Holding on in Western North Carolina three days after Helene

While I sit safe in my cousin's home in Columbia SC, I wanted to share this info from a Facebook post from Carolina Public Press DOT org. I've never read their posts before, but it sounds pretty accurate to me. 

In..."Black Mountain, which sits on the Swannanoa River, the water system is entirely compromised, with no estimate on when it will be restored, Woody noted.

Helene washed out 24-inch and 36-inch water main lines at the North Fork Water Treatment Plant in Asheville, according to Woody. Storms in 2004 had this same effect, so the city installed bypass lines to create redundancies. However, Helene washed out those two bypass lines as well. Now, water lines must be replaced.

Water personnel have yet to access Debruhl Water Plant near Bee Tree due to impassable roads. Water lines there are also destroyed, and the National Guard is en route to find a way for  county personnel to get to the plant.

The city of Greensboro sent its water personnel, crews and equipment to Asheville to get repairs to water systems underway.

Not helping the situation is widespread misinformation, whether inadvertent or malicious. Exaggeration, geographical errors, hearsay and outright hoaxes have consequences as people struggle to survive. The City of Asheville and Warren Wilson College both had to deal with the fallout from an apparent hoax, claiming a dam was about to break.

“I want to take a minute to address some information that came out regarding Bee Tree Dam,” Asheville spokesman Woody said at a Monday press conference.

“Water staff and outside agencies have inspected the dam, and I want to ensure the community that it is functioning as it should. There is no evidence that the structure has been compromised. I want to thank our county partners that helped us dispel this rumor.”

Several news broadcasts throughout the region overstated the threat to a dam in Rutherford County on Friday. Despite earlier posts by various media or on social media that the dam on Lake Lure had failed or was about to do so, dam failure was prevented with only some water overflowing the dam.

In a social media post from Sunday, FEMA listed the resources it is deploying to North Carolina. Those included 260 federal search-and-rescue personnel, 40 Starlink transceivers to support emergency communications, 50 ambulances, five trailers of meals and 20 trailers of water.

The post also said that later Monday FEMA is transporting generators to Asheville and providing an additional 150 ambulances, 20 meal trailers, 40 water trailers, 215 search-and-rescue personnel and one more Incident Management Assistance Team.

Supplies are being airlifted into parts of the region from Asheville because travel by roads is so difficult, Cooper said. Many homes are still without water or are operating under a boil water advisory, and many counties in the affected area were distributing clean water and food to families starting Monday.

Crews worked cutting trees from power lines along Biltmore Avenue in Asheville in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Helene on Sept. 27, 2024. Colby Rabon / Carolina Public Press

As of Monday morning, Duke Energy reported ongoing outages in the following counties hardest hit by Helene:

• Buncombe County: 91,438 customers without power
• Henderson County: 69,195 customers without power
• Rutherford County: 26,294 customers without power
• Cleveland County: 21,116 customers without power

Duke Energy is promising most customers their power back by Friday. In more remote areas of the state, however, it could be weeks before power is restored. The company has restored energy to Asheville Regional Airport, as well as 16 out of the 17 critical care hospitals they serve in Western North Carolina that initially faced loss of power.

Buncombe County will start distributing bottled water starting at 2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 30. A one-day supply of bottled water will be available for each individual in a household, with distribution sites operating as drive-through locations, but walk-ups will be accommodated.

On Sunday at 8:45 p.m., students at Warren Wilson College in Black Mountain received false information from regional emergency officials about nearby dams breaching and reacted with appropriate urgency.

 “A report of a possible dam break caused students to retreat to higher ground on the campus soccer field this evening,” president Damian Fernandez wrote Sunday night. “Warren Wilson College leadership confirmed with local police and the National Guard that the local dams are safe; the initial report was a hoax. Students are now back in their residence halls.”

Fernandez said regional emergency officials received false information themselves. Students were shaken and encouraged to return to their darkened dorms.

“At times like these we need to be judicious about rumors and misinformation,” Fernandez wrote Monday morning. “The College will continue to try to provide accurate reports. We do our best to confirm the information we receive.”

Many Western North Carolina charitable organizations had offices and personnel who have themselves been directly affected by Tropical Storm Helene and subsequent flooding. Even so, these and others from both within and outside of the region are working to bring relief in many forms to those affected by Helene as both a tropical storm and hurricane across the Southeast.

CityServe international $5 million for states affected by Helene. The organization landed a helicopter in Asheville on Sunday. Their focus for efforts in North Carolina is the Asheville region, including Banner Elk, Sugar Mountain, Black Mountain and Greenwood.

“Right now, approximately 500 people stranded on mountain tops are cut off from electricity and drinking water, and lack access to safe roads,” City Serve said.

Some for-profit enterprises have also announced initiatives to boost relief. UHaul is providing free storage space for those impacted by Helene, 30 days free at 437 locations across many states.

Editor’s note: This is a developing story and will be updated. CPP news staff including Jane Winik Sartwell, Lucas Thomae and Frank Taylor contributed to this report.

SOURCE: Posted on Facebook sometime on Sept. 30, 2024

Carolinapublicpress.org Holding on in Western North Carolina

Looking forward to the pet parade in Black Mountain, NC. We shall see if it is held this year.