As transportation officials in Tennessee and North Carolina brace for long rebuilds of heavily damaged interstates in remote and rugged areas of the Appalachian Mountains, local agencies are also at work restoring water and sewer services to residents nearly one week after Hurricane Helene made landfall.
Helene’s impacts to water infrastructure began just after landfall in cities like Tampa and St. Petersburg, the latter of which reported seven wastewater spills totaling more than 400,000 gallons of untreated wastewater, according to notifications from the city Sept. 27 and Sept. 29.
The Tampa Bay Times reported at least 10 spills from the Tampa system totaling 8.5 million gallons of sewage, with several smaller communities reporting multiple other spills across the region as well, including in Hillsborough County, Fla., where Director of Water Resources Lisa Rhea says the sewer system was up to 6 ft underwater.
Tampa’s primary wastewater pumping station, the Krauss Pumping Station, was repaired the afternoon of Sept. 27 and brought back online, according to the city, while others remained in operation as crews made repairs.
Asheville Braces for Extensive Rebuild
In hard-hit Asheville, N.C., water treatment and distribution facilities have been heavily damaged. Major water distribution pipes were washed away and access roads to city water facilities are now impassable.
In a Oct. 3 Facebook post, Asheville City Councilwoman Sage Turner says the area’s sewer system, the Metropolitan Sewerage District (MSD) of Buncombe County, was functioning and continued to function throughout the storm, but that restoration of water service is still weeks away.
“It will take weeks to have water restored, not months,” she wrote. “Some water is already restored and one water plant is producing.”
All major MSD lines are working, Turner explains in a separate post, citing MSD Director Tom Hartye, who says all essential employees have been working 24/7 since Sept. 27, and while the plant had to resort to backup power, it remained operational the entire time. Also, 37 of 40 pump stations are running on backup power. The remaining three were still underwater as of Oct. 2.
Asheville, through its Water Resources Dept., operates three treatment plants for potable water, including at Mills River near Asheville Regional Airport, part of a rugged, 47,400-acre watershed located mostly in Pisgah National Forest. The Mills River facility is the only plant still operating as of Oct. 3, albeit at a reduced level.
The Asheville Citizen-Times reports that the storm washed out thousands of feet of 24-in. and 36-in. water main lines and transmission lines at Asheville’s North Fork Water Treatment Plant in nearby Black Mountain.
Ben Wood, Asheville assistant city manager, told the paper Oct. 2 that measurable progress is being made toward repairing the system, and that a milestone had been reached at the Mills River plant which is beginning to ramp up production.
Other system repairs will require the reconstruction of access roads, and Wood described the damage to water transmission lines as severe. According to the city, Asheville operates more than 1,700 miles of distribution lines.
“Tropical Storm Helene severely damaged the production and distribution system,” says an update on Asheville’s website. “Extensive repairs are required to treatment facilities, underground and above ground water pipes, and to roads that have washed away.”
Photo courtesy City of Asheville via Facebook
Providing a precise timeframe to restore service is not possible but it could take weeks, the city says, noting that the repair process is underway with critical materials arriving Oct. 1 at two of the system’s treatment plants.
Mike Holcombe, former director for Asheville’s water system, told NPR that bypass lines used as backup in case of outages also got washed out, noting that the combination of mountainous topography and washed out highways and access roads are keeping heavy equipment from reaching areas where it’s needed.
The two Asheville water facilities that are out of commission supply about 70% of the system’s customers, Holcombe explained, saying “it’s really a nightmare.”
The MSD facility, upgraded to a 40 million-gallon-per-day rating in the 1990s, was originally constructed in the 1960s, and as of a 2022 update, was operating at just under 24 mgd.
Just to the south in Henderson County, several areas remain under boil water advisories, and one area still without water service as of Oct. 3, according to the city of Hendersonville, which operates water and sewer for the county.
City crews were making progress in assessing flood damage at its water treatment plant, restoring it to working order following multiple line breaks and leaks caused by floodwaters.
FEMA Funds on the Way
President Joe Biden visited Western North Carolina Oct. 2, days after approving a major disaster declaration for Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, clearing the way for federal funds to go toward individuals’ disaster-related expenses.
Biden announced a 100% FEMA reimbursement for six months as he toured the affected areas via helicopter alongside North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Oct. 2.
FEMA has enough funds for the moment, but not enough to make it through hurricane season, the Associated Press reported Oct. 2, citing information from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who wasn’t specific about the agency’s needs.
A short-term government spending bill provided $20 million for FEMA’s disaster relief fund as part of an agreement to fund the government through Dec. 20. More than 150,000 households have registered for assistance with FEMA, AP reports, though that number is expected to rise rapidly in the coming days.
Eight Northeast Tennessee counties are named in its disaster declaration, which includes FEMA’s public assistance, Emergency Work Categories A and B, Individual Assistance, Hazard Mitigation Grant and Direct Federal Assistance.
“The Expedited Major Disaster Declaration is a crucial first step in providing survivors with essential resources,” Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) Director Patrick C. Sheehan says in a statement.
By the evening of Oct. 2, wastewater treatment plants in the five worst-hit East Tennessee counties were reporting impacts or problems due to flooding, with 19 drinking water facilities reporting operation issues, including 15 which have boil water advisories in place.
Highway Assessments, Repairs Continue
Despite a note on Google Maps showing an expected reopening date of September 2025 for Interstate 40 between North Carolina and Tennessee, North Carolina Dept. of Transportation spokesperson David Uchiyama says it’s just a placeholder in the system, and a precise date hasn’t yet been established.
NCDOT has established a detour around the closed portions of Interstates 40 and 26, which routes drivers from I-40 near Knoxville, north along Interstate 81 into Virginia, then south on Interstate 77 to where it connects with I-40 at Statesville. The detour as shown by NCDOT is nearly a six-hour drive, per Google Maps. Knoxville to Asheville on I-40 was roughly a two-hour drive before the closure.
Hundreds of roads remain closed in Western North Carolina, where NCDOT’s traffic information page DriveNC.gov warns potential travelers of shortages of food, water, gas, power and communications in the region.
On the Tennessee side, the state Dept. of Transportation has repaired and reopened 25 state routes, saying in an online update that “long-term closures will be in place across the region as many routes will require significant repairs and for others, a total rebuild.”