ASHEVILLE, North Carolina: Tens of thousands of North Carolina residents remained without running water on Thursday, six days after Hurricane Helene slammed into Florida and carved a destructive path through much of the US Southeast, killing more than 180 people.
The powerful storm inundated the western part of the state with catastrophic flooding, destroying pipes, damaging water plants and cutting off power.
One-fifth of the 1 million residents in the western half of North Carolina either had no water at all or low system pressure on Wednesday, according to an online state database. About 1 million homes and businesses across five states remained without electricity, according to website Poweroutage.us.
In hard-hit Asheville, the municipal water supply system, which serves more than 150,000 people, was badly damaged.
Many residents have been warned to expect dry faucets for days or even weeks while pipes are repaired; those with water have been urged to boil it before consuming.
A steady stream of people were filing on Wednesday into Pack Square Park, where the city had set up a food and water distribution hub.
A dozen volunteers distributed drinking water from a makeshift tap system with PVC pipes attached to a tanker truck. Nearby, volunteers distributed donated ready-to-eat meals and plastic water bags to those who had no containers or jugs.
David Shoham, a professor from East Tennessee State University who was waiting for supplies, has been without water and power since Friday.
He had filled up his bathtub ahead of the storm but has since drawn down his reserve after washing dishes.
“It’s just the reality,” he said. “There’s nothing we can do about it individually. We just have to trust that our institutions are going to step up and get services restored. Yeah, it’s frustrating. But who am I going to complain to? The man upstairs?”