UPDATE: Woodfin mayor says town slow to get government aid

Update: Woodfin Mayor Jim McAllister sent Xpress a statement Oct. 9 to update his statements on outside governmental assistance. “[The Buncombe County Emergency Operations Center] is the only governmental group that Woodfin is getting support from. The rest has been private!” he wrote. At the Buncombe County media briefing Oct. 9, FEMA representative MaryAnn Tierney said the agency was sending staff door-to-door in Woodfin to help residents apply for disaster assistance.

This story was updated at 6 p.m. Oct. 7 to include a statement from Buncombe County’s communications and public engagement team that was sent at 5:26 p.m. the same day.

Woodfin Mayor Jim McAllister told Xpress on Oct. 4 that he is frustrated with the lack of support his town is getting from state and federal agencies in the wake of Tropical Storm Helene.

“I am very frustrated at the lack of support,” he said via phone after a meeting with Town Manager Shannon Tuch, where he was updated on the status of the town’s resources.

“We are getting almost no supplies from the [Buncombe County Emergency Operations Center] or the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).”

Residents have set up food and water distribution points at multiple sites around town, supplied entirely by private donations.

He said residents have been coming out of their houses, offering anything they have that they don’t need.

“Can you use these two flashlights?” one person asked at a distribution site, he said. World Central Kitchen has shown up to provide free meals for many residents in need, he added.

While the community is stepping up to help each other out, McAllister said they need more.

He asked the county emergency operations center if the town could bring its own trucks to Asheville or Weaverville to pick up supplies for the town, but staff turned him down, he said.

“At this time, we are not able to pick up supplies on our own,” he said.

Meanwhile, the county has set up a water distribution site in Weaverville at North Windy Ridge Intermediate School, designed to supply the northern part of Buncombe County. Water service has largely returned in Weaverville, although there is still a boil-water advisory, according to the town’s website.

“How’s this going to help my people? So many people in our town don’t have transportation,” McAllister pointed out. “We are in desperate need.”

He said he has seen no mobile water distribution from FEMA or the county EOC in Woodfin. County Manager Avril Pinder said at a briefing Oct. 7 that FEMA has Disaster Survivor Assistance teams at New Bridge Baptist Church in Woodfin and other locations around the county. Those teams are primarily tasked with helping residents get signed up for individual disaster assistance.

Separately, there is a water distribution site at New Bridge with privately donated items, McAllister said.

After multiple attempts to get a comment from the county’s communications and public engagement team, spokesperson Kassi Day sent a statement after 5 p.m. Oct. 7.

“We have been in constant contact with our municipalities and have been working to spread resources across our community in a manner that maximizes broad distribution. Our EOC staff have been working with Woodfin to distribute resources directly to their Town Hall and Fire Department on a smaller scale to help those smaller locales. We have specifically connected Woodfin’s Town Manager with a liaison that worked with her to access services,” she said in an email.

Meanwhile, McAllister said the Woodfin Water District has made good progress repairing its system, and some  customers already have water. The Woodfin Water District serves parts of Woodfin, North Asheville and parts of unincorporated Buncombe County. Other parts of Woodfin are served by the City of Asheville system, and still others are served by private wells.

McAllister said the river remains too high and murky as of Oct. 4, to thoroughly inspect Taylor’s Wave, which was under construction at the time of the storm. Nearby Silver-Line Park has been nearly destroyed, leaving just one grill standing, he said.