The rain from what was left of Hurricane Helene subsided Friday over the Carolinas, but major threats remained in its wake, including flooding, landslides and widespread power outages.
Some of the worst impacts were in Buncombe County around Asheville, where 72% of customers were without power Friday afternoon.
Gov. Cooper has requested a Major Disaster Declaration for North Carolina for 39 counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Helene.
— Governor Roy Cooper (@NC_Governor) September 28, 2024
🔗 https://t.co/qASExFnex2 pic.twitter.com/2UJsKO4AFX
Laura Hackett of Blue Ridge Public Radio joined WFAE's Nick de la Canal from Asheville for an update on the storm's impacts.
Nick de la Canal: Laura, thank you for joining us. Can you tell us where you are at the moment and what the conditions are like around you?
Laura Hackett: Yeah. Thanks for having me on today, Nick. I am currently sitting outside of the Blue Ridge Public Radio station on the sidewalk. Cell service has been a real challenge throughout the region. We're seeing a lot of flooding, a lot of roadways wiped out. There was a landslide on Tunnel Road, which is a main thoroughfare of Asheville on the eastern part of the city. Just overall a big loss of cell service, internet. Also, Asheville and a lot of other areas are currently under a boil water advisory.
De la Canal: Emergency officials also put out an alert earlier today that the dam on Lake Lure, just below Chimney Rock about an hour east of Asheville, was in danger of failing. What do we know about that?
Hackett: Yeah, so Lake Lure is a popular vacation spot for many, has a population of about 2,000, and the dam itself was built in the 1920s, so quite old. It has needed an update for a while, and the design is not up to modern safety code. The government of Lake Lure has been working on a plan to update that dam since 2021, but it's looking like it's going to be a 10-year, multi-million dollar project to fix that, so it's unclear if water will simply spill out over the dam, or the whole thing will break, which would be a very — put folks in pretty grave danger. Right now in Lake Lure, there's a mandatory evacuation for everyone there.
De la Canal: What has the emergency response been like in your area so far, and have people who've needed help been able to get it?
Hackett: Because of this giant communication infrastructure loss, it's been a struggle for folks to communicate with emergency responders. There is some National Guard service here who have been helping shuttle folks from flash flooded areas to the shelter here in downtown Asheville, but overall, it appears that the 911 call center is just overwhelmed. They're trying to triage. They're not able to get back to everybody, and when they are trying to call people back, sometimes the people who originally called them don't have service anymore.
Also I think Asheville and the surrounding areas were a bit caught off guard with how quickly the weather conditions amplified. There were calls for evacuation, but a lot of them took place when there was already significant flooding happening. The shelter in downtown Asheville just opened this morning, and right now there are around 300 people there. So I would say overall there's been a lot of challenges with responding to folks who are in crisis here.
De la Canal: And I understand you briefly stopped by that shelter in downtown Asheville. What was the mood like there, and what did people have to say?
Hackett: Yeah I stopped by and it was a bit of a chaotic ambiance. I tried to speak with an emergency responder who was in charge, and it was difficult for me to find one. But from my understanding, there was the public bus system had stopped at areas that were in flood danger and brought them to the shelter. I did get to speak with one family, the Pettipas (ph) who were staying in a Motel Super 8 not too far away from where the landslide was and there was also some significant flooding, and they said that at around 6 a.m., they were woken up with flooding in their motel room, and before they knew it, the water had reached up to their mattresses, and they had went out to see what was going on, and at that point, they were whisked onto a bus to be taken to a shelter without even having the opportunity to get their shoes on.
De la Canal: Yeah, well we certainly hope that things will improve there. I think I can hear some sirens as well. That is Laura Hackett, and reporter with Blue Ridge Public Radio. Laura, thank you so much for the update, and I hope you get through the storm OK.
Hackett: Thank you, we all appreciate it.
