Asheville Watchdog
4 days ago · Exclusive Series The lives we lost to Helene. Asheville Watchdog is bringing you the stories behind the staggering loss of life from Helene, the children, parents, grandparents, multiple generations of a single family, all gone in one of the worst natural disasters to hit the mountains of western North Carolina.
Why did Swannanoa become Helene's 'ground zero'? Deadly …
Oct 22, 2024 · The floodwaters rose so fast at Thanh Bui’s house the morning of Sept. 27, she had to swim to safety. Bui, 55, and her 30-year-old son, Quintin Ho, had been up much of the night, monitoring the howling winds and rainfall of Tropical Storm Helene. Ho periodically checked the yard of their home on Asheville […]
The lives we lost: Helene took entire families, couples, children
Oct 19, 2024 · They perished under the most harrowing circumstances: entire families swept away by raging floodwaters, couples tossed out of their homes or crushed as the land underneath gave way, people battling diseases unable to access the treatments that kept them alive. The devastating, heartbreaking picture of the lives lost in Buncombe to Tropical Storm Helene, a […]
Mission Health permanently shutters Asheville Specialty Hospital
Nov 25, 2024 · 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 …
City banking on quicker water restoration by first fixing North Fork ...
Oct 5, 2024 · Twice in two decades, enormous transmission lines have washed out at North Fork Reservoir after torrential, hurricane-induced rain events, leaving city residents without water for days on end. In September 2004, a historic rain event spawned by a hurricane pummeled the Black Mountain and Swannanoa areas, causing a catastrophic failure of the City of Asheville’s […]
It’s official: Helene’s rainfall, flooding broke all-time records
Oct 4, 2024 · In terms of rainfall, flooding, and, tragically, lives lost, Hurricane Helene is officially worse than the historic 1916 and 2004 floods that until last week stood as the most damaging natural disasters in recorded Buncombe County history, according to state climate data. “I just kind of assumed that … we wouldn’t ever actually see another […]
City expects $39 million Army Corps of Engineers-led filtration …
Dec 4, 2024 · While the City of Asheville has restored potable water to its 63,000 customers, it’s still struggling with high turbidity at its main reservoir, North Fork. Filtering that cloudy water remains a challenge, but major assistance is on the way this week in the form of a $39 million six-month project spearheaded by the Army Corps […]
City starting to repressurize water system in eastern Buncombe, …
Oct 12, 2024 · While the City of Asheville crossed a milestone this week by reconnecting a major bypass valve at North Fork Reservoir that can feed the entire system, officials cautioned that full restoration is still weeks away. Contractors continue to repair the distribution system, which includes miles of pipes often left in disarray by Helene’s floodwaters on […]
Helene’s floodwaters have abated, but the risk of more potentially ...
Oct 25, 2024 · Dozens of powerful, fast-moving landslides carved deep scars into the hills and valleys around Buncombe County amid the fury of Tropical Storm Helene, sweeping away lives, destroying or damaging buildings and roadways, and dumping vast amounts of soil, rocks, and organic matter into rivers and reservoirs. While record flooding caused much of Helene’s devastation last […]
Asheville Mayor, Buncombe officials among delegation headed to …
Nov 19, 2024 · Carrying a list of staggering losses and needs and initial requests totaling more than $2 billion, public officials from Asheville and Buncombe County will travel to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to ask federal agencies and Congressional representatives to “add a zero” to the amount of federal aid for storm-ravaged western North Carolina. The delegation of […]