Hurricane Helene Updates: Cold Weather Donations Needed, Well Water Test Kits, Trash Collection Updates & More

In response to the ongoing natural disaster, Buncombe County has made modifications to its website to ensure important information is easily accessible, even for those with limited internet bandwidth. Both buncombecounty.org and buncombeready.org now feature simple pages with clickable buttons for vital information on water, emergency numbers, disaster assistance, and more. The full website remains available through these pages, and users can toggle between languages in the top right corner. 

Cold Weather Donations Needed   
As temperatures drop, we need cold-weather donations for Hurricane Helene survivors. Please donate coats, blankets, gloves, hand warmers, and other items at the following locations: 

• 1298 Patton Avenue, West Asheville.   
• Arden Presbyterian Church, 2215 Hendersonville Road, Asheville.   
• Harrah's Cherokee Center, 87 Haywood Street (9 a.m.-5 p.m., seven days a week).   

The donation site at 6 Commerce Way in Arden is not currently taking cold-weather related donations so please drop-off these donations at the other 3 sites.   

Burning Clarification   
Burning debris is not allowed within any municipal limits. If burning debris outside of city limits, ensure it is from your property and made of natural materials. Do not remove debris from rivers or public areas until crews have completed their search. 

Well Water Testing Kits 
Home well water testing kits will be available at 30 Valley Street starting Thursday and will be available from Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.- 4 p.m. These have easy-to-follow instructions.

Additional Well Water Resource and Info - https://nc-helene-data-nu.hub.arcgis.com/pages/well-water-resources/ 

Trash Collection   
WastePro is working to maintain normal routes as road conditions allow. 

• Today, Wednesday Oct.9 Waste Pro is trying to run its normal Wednesday route in the Swannanoa area. You can also drop bagged household trash off at their trucks at Bell Elementary School (90 Maple Springs Road in Asheville) or Owen Pool (117 Stone Drive in Swannanoa) until 4:30 p.m. today only. After today, those trucks will move on and will not be available at these sites. Do not leave trash at the locations if the trucks are gone. 
• On Thursday, Oct. 10, WastePro will run normal routes for household trash to accessible locations in Arden and Fairview. On Thursday only, WastePro will also have trucks located at the Ingles at 255 Charlotte Highway in Asheville and Glen Arden Elementary School (50 Pinehurst Cir, Arden) for residents who access. This is for household bagged trash only from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

Transfer Station   
The transfer station at 190 Hominy Creek Road in Asheville is open for residential bagged trash only.

• At this time, there will be no charge for Buncombe County residents who bring bagged trash to Transfer station. The bagged trash fee waiver is temporary until we are able to get payment processing equipment fully back restored.   
• No commercial vehicles allowed to dump at transfer station at this time and will provide update as we work to restore the full function of transfer station.   

Commercial and large vehicles should use the Buncombe County landfill at 85 Panther Branch Road in Alexander at this time. 

• Use caution on the access road to transfer station as Hominy Creek Road still has dirt/silt along the edges of roadway. The hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. 

The landfill is open from 6 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. Saturday.  

FEMA Updates 
There are some locals who are applying for FEMA disaster assistance are experiencing denials, the City of Asheville is working to identify issues and provide a solution for this issue. 
FEMA has approved 24,500 applications for Buncombe County residents to a total of $27 million. 
A FEMA disaster recovery center has opened today at A.C. Reynolds High School at 1 Rocket Drive in Asheville, open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. where people can register for assistance in person, talk to someone with the Small Business Administration, and access services from the state. The first step in the recovery process is talking to your insurance agent and then registering for FEMA assistance. FEMA will not be at the AB-Tech Center today. 

Mountain Mobility  
Mountain Mobility continues transportation for dialysis, chemotherapy, or other life-sustaining medical treatments. It is also resuming non-emergency medical trips transportation, ADA complementary paratransit services as able, and the Enka-Candler Trailblazer Service.  

Mailing Updates 

• United States Postal Service: USPS has temporarily suspended retail and delivery operations for some postal facilities throughout WNC until further notice.  For offices that are experiencing a temporary closure, the Postal Service is making contingency plans to conduct retail and delivery operations from a nearby facility. This includes USPS operations in Alexander at 2350 Old Marshall Hwy have moved to Weaverville at 270 N Main St. Customers can also call 1-800-ASK-USPS with questions about facilities and delivery.  
• UPS is delivering to locations deemed safe; if roads are not clear, customers can pick up items at UPS at 301 Sweeten Creek Industrial Park Drive in Asheville.  

ID Bureau   
We’ve received questions about concealed carry permits since the City/County Bureau of Identification has been closed. For customers who had scheduled appointments, staff has been reaching out via the provided email and/or phone number to advise on the process to rescheduled. Current concealed handgun permit holders have a limited grace period for renewal if they are due to expire.   

Parks and Libraries  
These facilities remain closed – we have redirected our staff to work the emergency response, and as much as we’d like to have these open, we must remain focused on supporting our community through this crisis.    

Elections 
Buncombe County has an early voting election plan, click here for the full update. 

Schools Update

Buncombe County Schools 
The priority for Buncombe County Schools is to safely reopen schools as quickly as possible with many areas without water and road hazards. Good news is, 40 out of 45 schools now have power. The safest and most actionable plan for reopening school will be to bring in portable restrooms with handwashing stations.

Buncombe County Schools has put in a request to get these facilities on campus as soon as possible. Meals, which include free breakfast and lunch to all students, will pivot to grab-and-go meals. Buncombe County Schools has no exact reopening date as of today, but parents will receive a minimum 72-hour notice. Work is also being done to remap county bus routes.  

Asheville City Schools 
Asheville City Schools (ACS) has started drilling wells at campuses and was able to get ground water at Hall Fletcher Elementary School. It will take about 2-3 weeks before they can take water from the well to use at schools. ACS plans to drill wells on all campuses to serve as backup water. ACS has submitted an order for portable toilet trailers.

The targeted school opening date for ACS is Oct. 28, however the goal is to open as soon as safely possible so this date may change. ACS will provide a 72-hour notice to parents prior to re-opening. 

This week ACS also has opportunities for students: 

• A college admission work session will take place on Thursday from 2-6 p.m. at Montford North Star Academy at 90 Montford Ave. Asheville. This is an opportunity for seniors to access internet and support for applications, essays, meals, and councilors on site. There will also be limited access to portable restrooms.  
• Bridge Learning for K-12 grade students will launch on Monday, Oct. 14 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Isaac Dickson Elementary School and Hall Fletcher Elementary Schools. This provides some enrichment while students are not in schools' full time. All Asheville City Schools students are welcome to attend.  

City of Asheville 
The City of Asheville has made curfew changes to reflect hours best suitable for restaurant operations. The new curfew is 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. starting Thursday, Oct. 10. 

Water Updates 

• Northfork 36-inch Bypass Waterline: Crews continue to progress on pipeline repairs, overcoming unanticipated obstacles, such as a section that had to be removed because it was clogged with boulders. The entire waterway has shifted, so repairs have had to happen in 20-foot sections as workers build temporary dams to reroute the water away from the pipe trench. It’s painstaking work that requires a mix of heavy equipment and handheld shovels. Despite this, the expedited project, with inspectors and engineers on site to make timely decisions, is progressing far more quickly than a similar project that under standard protocols would take many months to build. A major milestone – the installation of a turn in the pipe – is progressing, as the “elbow” was lowered into the work area. That connection will mark a major step toward linking the treatment plant to the pipe network that distributes water to users. 
• Swannanoa River Road: the road and water lines were washed out into the river. Local crews are working toward the west because the water is moving in that direction. N.C. DOT is coming from the opposite direction to meet them. Once transmission lines are in place and repaired, the plant can begin to pump water into the system. The next phase will be pressurizing the network of pipes to discover the location of breaks that must be repaired before full restoration of service. Utility crews are coming from other municipalities to help. 
• Northfork Reservoir and Treatment Plant: the storm flipped sediment at the bottom that is now suspended at the top. Engineers and scientists are developing a treatment option for this murky water. There is a miniature plant to test scenarios. They are working to develop an in-reservoir treatment system to allow sediment to stick together so it can settle. Were they to process the murky water as is, it would destroy the filtration system, which would take months to repair.  

Update from USAR Operations 
USAR search and rescue operations for Hurricane Helene response include the following statistics as of Oct. 8: 

• USAR teams conducted more than 13,000 structural damage observations, out of these 10,089 were unaffected, 686 had minor damage, 636 were affected, 901 had major damage, and 560 were destroyed. 
• There were 3,133 resident assists, 200 rescues, 183 resident evacuations, and 35 pet evacuations. 

Sign up for text message and email alerts at www.buncombecounty.org/codered or by texting BCAlert to 99411.

Our previous daily briefings, from Sept. 25 until Oct. 8 can be found by clicking here.