Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers:

Question: OK, was Helene a hurricane or a tropical storm? And which came first? Was it a tropical storm that grew into a hurricane, or a hurricane that diminished into a tropical storm? And why do we use both terms? Calling it a tropical storm somehow seems to downplay its severity.

My answer: I vote for referring to storms like this as “Tropical Menace” in the future.

Real answer: David Easterling, director of the National Climate Assessment Technical Support Unit at the National Centers for Environmental Information in Asheville, answered this one.

“Helene started in the western Caribbean Sea on Sept. 22, 2024, as an unnamed tropical depression with wind speeds below 39 mph,” Easterling said via email. “Once the storm became organized enough to produce sustained maximum wind speeds of 39 mph or greater it was classified as a Tropical Storm and given the name Helene from a predetermined list.”

As we well know, Helene wasn’t done, though. It got stronger and reached hurricane status — wind speeds of 74 mph or greater.

“As Hurricane Helene moved over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, it underwent rapid intensification to a Category 4 hurricane — wind speeds between 130-156 mph — before landfall,” Easterling said. “As it moved inland, away from its power source, the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, it began to lose strength, and once maximum sustained wind speeds dropped below 74 mph, it was reclassified to a Tropical Storm as it moved over central Georgia and then western North Carolina.”

While downgraded, Helene still clearly packed a punch when it hit our area Sept. 27.

“Even as a tropical storm, Helene produced devastating amounts of rainfall and winds, proving once again that wind speeds alone from a tropical cyclone don’t always indicate the destructive potential of such a storm, since more people die from drowning in the storm surge and flooding than from winds,” Easterling said.

Asheville Regional Airport recorded 14.19 inches of rain from Helene and the two days preceding the storm, according to the National Weather Service.

Question: It looks like Fletcher’s new pickleball courts and the tennis court sustained damage from Helene. How bad is it? It looks like mostly fencing damage. How long will it take to repair them and get the courts back open? How much will it cost?

My answer: Rest assured that no matter how severe the natural disaster, someone will ask about pickleball.

Real answer: Fletcher Town Manager Mark Biberdorf said via email the damage was indeed “mostly contained to the fencing.

“There appears to be some damage to the surface of the pickleball courts that we may be able to patch or repair in the short-term. It is going to take months to repair all of this, as we will have to bid out the repairs and carefully follow protocols for potential FEMA reimbursement.”

Biberdorf said that it’s hard to determine what that will cost but estimates it may be $40,000-plus.

“We will have a better idea as we get closer to bidding the project,” he said.

Question: I’m here with a question nobody seems to have asked yet: What about water towers?

Why don’t we have any? What would be the impediments to having one? They seem to be a more secure way to store and deliver clean water. I’m sure there are good answers for this, but I’m not sure what they are.

My answer: Great. Now people want me to supply good answers to these questions. So much work…

Real answer: When I brought this up at the Nov. 20 daily Helene briefing, Assistant City Manager Ben Woody noted that the city does have water storage tanks, but it does not have the types of water towers you often see in cities and towns — a large rounded tank sitting atop a tall pole. In cities that have them, water is pumped into the tower and then sent out to customers.

“Those cities are probably flat,” Woody said, pointing out one impediment to locating large water towers in Asheville — the mountains. “Generally, I think what we’re able to take advantage of with our storage tanks is just the naturally occurring elevation that we have here in Buncombe County.”

The city’s water system, as we’ve reported, is complex, with 54 unique pressure zones, 1,800 miles of lines and 37 water storage tanks.

The online publication “WaterWorld Magazine” had an article about water towers in December 2022 that noted, “In some hilly regions, a water tower isn’t needed. Instead, a water tank can be placed on the highest hill.”

Tanks at a high elevation serve the same purpose a tower would — using gravity to disperse the water.

The article also listed the pros and cons of water towers. On the plus side:

• “Water towers make it easy to maintain consistent pressure in a public water system, which is normally very difficult.
• Water towers provide a good reserve of water to cope with times of peak demand. 
• As long as the water tower is elevated enough, it should effectively distribute water with hydrostatic pressure, driven by gravity, alone. 
• Installing a water tower means that money doesn’t have to be spent on a water pumping system that’s powerful enough to keep up with peak demand.”

And these are the cons:

• “Even the best water tower can’t prevent a slight drop in water pressure during surges in demand. 
• Water can only flow to areas of lower elevation than the starting point (the water tower), so it may be limited in hilly regions.
• Water towers may affect the taste and smell of water, especially in the initial few months after installation. 
• Untreated water towers may collect a layer of bacteria and sludge. They need to be cleaned at least every three to five years.”

So it looks like water tanks, not towers, make the most sense around here.

Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941. His Answer Man columns appear each Tuesday and Friday. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.

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Mission Health has permanently closed Asheville Specialty Hospital, the only long-term acute care hospital in western North Carolina, less than two months after suspending its services following Tropical Storm Helene.

“We have made the difficult decision to not reopen Asheville Specialty Hospital, a small, long-term acute care facility located inside the St. Joseph’s campus,” Mission Health spokesperson Nancy Lindell said Monday. “We have had to focus on prioritizing our resources during and after Hurricane Helene to care for the most urgent medical needs of our community. Since Hurricane Helene, ASH employees have been caring for patients at Mission Hospital and that continues to be where they are most needed.”

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. The next closest long-term acute facility, or LTACH, is in Greenville, South Carolina, a little more than 60 miles away.

The facility was one of three services that Mission Health temporarily shut down after Helene crippled western North Carolina and left Asheville, and Mission Hospital, without water. CarePartners and Solace hospice care also closed and more than 250 employees had to take temporary positions as patients were ported out to facilities in the region and out of state.

Asheville Watchdog reached out to Asheville Specialty’s current medical director Ronnie Jacobs, but did not hear back before publication. 

Dr. Scott Joslin, once director of Mission’s hospitalist program, currently works at the Asheville VA but served as medical director of Asheville Specialty from January through September 2022.

“It is a big deal,” Joslin said of the closure. “Having a long-term acute care hospital provides the western North Carolina area with a site where patients who have been ill for a very long period of time and still have some acute care needs can get that long-term acute care.”

Patients who would have been admitted to Asheville Specialty will now go to inpatient rehabilitation, skilled nursing care or another long-term acute care facility, Lindell said, but she did not provide specifics. Lindell also did not respond to questions about how many patients and employees the closure affected. 

Mission has permanent roles available for every caregiver who wants to stay with the company, Lindell said. 

Independent monitor: Move doesn’t violate purchase agreement

The closure does not violate agreements HCA made when it bought the Mission Health system, according to Gerald Coyne of Affiliated Monitors, the independent monitor responsible for holding HCA accountable for honoring agreements it made to the North Carolina attorney general’s office before the sale.

“I don’t believe it’s a required service,” Coyne said. He said he looked at the Asset Purchase Agreement (APA) when he heard the news of the closure but didn’t see anything that required Asheville Specialty to stay open for 10 years after the purchase.

“If it’s not part of the APA, there’s a limit to what we as the monitor can critique,” Coyne said. “We can’t say they’re violating it for sure. We are, of course, concerned, with the overall delivery of healthcare services. But… I’m not surprised that in the wake of some really horrific events, that there’s going to be some changes and we’ll just kind of try to look at them as a whole, rather than individually.”

Joslin, the former hospitalist, worked on and off with Asheville Specialty for more than 20 years and said the shuttering is likely related to operational efficiency. He said the age of the building could have contributed to the decision as well.

He said the building of the North Tower at least in part was influenced by the quality of the St. Joseph’s building where Asheville Specialty resides.

“One of the drivers behind the decision to build the North Tower was that, over time, the old St Joseph Hospital was becoming more expensive to maintain,” Joslin said. “It was nearing the end of its useful life at about age 50, and I was aware that we were having water leaks and electrical failures and infrastructure failures that they were trying to keep up with.” 

There were conversations about potentially relocating, he noted. Lindell did not answer The Watchdog’s question when asked if Mission would try to re-establish another LTACH in the region.  

“As more and more resources have moved out of the St Joseph building … the utility of keeping that open has become more and more questionable, both as a strategic decision as well as a financial decision, at least by my understanding.”

Although Asheville Specialty won’t reopen, Mission Health is starting to resume CarePartner services, Lindell said.

“With the return of municipal water, we began reopening CarePartners Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospital on Nov. 21,” Lindell said. “Teams are starting to return to roles there and we have begun admitting patients. We hope to have a date set soon for when we can begin to reopen CarePartners Solace.”

Since HCA Healthcare purchased Mission Hospital in 2019 for $1.5 billion, the once nonprofit hospital has faced an exodus of staff, including in medical oncology, urology, cancer pharmacy services and neurology.

In December 2023, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein sued HCA and Mission Health, alleging that they violated commitments made in the asset purchase agreement regarding cancer care and emergency services at Mission Hospital. 

Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Andrew R. Jones is a Watchdog investigative reporter. Email arjones@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s local reporting during this crisis is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.

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