Towns struggle without water, sewer, electricity
Rachel Hoskins
rhoskins@thefranklinpress.com
“It’s as bad as anything the county has ever experienced in its history,” said N.C. Senator Ralph Hise sitting in the Spruce Pine Fire Department on Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 1. A native of Spruce Pine, Hise has seen a lot – floods that ravaged Bakersville, “fires of massive proportion” including a jail fire that claimed lives and left behind nightmares that will last a lifetime, and a rash of fires that burned a business district in Spruce Pine to the ground.
“Nothing’s close to this,” said Hise. “The entire county is affected. Spruce Pine and Bakersville have no water service, no sewer service. The entire county is without electrical service, phone service, internet. There’s no gasoline. We’re at the beginning stages of recovery. We’re five days in now and today we’re getting the first real supplies that have touched the county.”
From cutting through fallen trees and debris to locate people, to getting oxygen to individuals, to trying to keep the Blue Ridge Hospital up and running, to a massive crisis at the Mitchell-Avery Correctional Institution requiring the evacuation of prisoners, the challenges facing the people of Mitchell County are unprecedented.
Bill Hoag, assistant chief at the Spruce Pine Fire Department, is no stranger to the aftermath of hurricanes.
“I’m from Florida,” said Hoag, who now calls Spruce Pine home. “I’ve been through a lot of hurricanes. This is on the verge of a humanitarian crisis.”
“We can all live without power for a while,” said Hoag. “But when you’re without water, sewer, power and food, it becomes a humanitarian issue. We’re getting help. People and trucks are arriving. All of the agencies – town, county, state, federal agencies – are working together to get to people and to get food and water, anything that people need out to the community.”
Hoag said it’s important for everyone to realize the extent of the damage. Downed trees and flooding have washed out roads and bridges making parts of the county unreachable. The water and sewer systems in Spruce Pine and Bakersville are compromised to the point of being non-existent. On Tuesday Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) teams that specialize in water treatment and waste treatment plants were on the ground assessing the damage to the systems. There are no short-term fixes.
Once electricity is on – which will take weeks in some locations – people with wells and septic systems will have access to water. But today there is no timeline for when municipal services will be restored to residents and businesses.
“We recommend that people consider self-evacuating if they have the resources to do so,” said Hise. “If you need support, medical support, you’re on oxygen, you need potable water, and you have family or friends out of area that you can stay with for a while, we strongly recommend that you do that.”
“We’re making similar requests to long-term care facilities,” added Hoag. “We just don’t have the backbone [the infrastructure] to support them in the way they need to be supported after the storm.”
Hise said he understands people’s frustrations. He’s been in town since the storm hit.
People are frustrated and anxiety is beginning to set in.
“But that’s not who we are as a community and that is not who we are going to become as a community either,” said Hise.
Help is here
The biggest drawback that has hampered county leaders and residents is blocked roads, washed out bridges and the lack of communication. Without accessibility and no electricity, no phone service and no internet, communication has been non-existent. A few Starlink communication systems scattered throughout the county are helping resolve the issue, but it’s still not good.
“We have a communication system because a man was sitting at home, watching television through Starlink and thought, ‘maybe the fire department could make better use of this system,’” said Hoag. “Another guy drove down from Michigan with two systems in his car. Local families and individuals who have resources and influence are reaching out beyond what we could do on our own and helping to make things happen – providing shelter for linemen, bringing in generators to get gas pumps up and running, bringing in fuel.”
Hise said there are several resources coming to the county from the state and around the country.
The National Guard is on the ground and in the air, search and rescue teams in conjunction with local volunteer firemen and first responders are conducting door-to-door searches, the Baptist men with their mobile food kitchen are providing meals and water, law enforcement officers from around the country are all converging in Mitchell County to help with the recovery process.
“They are here,” said Hise. “And they are helping.”
Hoag said help is also coming from local industries like Sibelco and The Quartz Corp.
“Their number one priority was to locate their associates and make sure they were OK. Now they are clearing roads, using their equipment and manpower to help cut trees, rebuild roads, and help us focus on restoring infrastructure,” said Hoag. “Our community, out local community has kept Mitchell County stabilized, from everyday citizens to our business partners, to our fire departments, to law enforcement agencies, to our prison guards. They’ve kept us going. Appalachian people are self-reliant. They take care of themselves and their neighbors.”
But recovery will not be quick, cautioned Hoag. The town of Spruce Pine not only lost their water supply and their sewer treatment facility, they lost their maintenance shed and all their equipment. “We don’t even have wrench,” said Hoag.
“So, people need to make plans. Recovery is not going to be soon. If you have medical needs – oxygen – you should consider going somewhere you can receive the services you need, because it getting to a point that we’re overwhelmed and we can’t provide those services on an ongoing basis.”
What’s next
Hise said the towns and county are working together to establish communication and next steps in the recovery processes. Mitchell County issues an emergency update every day at 1 p.m. that can be heard on WTOE Radio (1470 AM) and it is posted on the Mitchell County Emergency Management Facebook page as well as the Mitchell News-Journal facebook page.
On a state level Hise said while response has been slow in coming, it is coming.
“Sen. Ted Budd and Rep. Virginia Foxx have been outstanding,” said Hise.
“I’ve been able to talk at the state level about our specific needs – the hospital – our water needs, National Guard assistance, road clearing assistance. That help is showing up now and I feel good about it. But it’s like we had two disasters. We’ve had the flood and the natural disaster, and we’ve had the social disaster and a communication collapse. The state started responding to the place they were getting calls from asking for help. We had no forms of communication. Now we do. And help is arriving and it’s not just coming from the state. It’s from Louisiana and Virginia. It’s the Border Patrol. It’s FEMA.”
Hoag said FEMA teams are currently evaluating the housing situation and determining which homes are inhabitable and which are not.
“We have a tremendous number of houses that are gone, hit by trees, partially destroyed, need roof or other repairs. And that’s what we know about. There are still three or four areas in the county that we have not been able to access to make an assessment.”
“We’ve been through this before,” said Hise. “And we came through it. The 98 flood, the Buddy Creek Flood, six fires in the town of Spruce Pine. We thought no business would ever come back to downtown Spruce Pine when that happened. And they did. We’re resilient. We’re a strong community. We will recover.”