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By Rachel Dobkin
Weekend Reporter
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The trail of devastation created by Hurricane Helene last week has become a "public health emergency," says a local official in a hard-hit North Carolina county, as thousands are left without water.
Helene made landfall last Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of around 140 miles per hour near Perry, Florida, in the state's Big Bend region.
The storm brought fatalities across several southern and southeastern states. Helene also brought storm surges and torrential rain that threatened several dams and inundated Asheville, North Carolina, with floodwaters. At least 225 people across the Southeast have been killed by the storm as of midday Saturday, the Associated Press reported. Much of western North Carolina was destroyed by the storm and relief efforts are ongoing.
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that roughly 136,000 people in the Southeast are being served by a non-operational water provider and over 1.8 million are under a boil water advisory as of Thursday.
Helene knocked out crucial parts of Asheville's water system. Water was restored in some southern Asheville neighborhoods Friday, but without full repairs, the regular operations of schools, hospitals, hotels and restaurants are threatened. Even non-drinkable water, like toilet water, is scarce.
Drew Reisinger—the elected Buncombe County, where Asheville is located, register of deeds—is concerned about apartment building residents who can't easily get water to flush their toilets.
"One thing no one is talking about is the amount of poop that exists in every toilet in Asheville," he told the AP. "We're dealing with a public health emergency."
Officials have advised residents to collect non-drinkable water from a local swimming pool.
Newsweek has reached out to the EPA's water office and Buncombe County's public health department outside of business hours via email for comment Saturday evening.
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Another danger is contaminated cooking and drinking water. Hundreds of providers have issued boil water notices suggesting that the water could be contaminated. Small mistakes in the boiling process can cause stomach illness, Natalie Exum, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told the AP.
"Every day that goes by, you could be exposed to a pathogen," Exum said. "These basic services that we take for granted in our everyday lives actually do do a lot to prevent illness."
Meanwhile, recovery efforts have been made harder by the steep, narrow valleys of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
"The challenges of the geography are just fewer roads, fewer access points, fewer areas of flat ground to stage resources," Brian Smith, acting deputy division director for the EPA's water division in the Southeast, told the AP.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
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