I’m scheduled for a sit in Asheville in Oct. I’ve not been able to reach the HO. Is it reasonable/acceptable to cancel a sit given the catastrophic devestation there at this time?
When is the sit? I think giving a little grace on response time isn’t out of line given the situation. They likely have more going on that takes precedence.
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It is to be the last 2 weeks of Oct. I’m sure many roads and utilities will be restored by then, but I’m hesitant to go now as the area is in a disaster situation now with limited resources.
Edited to remove the exact listing dates as per the Terms of Service.
I would think it would be understandable to not want to go to the area.
In addition I believe there are mandatory evacuation (?) in certain areas? In that case are you even allowed or adviced to go there?
If needed you can get local advice, maybe here?
@cricket - I’d reach out to the HO and give it a bit of time. They may have come through okay or not, but at least try to contact them to see what is going on. They may be overwhelmed. And ask them what the situation is for services and such.
I’ve been watching what is happening in western NC from the eastern side. The area around Asheville/Hendersonville seems to be one of those places that has relatively many sits available. I’ve done 3 or 4 in the area.
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I just read this article which discusses that some Asheville residents won’t have water for weeks.
Asheville Water Situation Dire
I’d definitely not want to be heading to that area for a sit, but I’d also give the HO a day or two before canceling so you can hopefully reach them. It sounds like they may not currently have power, cell signal, or electricity.
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I have many journalist friends from when I worked in news. A friend posted this on Facebook today, while on assignment.
Note: Starlink is satellite internet, which most people don’t have.
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Yes, thank you.
Thank you.
Another vote for giving the HO a bit of grace. The impact of Helene has been vast and you never know how the HO has been impacted. If they experienced a loss, injuries, or catastrophic damage, the last thing on their minds is communicating with anyone but those in their immediate circles or addressing things unnecessary for their safety and daily needs.
Obviously I don’t know the impact of the hurricane on their lives/home, but if ever there was a time for your patience, now is it. I hope that they’re safe and that a good conclusion for all is reached.
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Thank you. I will certainly wait until I can speak to the HO. My concern is that he HO will downplay the seriousness of the situation so as to make sure he can still do his trip.
Thank you! I think it’s best I cancel, but I feel horrible doing so for the HO.
I would say - can one seriously expect someone to come and spend time with a pet under the circumstances? Would you want to leave your pet there with someone who is just a petsitter and unknown with the area and circumstances - possibly in a house without water/ el./ internet and go away?
Although one can want to give host grace in regard to not answering, which I support, I can’t really see how it is advisable to go through with the sit. I would think the result would be the same whether one was able to get in touch now or not. (If it had been my home I would have wanted to cancel my trip and take care of my property.) So I would think - what are the options? Is it an alternative that you will go through with the sit? Or will giving «grace» just mean that one postphone the decision of cancelling?
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I agree-I don’t expect to hear from him anytime soon. I will wait and give him space to figure things out!
You do bring up a good point in that as someone coming in from another city/state, I’m not familiar with the area resources and this of course would be especially worrisome in this catastrophic disaster while the area residents are trying to survive themselves and rebuild.
This morning public radio did about half-hour on the situation in and around Asheville and it is very severe. Issues with clean water and power even if a home isn’t in the flood zone. Link to the recording of the broadcast -The latest from Western North Carolina where Helene has caused 'biblical devastation' | WUNC
And a story from the Asheville newspaper published within the last 2 hours including a general area map. Asheville, NC, flooding map shows how much rain from Helene
Thought I’d attach some pics I took driving home from a sit last spring in western NC south of Asheville. This is Lake Lure a small town on the lake. When a new bridge was built in 2011 the community turned the 1925 bridge into a garden - the Lake Lure Flowering Bridge - the community maintains it. The pictures I’ve seen online are that this is all gone and the town is underwater.
Thank you! I will listen to this.
Wanting to cancel is totally understandable and it may be totally necessary depending on where they live exactly. It’s a tough spot not being able to get in touch with him, but if you think you can hold out on altering your plans for at least a couple of days, it could be good to wait and see if you hear back.
My husband and I were housesitting in Asheville and the surrounding area for 5 weeks and our last sit finished several days before the storm and we left to go to the other side of the state to visit family and do a sit in Wilmington that we had booked a couple of weeks prior. Seeing the damage to so many places we had just stayed was crazy and we feel very lucky–if we hadn’t decided to go visit family we probably would have remained in the area since we were enjoying it so much.
I have checked in with all the people we were sitting for. I have heard back from two of them. One had no damage to their home while another had two huge oak trees fall on their house–luckily they and their animals were okay.
One said this is ‘more destruction than I have ever seen’ while the other said ‘the area is devastated and words cannot adequately describe.’
One of them mentioned they still don’t have power, so your host may not either, nor cell service perhaps.
Good luck!
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Thank you for your insight. This is all so heartbreaking.
@cricket have you tried member services ? They usually have alternative phone numbers to reach out to the home owners and will try contacting them on your behalf .
To contact them you can live chat and ask to speak to a human .
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