by Lucas Thomae, Carolina Public Press November 26, 2024 Without question, Tropical Storm Helene generated historic costs for North Carolina in terms of structural damages, disruptions to government operations and loss of human lives. Calculating just how expensive the storm was — and also figuring out who is footing the bill — is a trickier […]
An immersive winter storybook experience, lighted trail and holiday market help ring in the season at Adventure Center of Asheville.
The 34-bed Asheville Specialty included a comprehensive stroke center, dialysis services, physical and speech therapy, and traumatic brain injury rehabilitation, among other services, according to Mission’s website.
Farms tend to be located in the region’s fertile river bottoms, and when those rivers swelled and roared, they took crops, barns, bails of hay, miles of fencing, farm roads, cattle, farm equipment and acres of topsoil.
“There is so much destruction and so much need that it is very easy to get overwhelmed,” says Courtney Crouse , co-founder of Hell or High Water. “Making a difference to one person or family at a time is how we are operating.”
It will be difficult to estimate just how big of an economic toll the near-total loss of rail transport will have on the area. Loss of cheap and fast access to basic, bulky supplies like grain and timber is a reality that modern cities rarely have to face.
For weeks after the storm, people had to boil anything that wasn’t poured from a bottle, and many of them drew from creeks and ponds just to flush their toilets.
All say they plan to stick around to help for as long as it takes the region to recover. And they stress that recovery will come in phases, requiring them to adapt their missions in order to support the community’s evolving needs.
The delegation of regional officials traveling to Washington is believed to be unprecedented, but “we have literally never seen a disaster like Hurricane Helene,” Amanda Edwards, chair-elect of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, told The Watchdog.
“In the aftermath of Helene, Homeward Bound of WNC shifted to immediately address the safety of all our staff and the clients we serve through our homeless and housing services programs,” says Jessie Figueroa, the communications specialist of Homeward Bound of WNC
“Asheville water customers can safely consume tap water again,” Asheville City Council member Sage Turner posted on Instagram and Facebook.
“We received quite a bit of damage, but nothing like people east of Cherokee,” Anthony Sequoyah, the Eastern Band’s secretary of travel operations, told Carolina Public Press.
The possibility of drinkable water being restored by Wednesday next week speeds up the timeline by nearly a month. Water Resources estimated earlier in November that the boil water notice could be lifted by mid-December.
A recent lawsuit brought forth by a New Bern ophthalmologist challenges the constitutionality of the law, bringing the issue to the forefront of statewide debate.
Chandler and Dr. Jennifer Mullendore, medical director for Buncombe County’s Department of Health & Human Services, repeatedly stressed that students were not exposed to lead in drinking water.
“What we’re particularly concerned about is the fine particles from open burning that we expect we’re going to see more of,” AB Air Quality Agency Director Ashley Featherstone said.
Master gardener, jewelry maker finds the perfect spot to put down roots.
As business owners begin to rebuild their livelihoods in the wake of Helene, financial relief efforts are beginning to take shape in Western North Carolina.
As they watched floodwaters engulf their town, business owners Josh Copus and Joel Friedman wondered if this was the end of Marshall. But friends, strangers and the U.S. Army stepped up, and the eclectic riverside town of 800 is well on its way to a rebuild, just a month after Helene’s devastation.
Bartenders and other employees from the Double Crown turned the bar into a mutual aid hub in the days following Tropical Storm Helene.
“It is incredible the amount of diversity Magic players have from bartenders, lawyers, teachers, baristas, kids — really it is a game that spans not just age but professions,” says Charla Schlueter, owner of Gamers’ Haunt
