Storm chaos: 236 km without service, roads and water in crisis!

This lake soon became a road again, but many of them still lack modern amenities or basic needs. Employee photo.

Asheville – TELECOM, Oct. 11, Spectrum reported: “At the height of the storm, more than 236,000 customers lost service.” A customer service representative said 900 Spectrum technicians were assisting construction workers because they could not restore service until the Infrastructure has been repaired. In Buncombe County, 46,662 customers, or 60% of the total, were still without service. In Henderson County, the number was 2,959, or 87%.

The representative explained that all hubs are operational, but there are nodes within the hubs that require additional work, such as clearing brush or rebuilding roads, before reconstruction teams can proceed. For comparison, 395,000 customers in South Carolina had lost service.

On October 11, the NC DOT reported that the agency had been alerted to 5,400 damaged roads, including 450 damaged bridges, and had reopened over 460 roads. The NC DOT uses data from 200 drone missions and counting for technical analysis. I-40 and I-26 at the Tennessee border remain closed.

Asheville Regional Airport will be open as of October 10, but flight schedules may be tentative. Lew Bleiweis, president and CEO, advises passengers to check with their airlines about the status of specific flights. Ground transportation services at the airport are open, but Ubering is limited due to a driver shortage. The airport posts updates as FAQs on FlyAVL.com. Those without internet can call 828-684-2226.

WATER October 11: Asheville's city water supply remains cloudy and there are broken pipes at the other end. The city's water authority is therefore currently testing technologies that have been successfully used in similar situations in other states. The reservoir water is divided into smaller, treatable parts by the formation of plumes that flow into the inlet. The water is pretreated in the swaths until it is suitable for processing by the plant. Typically, the North Fork Reservoir exceeds state and federal standards for pre-treatment cleanliness, but it is not expected to return to this level of cleanliness for weeks or months without intervention.

The boil alert remains in effect for all Asheville city water residents. This means that tap water must reach a rolling boil for at least a minute before it is considered safe to drink. No tap water, even boiled, may be used in Black Mountain, except for flushing toilets. Mayor Esther Manheimer reports that there is still a risk of pipes breaking. People are asked to report leaks to 828-251-1122.

BACKUP POWER Oct. 7: A generator repairman, who did not give permission to give his name, said he was kept busy during the outage due to generator failures. Those relying on emergency power are asked to comply with scheduled maintenance and ensure they have sufficient fuel and oil. Some generators require downtime if they run a lot.

HOST October 9: Buncombe County Safety Communications is currently seeking Airbnb owners interested in housing emergency telecommunications workers coming to the area to help rebuild after Hurricane Helene. This comes as the county and other local governments look for ways to regulate Airbnbs, which could include decisions about where they can be located and how many can operate in an area. Interested hosts should contact [email protected].

PUBLIC SCHOOLS October 9 Last week, Mission Hospital announced it is exploring drilling water wells to cool its HVAC systems. This week Asheville City Schools Superintendent Maggie Fehrman said she couldn't wait for city water and announced she would also drill. The first well has reached water at Hall Fletcher, but it will be two to three weeks after drilling before a school can use the water. The school system expects to drill eight to 10 well systems, which will cost about $100,000 per well. Schools must also open handwashing stations and port-a-johns. Asheville City Schools has set a tentative reopening date of Oct. 28. Buncombe County Schools will remain closed indefinitely.

MUSIC October 10: As WNC returns to its regular programming, CBS Evening News aired a segment: “How a Local Radio Station Became a Lifeline After Helene Raced Through North Carolina.” WWNC host Mark Starling and producer Tank Spencer manned the station while engineers managed to remote all iHeartMedia affiliates in WNC -Get hosting help from Upstate South Carolina. During the first week of outages, they were the region's internet, or as CBS put it, a dispatch center. They maintained the positive attitude to work wonders for many. Awesome.