Helping Our Neighbors in Asheville Get Back on Their Feet After Hurricane Helene

It was late in the evening on Thursday, September 26, when Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm with 140 mph winds. The devastation was felt across Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina, as millions experienced extreme flooding and loss of power and water services.

In Asheville, North Carolina, storm damage washed out two major 24-inch and 36-inch water transmission mains leading to the destruction of a section of a vital 36-inch bypass line. The 36-inch line connected the North Fork Water Treatment Plant, which supplies 80% of the city’s water, to its distribution system. Compounding the problem was debris clogging what remained of the bypass line and sediment in the North Fork Reservoir.

On Friday evening, just one day after the storm hit, Ferguson Waterworks Municipal Sales Manager Drew Petonick called AMERICAN Ductile Iron Pipe (ADIP) Sales Engineer Dustin Covington with an emergency request for help in Asheville.

“Drew said they needed help and get it to us as quickly as you can,” Covington said. “From the beginning we were doing everything we could to get this pipe delivered. I reached out to ADIP Project Management Coordinator April Cox who began working to secure 24- and 36-inch pipe. April entered the purchase order on Sunday, and Traffic and Shipping worked to get 1,000 feet of 24-inch and 100 feet of 36-inch pipe ready to ship to Asheville on Monday and Tuesday. We had to repurpose trucks and tell drivers where to go with the roads washed out. Everyone has just been profusely thankful for how quickly AMERICAN responded.”    

On Saturday, ADIP Southeast Regional Manager Tony McLain received a similar call from Chad Pierce, Engineering Services manager with the city of Asheville Water Resources Department. “Chad said the situation was worse than what was being reported and many of the city’s water lines were washed away,” McLain said. “Often pipe is installed on the side of the road in rights of way. Many of these roads and the piping beside them were destroyed during the storm. The city was in discovery mode and their needs were changing as they continued to assess the damage and what needed to be done to restore water services.”   

Over the next several days, Covington and McLain continued to receive calls and emails about emergent needs from Ferguson, the city’s Water Resources Department and emergency contractor T&K Utilities, who had partnered with AMERICAN and Ferguson on previous projects. Covington and McLain worked with AMERICAN’s Product Management team – Operations Manager Tristan Argo and April Cox – to get purchase orders entered and pipe ready to deliver. AMERICAN shipped an additional 1,360 feet of 36-inch pipe between October 2 and 11. This 36-inch AMERICAN Flex-Ring pipe was used to make repairs on primary transmission mains and to replace the bypass line at the North Fork Water Treatment Plant.

“Just days after the storm hit, AMERICAN had pipe rolling toward Asheville to help our neighbors,” Argo said. “T&K Utilities, Tennoca and other contractors have been installing pipe around the clock to restore water services. We have a long way to go before the area is back to normal, but progress is being made.” 

On October 10, at 1 a.m., the city of Asheville announced T&K Utilities had connected North Fork Water Treatment Plant’s 36-inch bypass line to the water distribution system, less than 10 days after the storm hit. While this repair represented a significant milestone in getting water services restored to homes and businesses, Asheville’s Water Resources personnel and contractors continue to work 24/7 to restore water services to all.

“The efforts of so many have helped Western North Carolina greatly,” Covington said. “At the end of the day, we were all just doing our jobs, getting pipe shipped to support Asheville’s ongoing needs and answering technical questions. The real heroes are the city employees, contractors and others who have been working nonstop for weeks to restore water, power and other services and aid in recovery efforts. Our thoughts continue to be with all those affected.”

On October 21, the city of Asheville announced the Water Resources Department had restored about 99 percent of water service. A boil water notice remained in effect on October 28.