We’re now a week out from Tropical Storm Helene hitting our state.
For thousands of North Carolinians, finding basic necessities is still a daily struggle.
Other WRAL Top Stories
Some towns, including Banner Elk, are “strongly recommending” that people leave if they live in an area without power and water.
Gov. Roy Cooper said he couldn’t comment on Banner Elk's situation, along with whether that’s something that should apply to other areas across the state.
He did say the federal, local and state governments are continuing to surge resources into the mountains, to try and get this infrastructure back online as quickly as possible. Cooper toured damage in Haywood County on Friday, including at Pisgah High School's football stadium.
In Asheville, dump trucks poured into the Swannanoa Valley, and backhoes were digging into the dirt and laying down new pipe just downstream from the North Fork Reservoir.
That’s one of two water supplies for the city of Asheville that are offline indefinitely. There is a bright spot here: Federal officials talking about the pace of work. Things are actually going better than they expected in the repair. That doesn’t give us a time frame yet, but they’re making progress and that’s really encouraging.
In the meantime, Gov. Cooper said the state is working to get temporary solutions in place, including bringing in bottled water for people to drink.
Air drops are also continuing, to try and reach the most remote areas, and people who are still cut off.
But beyond drinking water, there’s another issue - people need water to bathe and flush toilets. We’ve seen folks this week harvesting river water from the French Broad River to do that.
Buncombe County officials said Friday that people absolutely should not do that as the river should be treated as hazardous.