Aftermath of Hurricane Helene in the NC mountains, late fall 2024

Here's a sad story about a mountain clan who were probably not living in houses built in recent years. I've seen other stories of houses demolished by landslides that were built well over 40 years ago.

October 9, 2024
abcnews.go.com

Man loses 11 family members in Hurricane Helene: Report

Jesse Craig of Fairview, North Carolina, says he lost 11 members of his family following Hurricane Helene.
abcnews.go.com abcnews.go.com
 
Might be paywalled. Written by someone who has lived in Asheville for 20 years. He lives on the edge of the city with his wife and kids. Their basement flooded a bit but in general they were able to recover relatively quickly. His story starts on Sept. 27. It's a thoughtful description by a professional writer about the last two weeks.

I bought a few things from Second Gear, the consignment shop in the River Arts district in May. I've climbed with my daughter at the climbing gym mentioned when she was in college in Asheville. The pictures in the article are of places I know.

October 9, 2024
www.outsideonline.com

I Was in Asheville When Hurricane Helene Hit. Here's What I Saw—and Continue to See.

Our national-parks columnist, a 20-year resident of Asheville, was there when Hurricane Helene's floods wiped out entire towns in Western North Carolina. Nobody expected a storm like this.
www.outsideonline.com www.outsideonline.com
" . . .
The day before the storm, I went to Second Gear to drop off a couple of things for resale. Second Gear is a consignment outdoor-gear shop that gives gently loved items like camp stoves and fleece and tents a second life, an effort in sustainability and in making things affordable to people who want to go outdoors and may lack good gear and equipment. It has a great location in the River Arts District, about 100 yards from the French Broad River.
The next time I saw Second Gear, it was in a video on social media, being swept away by the French Broad River. The entire building.

A number of guide services, like paddle-board rental shops and shuttle operators like French Broad Outfitters and Zen Tubing, that were located on the river suffered similar fates. Wrong Way Campground saw massive damage, the river breaching several of their cabins.

The local climbing gym, Cultivate Climbing, closed their flood doors, which would typically keep water out of the building. The river level was so high the waters crested the flood doors, poured in, and turned the building into a swimming pool.

Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests are closed. There’s no telling what sort of damage those mountains have suffered, because all resources right now are still dedicated to helping people in need. I’ve heard of groups of mountain bikers from the local bike club, called SORBA (for the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association), hiking into small, isolated communities and chainsawing a path for those residents to get out to the nearest fire station.
. . ."
 
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The first half of this video are musings by the couple as they drove up to the neighborhood where they own a farm. The second half shows damage along rivers and creeks, as well as a road that had temporary repairs done and active repair work. It's a road that he had driven often in the previous few days. They have been actively volunteering to help others by bringing in needed supplies. They are locals who were driving a borrowed AWD. The woman has had a YouTube channel about cooking, baking, and vegetable gardening for while. She's using the channel to actively document their experience helping with recovery.

October 7, 2024
 
One more story of a house built more than ten years ago that was destroyed by a mudslide . . . this is a report from Charlotte TV news. The family was evacuated there partially because the grandson had to be extracted from rubble of the house. The house belonged to the grandparents and was built over 25 years ago. The children had rescued the dog from a shelter a few years ago.

October 9, 2024, 4 min
 
A story that isn't getting that much notice given the level of devastation in the entire southern Appalachian region is related to the tech industry in general. Ever heard of "high-purity quartz" and how it's used to make semi-conductors? Turns out a major source is in western NC. Still too soon to know what the Quartz Company will be able to do to get production going again. The company headquarters seems to be in Norway, with work happening on three continents.

September 30, 2024
www.wunc.org

A tiny town just got slammed by Helene. It could massively disrupt the tech industry

Spruce Pine is a major global supplier of high-purity quartz. It’s an essential ingredient for microchips and solar panels.
www.wunc.org www.wunc.org

October 1, 2024
www.wired.com

Hurricane Helene Will Send Shockwaves Through the Semiconductor Industry

Downpours at Spruce Pine, North Carolina, have taken the biggest known deposit of high-purity quartz offline, leaving the global tech supply chain potentially starved of an ingredient vital for making microchips.
www.wired.com www.wired.com
 
The proper term that applies to the mudslides and landslides caused by the heavy rains from Helene is "debris flow." Starting to see it in news articles. I learned what can causes debris flows and why mountain towns were likely to be built in exactly the wrong places a hundred years ago from a video made by a geologist. He was focused on the Appalachian mountains long before 2024. It's a detailed explanation using Google Earth and drawings for what happened to wipe out a small town in Buncombe County. Asheville is in Buncombe County.

The Blue Ridge Parkway in VA has re-opened, for the most part. The NC section of the Blue Ridge Parkway will be close for a long time. The National Park Service has already found over 30 sections with major issues, and at least nine where the roadway is compromised. Apparently a study done almost a decade ago identified places that could be at risk of debris flows, but no one imagined how much rain would get dumped in such a short period.

October 11, 2024, 28 min
"Helene has impacted Appalachian life in extreme ways for the foreseeable future. In addition to catastrophic flooding, deadly landsliding occurred in numerous areas. The Garren Creek community of Buncombe County, North Carolina, may have been the area most severely affected by landslides. Huge debris flows claimed many lives in this area, and while the story has appeared on national news outlets, it has not received the attention that more populated areas have. This video talks about the disastrous debris flows in this area and how debris flows work in general. The video contains information for first responders about the risks of working in a debris flow area following the first pulse, as well as for mountain residents who may live in areas that could be hit by debris flows."
 
What's unusual about the aftermath of major flooding in Asheville, especially in comparison to Florida, is that the entire water system of the city was inoperable. A secondary intake pipe from the major reservoir had been installed in recent years . . . buried 20 25 feet deep in cement. The river scoured so deep that the pipe was toast. In addition, the storm stirred up the reservoir so much that the filtering system can't handle the water as it currently stands even after the intake pipe was fixed enough to pull in water.

The first article has more detail. That's from a local news outlet in Asheville that is part of the USA Today network.

October 11, 2024
Asheville reservoir to get direct water treatment in effort to speed return of supply
https://www.citizen-times.com/story...-takes-step-forward-at-reservoir/75603716007/

October 11, 2024
Two weeks without running water: This is life in Western North Carolina after Helene
" . . .
During a press conference with the murky lake as a backdrop, Asheville water resources director David Melton said the city will increase the amount of aluminum sulfate it uses in the reservoir. The chemical helps particulates clump together so they can drop to the bottom, making it possible for the water to pass through the plant’s filtration system.

The group also announced that workers had finished repairing a 36-inch distribution line in the system around 1 a.m. Thursday, which they described as a critical repair, but said it still could be weeks before the water is flowing to all customers.
. . ."
 
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MarzNC said:
What's unusual about the aftermath of major flooding in Asheville, especially in comparison to Florida, is that the entire water system of the city was inoperable. A secondary intake pipe from the major reservoir had been installed in recent years . . . buried 20 feet deep in cement. The river scoured so deep that the pipe was toast. In addition, the storm stirred up the reservoir so much that the filtering system can't handle the water as it currently stands even after the intake pipe was fixed enough to pull in water.

The first article has more detail. That's from a local news outlet in Asheville that is part of the USA Today network.

October 11, 2024
Asheville reservoir to get direct water treatment in effort to speed return of supply
https://www.citizen-times.com/story...-takes-step-forward-at-reservoir/75603716007/

October 11, 2024
Two weeks without running water: This is life in Western North Carolina after Helene
" . . .
During a press conference with the murky lake as a backdrop, Asheville water resources director David Melton said the city will increase the amount of aluminum sulfate it uses in the reservoir. The chemical helps particulates clump together so they can drop to the bottom, making it possible for the water to pass through the plant’s filtration system.

The group also announced that workers had finished repairing a 36-inch distribution line in the system around 1 a.m. Thursday, which they described as a critical repair, but said it still could be weeks before the water is flowing to all customers.
. . ."
Click to expand...
So much for one of the perrenial Outside magazine best towns to move to.

I'm not saying nothing can happen in most of the northeast, but, we really don't have to be too scared what Mother Nature will do to us unless we're so foolish as to build next to the ocean or a big river
 
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