Drowned by hurricane, remote North Carolina towns now struggle for water
Raw StoryNicole Crane, exhausted, tearful and unwashed after a week of searching for a neighbor swept away by the raging waters of Hurricane Helene, dreams of taking a shower. But she and the other 100,000 residents of the US town of Asheville, North Carolina are without fresh drinking water, forced to rely on bottled water -- or in some cases on river or spring water. Dog teams finally found her neighbor's body the day before, "so not having fresh water has been low priority," she told AFP on Saturday, as a tanker nearby distributed the precious commodity. "The big adventure of the day," laughs Shelley, "is finding water for the toilet" -- both for her family and for less mobile neighbors. The city had protectively installed backup water pipes in 2004, but Helene swept them all away during its devastating passage on September 27, a cataclysm rendered even more intense by climate change, scientists say.
History of this topic
Vance tells residents in hurricane-stricken North Carolina that they haven’t been forgotten
Associated Press
Communities in North Carolina are still without drinkable water 8 weeks after Helene
NPRWestern North Carolina’s water system is finally back online after Helene
Associated Press
Asheville, North Carolina, could have boil water notice lifted by next week
CNN
It could still be months before parts of North Carolina get clean drinking water
The Independent
A week after Helene hit, thousands still without water struggle to find enough
The Independent
Traumatized hurricane survivors are found standing in chest-deep water inside North Carolina home
Daily Mail
It's still unknown how bad things are after Helene tore through western North Carolina
NPR
Hundreds evacuated over feared dam failure in North Carolina following Storm Helene flooding
The Independent
Hurricane Helene Leaves Dozens Dead, Millions Without Power After March Across Southeast
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