Energy News
WATER WORLD
Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
Reuters Events SMR and Advanced Reactor 2025
Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
By Ulysse BELLIER
Asheville, United States (AFP) Oct 6, 2024

Nicole 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.

As the region struggles to recover from the storm that killed at least 226 people across the US southeast, dumping a deluge onto the North Carolina mountains, one fundamental issue is of immediate concern: getting access to water.

Flood damage severely disrupted Asheville's water system.

Crane, clad in a red tank top, the lines in her face a reflection of despair, described her desperate search for her neighbor -- a man she last saw "on his roof, going down the river."

Now, knowing his final fate, she struggles to hold it together.

"I smell bad right now, and I'm exhausted and hungry," she told AFP, breaking into tears.

She had heard that showers are available some 30 miles (50 kilometers) away, but that's just too far. "I'm going to come back," she said, "and get some water so I can wash my face."

- River water -

A stone's throw away, Jessica Pickering and her husband Michael open the valves of a 6,200-gallon (23,500-liter) tanker, financed by the NGO World Central Kitchen, to fill the bottles and jerrycans of the grateful residents who pass by.

Shelley Hughes, 64, and her son Owen, 27, load heavy buckets of water into the trunk of their car.

"The big adventure of the day," laughs Shelley, "is finding water for the toilet" -- both for her family and for less mobile neighbors.

Thousands of residents are using a more primitive approach: scooping water from a nearby river to pour it into their toilet bowls.

Packs of bottled water, distributed by volunteers in church and school parking lots throughout the region, are used for drinking, cooking and washing up.

The water crisis, in a region crippled by the deadliest hurricane to hit the United States since Katrina in 2005, could be a daily feature of people's lives for some time.

The city of Asheville is coordinating work to restore normal water supplies.

But a top city official refused to give a date for a return to normal.

And "I'm not going to give a timetable on when I would give a timetable," the official, Ben Woody, said in a briefing published on Facebook.

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.

- Spring water -

Far from the city, in one of the scores of steep valleys in the surrounding mountains, octogenarian Clyde Hollifield and his wife Adrienne live in a small white house under a canopy of trees, miles from any store.

A spring on the far side of a nearby stream normally provides them with fresh drinking water, delivered to them by a small pipe. But torrential floodwaters swept that away, too.

"It was like a tsunami," said Hollifield, who wears a long white beard.

Using scraps of wood, he has cobbled together a makeshift bridge to support a new water pipe.

Their neighbor Juniper Odell arrives. She and her husband rely on water they also pipe from a spring, but that too was damaged by Helene. The Odells, do-it-yourselfers by necessity -- like so many in these reclusive areas -- repaired it themselves.

Further downstream, a few miles from the village of Chimney Rock -- or what was Chimney Rock, before the floods virtually wiped it off the map -- the parking lot of an air-conditioning company serves as a warehouse for stacks of bottled water packs.

On Saturday morning, 79-year-old Randall Melton drove from his nearby home to collect a few gallons. What for?

"To make coffee," he said simply.

Related Links
Water News - Science, Technology and Politics

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
WATER WORLD
Longer satellite altimetry cycles could offer broader insights into inland waters
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Sep 30, 2024
Satellite observations have long been recognized for their efficiency in monitoring Earth's surface, especially in remote regions like rivers and lakes. Now, a group of international researchers suggests that longer orbital repeats of satellite altimetry - where satellites take less-frequent measurements over a wider area - may provide more valuable data than missions with more frequent, but localized, observations. These findings were published on Aug. 27 in the 'Journal of Remote Sensing'. ... read more

WATER WORLD
Hydrosat secures new NOAA grant to advance climate monitoring efforts

Most tropical thunderstorms emit gamma radiation

ICEYE unveils Dwell Precise mode with enhanced 25 cm resolution

Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions

WATER WORLD
LEO satellites hold the key to resilient, interference-free navigation

China launches two more satellites for Beidou navigation system

SpaceX launches European Galileo satellites to medium Earth orbit

OneWeb Technologies unveils Astra PNT Solution for GPS-Denied Environments

WATER WORLD
Indonesia biomass drive threatens key forests and orangutans

Extensive reforestation can help curb global warming

From Bolivia to Indonesia, deforestation continues apace

Forests in New England may store more carbon than previously estimated

WATER WORLD
New process converts plant waste into sustainable jet fuel

Electrochemical cell converts captured carbon to green fuel with high efficiency

Using sunlight to recycle harmful gases into valuable products

New study highlights improved ethanol production method using CO2 and Nanocatalysts

WATER WORLD
The ZEUS Project to harness solar energy in space with nanowire technology

Solar-powered desalination system requires no extra batteries

Photovoltaic upgrade in Jiaxing, China significantly boosts power output

China's solar goes from supremacy to oversupply

WATER WORLD
Government action needed for world to meet renewables goal: IEA

UK campaigners in green energy standoff reject 'nimby' label

Wind turbine orders grow 23 percent, led by China: study

Researchers develop method for chemically recyclable wind turbine blades

WATER WORLD
Despite progress, China remains tethered to coal as climate change pressures mount

S. Africa offers a lesson on how not to shut down a coal plant

Can carbon credits help close coal plants?

Britain's last coal-fired power station closes

WATER WORLD
Artist Marina Abramovic hopes first China show offers tech respite

Senior UK judge becomes fifth to leave top Hong Kong court

China's 'red collectors' cherish bygone Maoist era

China's slowdown highlights economic inequality in Shanghai

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.