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Asheville could have drinkable water by middle of next week, city says • Asheville Watchdog

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avlwatchdog.org – ANDREW R. JONES – 2024-11-15 12:17:00

Asheville residents could have drinkable water by next week, nearly two months after the city’s primary water system was catastrophically damaged by Tropical Storm Helene.

The system is on the verge of being fully restored to drinkable water, possibly as early as Nov. 20, Asheville Water Resources spokesperson Clay Chandler said at Friday’s Buncombe County briefing.  

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.

“The use of treated water, combined with customer usage, has given us data that we feel is sufficient to reach the conclusion that the system has, for the most part, turned over, and the vast majority of water has been replaced with treated water,” Chandler said. 

While he did not say this timeline was a guarantee, Chandler did say the outlook is positive.

“We are at the point that we can begin the sampling process to potentially lift the boil water notice,” Chandler said, noting the city is working closely with the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to sample the water 40 times a day.

“We’ll have a pretty good idea Tuesday night after those samples,” Chandler said, referring to ongoing bacterial testing.

Tropical Storm Helene slammed the region Sept. 27, knocking out the city’s water supply at the North Fork reservoir, which provides 80 percent of the city’s drinking water. The city restored non-potable water to nearly all of the system by mid-October, but stubborn turbidity, or murkiness, at North Fork has delayed restoration of potable water.

The announcement comes a day after Asheville said it had found lead in the water of seven area school systems. Asheville Water Resources suspended a standard treatment for lead mitigation for nearly three weeks because the city’s main reservoir’s sedimentation was too high.


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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‘We feel blessed. We’re alive’ – one family’s story of resilience and hope in a post-Helene world • Asheville Watchdog

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avlwatchdog.org – JOHN BOYLE – 2024-12-23 06:00:00

It’s a little ridiculous to sugarcoat 2024.

Tropical Storm Helene saw to that, leaving a trail of destruction in these mountains the likes of which no one alive had ever witnessed. The Sept. 27 storm particularly pummeled Buncombe County, where 43 people died, and it really drew a bullseye on Swannanoa, a modest community of hardworking folks about 10 miles east of Asheville.

Everyone can still see the devastation along U.S. 70, but if you swing back a block off the main road into Beacon Village, named for the former blanket factory that housed its workers here, you can tell Edwards Street took it particularly hard. About two dozen houses are gutted to the studs, and little blue tarps still dot rooftops where people had to be chopped out of their homes by rescuers.

John Zara, 41, his wife Stephanie, 39, and their two boys, 2-year-old Jack and 7-year-old Luca, lived through it, somehow. 

“Around 8 a.m., 8:30, within say 30 or 45 minutes, it went from being some water in the road and a little bit in our front yard to waist high,” Zara said, standing near his home Thursday. “So it happened really quickly.”

Zara started putting computers and other valuables up as high as possible, thinking the water certainly wouldn’t top the kids’ bunk beds.

“We ended up getting my wife, our pets and two kids up into the attic,” Zara said.

When they realized the water just kept rising and they might get trapped, they decided to make a swim/dash for it. They clambered over the washer and dryer to a small back porch with a handrail, trying to get on top of the house and out of the floodwaters.

Beacon Village resident John Zara stands near the small window that he, his wife and two young children used to escape their flooded home on Sept. 27. // Watchdog photo by John Boyle

“So I’m standing on the handrail, I got one arm on that other rail up top there, and the baby in my arm,” Zara said. “We kind of make our way around the corner to the side of the house. There’s a tree there. My wife gets in the tree, she’s on the roof, and then she’s able to help get the kids up on the roof. And I get up on the roof.”

His wife and kids were rescued by kayakers about three hours later, Zara by the National Guard in the early afternoon. Their dog and three cats also survived.

Zara said he’s still amazed at how fast the Swannanoa River, which is normally on the other side of U.S. 70 and maybe 40 feet wide, was moving that morning. 

“Those gentlemen, they saved our lives,” Zara said of the kayakers. “I mean, otherwise, you know…”

The water inside their home crested near the ceiling, so everything was ruined, although the framework of the 100-year-old structure is sound. They also lost two cars in their driveway.

After a stint in the emergency shelter at the WNC Ag Center, the family has been staying with Zara’s mom in South Carolina. 

‘We feel blessed’

Zara, who works in graphic design and marketing, says they’ve been cobbling together resources to begin the gargantuan task of rebuilding the house they’ve called home for 10 years. They paid well under $200,000 for the three-bedroom, one-bath house. Try finding property at that price in Buncombe County these days.

Residents in their 80s say that that part of Beacon Village has never flooded, so Zara feels it’s safe to rebuild. He and his wife also have a mortgage, limiting their options.

“I got a guy who’s gonna donate some countertops; I got somebody that’s donated windows and exterior doors,” Zara said. “And so it’s kind of like this logistical thing of like, ‘OK, now where can I get some drywall and try to find somebody to handle some labor?”

Someone has offered materials and labor on the roof, and they’ve gotten help from the savebeaconvillage.org folks that organized after the storm. 

Right now their biggest problem is water that keeps accumulating in the backyard and around the house after it rains. A natural spring runs in the backyard, and Zara suspects a drain pipe that used to keep it in check is clogged or broken.

The moisture is making it difficult to get the 1,200-square-foot house completely dried out inside for the rebuild. He and his family hope to get back in the house by early spring, if they can tame the moisture issue.

John Zara says he and his family hope to be back in their Beacon Village home by early spring, but they’ve had to entirely gut the badly flooded home. // Watchdog photo by John Boyle

But Zara is not one to complain — about any of this.

“We feel blessed,” Zara said. “We’re alive. We have somewhere to stay. When you go out of here — and you’ve probably seen it before, there’s people in tents — so, you know, my story is pretty (bad), but there’s people out there that are a lot worse off.”

He says they’ve also been touched by how the community has pulled together. Immediately after the storm, a throng of church groups and Samaritan’s Purse volunteers arrived and helped gut all the homes and clear out debris.

“The very first few weeks, it was hot and heavy in here,” Zara said. “There were so many people here. You could hardly park. It was insane.”

Some good souls have also helped out with the holidays.

“We have been blessed by some churches and other folks that have taken care of Christmas for the kids this year,” Zara said. “So that’s one less thing for us to worry about, and we can keep saving money towards getting this thing put back together.”

The Zaras have a Gofundme page set up, too, and anything helps. They operate a small soap company, Bella & Oliver, and they have an offshoot company called Beacon Village Candles.

They lost a lot of supplies and inventory for the businesses, but Zara said they’ve rekindled the candle business and are donating $5 per candle sold to savebeaconvillage.org. So even when they’re in need, the Zaras are helping their community.

“We’ve been really fortunate to have a lot of family and friends and community support, and those kinds of things have all come together to create a bigger effect,” Zara said.

A gift bag and a prayer, and a feeling of humble gratitude

As if on cue, while we were standing under a carport behind Zara’s home, a church group walked up the driveway with a gift bag for his family and him. Zander Neuhaus and Josh Rose were from Real Life Church in Montrose, Michigan, and Vincent Scauzzo, from Washington, D.C., had met up with them in the morning to help deliver the packages.

As John Zara talked about surviving Tropical Storm Helene and how important the outpouring of support has been after the storm, a small church group arrived to bring a Christmas gift bag and pray with him. Zander Neuhaus, from Michigan, led the prayer. // Watchdog photo by John Boyle

Scauzzo noted that he met the church group in a morning carpool.

“This was not on my agenda,” he said with a smile. “I’ve been down here for about a week, and I just sort of opened myself up to spontaneity, I guess, in the spirit of Christmas.”

Zara, who’s spiritual but not a regular churchgoer, agreed to pray with the group. And Neuhaus brought the goods, with a solid three minute prayer that touched on the themes of resilience and community, and of course, Jesus and his message that’s so important to many of us this time of year.

As dusk settled over us and a light rain fell, it was a genuinely nice moment.

After they left, Zara talked about how the events of Sept. 27 and its aftermath have made him think more deeply about God and good fortune, about how so many people are truly kind and care about one another.

“We’re really super-appreciative of that community, family and friend system that has gotten us to this point where we can hopefully start putting the house back together and rebuilding,” Zara said.

Sure, Helene brought out the worst in some people, but overwhelmingly it’s brought out the best in all of us. It’s been humbling, too, but that’s come with valuable lessons about just how close we all are to losing everything.

“We’re definitely not people to ask for help,” Zara said. “Being that vulnerable — dropping that shield — has not been the easiest of things to do. It’s kind of refreshing. It feels good to feel that love.”

Not too far from where the Zaras live, an overturned trailer on U.S. 70 in Swannanoa has become something of a landmark, so locals took it upon themselves to decorate it for Christmas. // Watchdog photo by John Boyle

On my way home on U.S. 70, I passed by the overturned trailer that’s become something of a landmark since Helene. Lying on its side, debris still entwined in its wheels, it’s a reminder of  the destruction and hardship the storm visited on Swannanoa.

But now, people have decorated the trailer for Christmas, complete with lights, a gaudy tree, blowups and illuminated candy canes. If that’s not turning overturned trailers into Christmas cheer, I don’t know what is.

It’s resilience, with a dash of hope. Stay strong, everyone, and have a great holiday season.


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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Helene: About $9B of resolution’s $110B relief headed to North Carolina | North Carolina

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www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – 2024-12-21 09:29:00

SUMMARY: Relief efforts for Hurricane Helene in North Carolina received a boost with the passage of the American Relief Act 2025, which allocates $110 billion for various disasters, including Hurricane Helene. While bipartisan support was shown, Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop opposed the resolution. President Biden signed the bill, directing about $9 billion specifically to North Carolina for disaster recovery, including support for infrastructure and agriculture. The aid aims to address devastation from Helene, which caused significant loss of life and property damage. Key officials emphasized the importance of this funding for the recovery of communities in western North Carolina.

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Social Security benefits boosted for millions in bill headed to Biden’s desk • NC Newsline

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ncnewsline.com – Jennifer Shutt – 2024-12-21 09:15:00

SUMMARY: The U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan bill to increase Social Security benefits by eliminating the windfall elimination provision (WEP) and government pension offset (GPO), affecting millions of Americans, particularly public servants. The legislation, costing over $195 billion over ten years, awaits President Biden’s approval. While many senators support these changes, some express concerns about the potential impact on the Social Security trust fund. Current estimates suggest this could advance insolvency by six months, prompting calls for a broader discussion on Social Security’s sustainability. The bill reflects longstanding efforts to rectify perceived inequities in the current system.

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