What is that, 6 inches of rain overnight? Sheep party. Looks like we might need another sheep shawl. Go get under there, guys. Hey, which by the way, the sheep will be just fine in this. They just prefer to stay out of it. Cows, I don't even think prefer to stay out of it. They don't care. See, look at the cows. Blaze, he'd rather stay dry. Cows have the option, they don't care. All right, let's cut to 360. Did everybody about the milkers over. I'll spot you while you fill up both containers. Hey, hey, you stop that! Come on, this is nice in this rain gear, except you can't hear. We are back from chores. It just started pouring rain. It was kind of getting slower and I was thinking this is over, and then it wasn't. Hey, Josiah got the little animal chores this week. Lucky dog. Look at this. What's the occasion? Just you guys being out there. I'll take it. Sausage, fried apples. Looks like you're gonna can tomatoes. I gotta know what this is. It's a sheet pancake. A sheet pancake? You like a sheet pancake? Nope. You like a sheet pancake? Yay! You're not waiting on nobody. A few moments later. Breakfast was a hit. Taco Tuesday tonight, even though it's Thursday. How's the tomato? Cannon going. Did pretty good. I can't believe we got 7 more. 6. 6 more. We're gonna have one more run. Oh, that's tough to say. Yeah, look at this view. I could keep an eye on things. I can get some work done and hear the kids. This one peed in the potty. Mom and Lily prepping dinner. I can even see outside a little bit what's going on. Oh good, the bridge had gotten a little crazy, but it's decreasing now. Let's go. Did the stuff we do help? Or not. And how's everything going? What you making us for tonight, babe? We're gonna do hobo pockets. Oh, hobo pockets. We're really getting creative with our ground beef because we probably literally have 600 pounds of ground beef. Would you like to go with me to look at the floods? Happy cooking, everybody. Let's go. Where's Salma? They always took off. Oh my gosh, let's go see if— how badly the bridge is flooding. This is going to be tricky without Salma. Okay, I'm gonna take 2 kids, camera, you guys. I'm gonna have to unlock y'all, get you off these tripods. All right, here we go, let's try this. All right, here we go. I'm not gonna hold the umbrella in my right hand. There we go, I think we got it. That's normally just ankle deep. Look how wide the creek is. There's nothing we could have done to the bridge, and it's sort of maintaining at a little above the— yeah, get all those sticks out and get that pipe out while we can. This will block debris from going down, and that will flood this bridge. That's Grandma's road, so it needs— it's very important that it stay clear in case she needs something with her ALS. I got to use that way. You want to go that way? Let's go see how the grate is doing, and let's go see how above the pond is doing. The grate at the bottom of the hill working fantastic. Let's check the pond. Oh, basically stopped. There was a creek coming down there. Let's go check our dam. It's hard holding you in the umbrella, Henry. The water's actually receded a little bit. There is no water heading down the hill from this dam. Any water that's down there is from natural runoff, but unfortunately It's gonna rain all tonight and tomorrow. Hopefully it stays at this slow rain pace. All right, let's go check out the neighbor. His bridge was close to overflowing. Overflowed, unfortunately. That's too bad. Doesn't look terribly destructive though. Let's go eat some Hobo Pockets. How'd it turn out, Beck? It's a good one. Rain or shine, happy day. Hopefully we're not drowned tomorrow. We'll see.
