“I was on the news desk of The Oklahoman in 1995 after the Murrah federal building attack. The Oklahoman perhaps created the textbook on how to interview victims in a mass casualty event. Here, the Hellbender Press — whether they knew it or not — followed the Oklahoman’s victim coverage and delivered exemplary stories of people affected by impact and by the fatalities of families and friends. I know. I was there. Hellbender Press reported on the how and why of a mass flooding disaster … outstanding. Reporting on the victims of the Appalachian flooding was exemplary. Well done, journalists!”
Hellbender Press was established in 1998 as a free alternative newspaper devoted to protection of Southern Appalachian natural resources through good journalism. Now in digital-only form (still free), its coverage of the storm provided practical information on relief and aid supplies, and personal and overarching accounts of the epic disaster. Stories were told via on-scene reporting, video and photography, and traditional and digital reporting methods by Editor and Publisher Thomas Fraser and writers and reporters Stambaugh, Wolf Naegeli and Paige Penland.
The coverage ranged from Hartford to Hot Springs and Erwin, where multiple workers at a plastics facility died, and included multiple interviews with people who had helped victims, who had barely escaped with their lives, or both. Follow-up reporting included a look at the role climate change played in the disaster. Hellbender Press ultimately reported from three watersheds: The French Broad; the Pigeon; and the Nolichucky.
“Hellbender Press, apparently a normal environmental news and information website, was transformed into a severe weather and flooding news reporting operation with quick efficiency that has to be envied by Oklahoma news outlets that face quickly developing weather news on a yearly basis every spring,” said another judge. “The environmental writers of Hellbender Press posted stories, photos, graphics and maps as the flooding quickly developed. Hellbender Press showed how to cover fast breaking weather storms and apparently without the expertise of news outlets in tornado alley, including Oklahoma. An excellent achievement!”
The digital iteration of Hellbender Press was formed in 2020 as a project of the Foundation for Global Sustainability. Donations to Hellbender Press via FGS are tax deductible, and necessary to fund its community-level, professional environmental reporting — here among the richest ecosystems on Earth.