Here’s today’s round of Helene-related questions, my mildly smart-aleck answers, and the real answers:

Question: I wonder if you can get any insight into the lack of restoration of service to Spectrum customers. It isn’t reported anywhere, and all we can get from Spectrum is that we are in an outage. We did kind of figure that out. The last update we got (and those are infrequent) was that there were 38,000 outages in Buncombe County. Any insight you can gain as to why restoration is taking so long would be greatly appreciated.

My answer: I do love a little Helene-related snark. 

Real answer: Among the various outages folks have been dealing with — water, power, cell service, internet, roads — I feel like Spectrum has generated the most ire. But that may have been true before the storm, also.

Patti Michel, the Spectrum spokesperson for our region, offered some helpful perspective.
“Nearly 1.2 million Spectrum customers were left without service in the wake of Hurricane Helene,” Michel said via email, noting that their field technicians have made significant progress restoring service. “Communities in North Carolina were struck particularly hard by the storm, and there are still areas that we can’t access or aren’t safe for us to enter to assess damage and restoration needs.”

Spectrum crews follow local utility teams as they complete their work. The company’s goal is to “complete restoration to our remaining communities as soon as we can,” Michel said.

“We have heard our customers and will be providing more timely updates and county specific restoration details until services are restored,” Michel said. “We appreciate our customers’ feedback and their patience.”

On Wednesday, Michel sent an update on service restoration in our area.

“We continue to make progress and expect to have completed repairs to our network in all but Buncombe, McDowell and Polk counties in North Carolina by Oct. 19,” Michel said. “Some repairs are taking longer than we initially anticipated due to the significant damage done, the time it took to gain safe access to the hardest impacted areas, and the need to make additional repairs following local construction.”

For those three remaining counties, Michel said Spectrum expects to “complete network restoration to accessible locations with power by Oct. 21.”

“We are communicating directly with those customers that are still not connected, providing them an updated estimated completion date based on their location,” Michel said. “We continue to provide daily updates, including county specific information at Spectrum.net/Helene.”

Some individual locations may require additional work to restore service.

“If a customer’s service is not restored by Oct. 21, we ask that they notify us so that we can address any remaining issues,” Michel said. “In addition, if a customer is aware of a downed cable wire we ask that they report it at Spectrum.net.”

At the Buncombe County daily Helene briefing on Thursday, County Manager Avril Pinder said Spectrum has told the county it has restored service to about 70 percent of county customers, leaving 28,000 without service.

Question: I’d love to see an answer man column on Spectrum’s billing policy during the extended service outage. There’s a Reddit thread where people are sharing their experiences trying to get account credits during the outage. The upshot of the thread, and my own experience, seems to be that Spectrum may give you a credit (if you jump through the hoops to ask for it) IF your power is on but your internet is off. But if your power is off, they won’t give a credit because they don’t consider the outage to be their fault. I’m not 100 percent sure that’s the official policy, as it’s not entirely clear. In any case, their resistance to pausing billing is frustrating and seems like a pretty good corporate villain story. We have FEMA and various public and private agencies assisting our community in numerous ways, but Spectrum’s stance is that disaster victims should continue paying Spectrum even when Spectrum is not providing any service in return.

My answer: I think for at least a couple of months it’ll be fine to say, “Helene ate my bill.” 

Real answer: Michel also addressed this issue.

“Customers experiencing an outage should contact us and we will work with them directly regarding any credits, as each will have unique circumstances and needs,” Michel said. 

Spectrum bills are typically printed and sent out automatically, so in some cases customers may have been awaiting bill delivery when the storm struck.

Question: I’ve heard that the City of Asheville is spending $100,000 apiece to drill wells at city schools. That seems like an outrageous amount of money per well. With city water starting to return, why are they even bothering with this? And are they really spending that much money per well?

My answer: Hey, you go without a shower for two weeks, and a $100,000 well starts to sound pretty darn reasonable.

Real Answer: I broached this subject at the Thursday morning daily Helene briefing with Asheville City Schools Superintendent Maggie Fehrman. While that $100,000 figure was kicked around at an earlier briefing, Fehrman said that would have been inclusive of adding “lots of different filters and water treatment, as well as having to drill significantly deep wells.”

In short, that was a maximum potential cost, a “very high” estimate.

“The range we’re getting now is somewhere between $12,000 and $15,000 per well,” Fehrman said.

City Schools “did successfully drill a well at Hall Fletcher (Elementary),” Fehrman said, and they sited potential well locations at Asheville High but have not dug them there. The high school would require several wells “to be operational if the city water went out for whatever reason,” she said.

ACS said a company called ClearWater dug the well. The cost for drilling,  labor and parts was $30,168.

“The district plans to submit the cost of the well at Hall Fletcher Elementary School to FEMA as a reimbursable expense,” ACS Chief of Staff Kimberly J. Dechant said via email.

But ACS is taking a pause on the well program right now.

“Right now, we are changing our focus to be primarily on securing drinkable water through donations, bottled water, etc., and are grateful for the support from Buncombe County Schools for helping deliver and work out the logistics for all that,” Fehrman said. “So we’re pausing on the wells until we can get our students back in schools and be up and running again at full speed.”

But well-drilling is still on the table, longer-term. 

“We are going to be very strategic and systematic as we look at continuing to drill wells at each campus, just so we have a backup if something happens to the city water,” Fehrman said. “Probably once or twice a year, we do have water outages for whatever reason, and if water goes out for a certain amount of time, we do have to send students home. So our goal is to have wells on each campus so that regardless of what happens, we do have backup water.”

Fehrman noted that right now all of the system’s 10 schools have non-potable water. ACS plans to reopen Oct. 28 for half-days, and the system is securing enough potable water for students to attend school for that amount of time.

“FEMA did provide guidance on how many liters of water we need per person per hour,” Fehrman said. “Using this formula, we are able to provide enough water for every student to return on a shortened instructional day. We are diligently working on identifying additional sources of drinkable water for our students so that we can return to a full instructional day as soon as possible.”

Fehrman said they have not signed contracts for future well drilling.

“We’ve gotten several numbers on costs, so we’re also being very intentional about making sure that we are getting a good price on wells, as we look at adding those to our campuses in the future,” Fehrman said.

Question: Any idea when Amazon will resume deliveries?

My answer: This reminds me to recommend that Asheville City Schools check out Amazon well prices before making any decisions.

Real answer: An Amazon spokesperson pointed me to a company blog post about the company’s disaster relief efforts, as it also speaks to limiting customer disruption.

“With the temporary closing of some Amazon facilities, and likely damage to roads and other infrastructure, there may be impacts to customers in the region,” the post states. “We will utilize our national fulfillment network to complete customer orders from outside the affected region.”

You might not get orders quite as fast.

“We will also adjust delivery estimates as the storm’s impact becomes clearer so customers can have the most accurate information on when their packages will arrive,” the post states. “Customers will see updated delivery times for their specific orders, and are encouraged to contact our 24/7 Customer Service teams for additional assistance.”

The Amazon facility in Mills River (Henderson County) is operating normally, by the way. As conditions continue to improve, deliveries will arrive more quickly.

On the relief front, Amazon noted that it operates 14 Disaster Relief Hubs globally. Amazon “has donated over 25 million relief items to support more than 170 disasters worldwide.”

Question: It’s wonderful to live in a city that feels there is no need to give citizens access to services at City Hall. I drove downtown yesterday hoping to visit the city water department (yes I know we are in a crisis, but I question if customer interfacing employees are helping to dig the pipeline) to report that all our neighbors have been restored but we are still without water. My assumption is that if they don’t know it could be years before they discover one meter is not generating revenue. As I was walking towards City Hall I was impressed by the amount of volunteers and National Guard members that were stationed in front of the building providing water and access to portable toilets, but I was taken back a bit when I tried to enter City Hall and was told by a very nice security officer that they were closed and may reopen next Monday. Maybe I’m a bit old fashioned, but what the heck is wrong here? I thought that being open for business was a good sign of strength and resilience.

My answer: Hey, some folks have been longing for City Hall to close for years. 

Real answer: Kelley Klope, a City of Asheville spokesperson, said the iconic City Hall, “like many other buildings in Asheville, faced significant challenges due to prolonged power and water outages. 

“The restoration of water on Tuesday, the 15th, was a crucial step, but safety and health concerns remained a priority,” Klope said. “The decision to close City Hall was made to protect our employees and the public.”

“Without water, essential services such as restroom facilities and fire sprinkler suppression systems were compromised, making it necessary to shift our focus to recovery efforts,” Klope continued. “Many of our dedicated city employees have been actively engaged in the community, assisting with donations, distributions, and education initiatives during this critical time.”

Klope said they’re grateful that many employees are flexible and can work remotely. 

“We appreciate your understanding and support as we navigate these challenges and work towards restoring normal operations,” Klope said.

Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. John Boyle has been covering Asheville and surrounding communities since the 20th century. You can reach him at (828) 337-0941, or via email at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.

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