Hurricane Helene Resources
Employee Assistance Network Resources List
Additional resources for Hurricane Helene disaster Relief. This is a multi-county source list
ASHEVILLE WATER ALERT
Water To Wine: What to do under a Boil Water Notice
The City of Asheville Water Resources Department is issuing a Boil Water Notice for all City of Asheville water customers due to loss of pressure in distribution system pipes and levels of turbidity (particles) in the water.
Boil Water Notice fact Sheet
A Boil Water Notice means there is contamination due to impacts from Hurricane Helene including the potential for untreated water in the distribution system from pipe breaks and levels of turbidity that exceed Safe Drinking Water Act standards initially used to restore water pressure. Your water may look cloudy and/or have a chlorine odor.
It is Required for customers to vigorously boil tap water for 1 minute before consuming it. Once laboratory testing of the system confirms the possibility of risk is not present, customers will receive notification that the boil water notice has been lifted via the same method you received this notice.
Where can customers go to get information?
For further information, please call 828-251-1122, or visit the City of Asheville Website www.ashevillenc.gov/helene.
Water can be used for flushing toilets, laundry, bathing, washing dishes at 170 degrees, and washing hands for basic personal hygiene but not for commercial food preparation. During bathing please monitor small children to ensure they do not accidentally drink the water. Infants can be given sponge baths.
What to do before water service returns:
- Flip off the breaker to your water heater.
- Turn off water to your water heater.
- Turn off hot water under your sinks.
- Remove aerator (it typically unscrews) on faucets.
- Turn off the ice maker.
- Turn off water to your whole house filter, if you have one.
What to do when your water service returns
- Flush your home plumbing by running the bathtub’s cold water faucet.
- Your water heater may be turned back on once your home’s plumbing has been flushed.
- It’s safe to flush your toilet after completing steps 1 and 2.
What should I do once the notice is lifted?
Customers are advised to wait 2-3 hours, then flush only the cold water lines for 10-15 minutes. If discolored water or air is still present, please call customer service at 828-251-1122.
FEMA INFORMATION
**The deadline to file for FEMA Individual Assistance is Nov. 27, 2024. Please mark your calendars and ensure all applications are submitted on time.**
** The last date to apply for D-SNAP is October 24, 2024 = https://www.disasterassistance.gov/get-assistance/forms-of-assistance/5769
We encourage you to apply for FEMA emergency assistance
- Go online to DisasterAssistance.gov
- Use the FEMA App
- Call 800-621-3362 from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. ET daily. The telephone line is open every day and help is available in most languages. If you use a relay service, such as Video Relay Service (VRS), captioned telephone or other service, give FEMA your number for that service.
To view an accessible video on how to apply, visit Three Ways to Apply for FEMA Disaster Assistance – YouTube.
All disaster survivors residing in public housing may be eligible for the following types of Individuals and Households Program (IHP) assistance:
- Regardless of damage to the public housing, you may be eligible for:
- Medical and Dental Assistance to address disaster-caused injuries or loss of medical/dental equipment.
- Childcare Assistance to help with increased child care costs for a limited time.
- Transportation Assistance to repair or replace a disaster-damaged vehicle.
- Funeral Assistance to help cover expenses for a death caused by the disaster.
- Personal Property Assistance to help repair or replace personal property damaged by the disaster (such as bedroom furnishings, appliances, etc.)
- Assistance for Miscellaneous Items to assist with disaster-caused miscellaneous expenses to help with cleaning or gaining entrance to the home.
- Clean and Sanitize Assistance to ensure any minimal damage to the home is addressed in order to prevent additional losses or potential health and safety concerns.
- If the public housing was made unlivable because of the disaster, FEMA may also help the survivor with temporary housing and emergency needs through:
- Serious Needs Assistance of $750 to cover immediate emergency needs for food, gas, medication, baby formula, etc., while the applicant is displaced from their home. [The survivors in Buncombe are eligible for this even without damage because it has been authorized for expedited serious needs assistance]
- Displacement Assistance for short-term housing while repairs are made to the disaster-damaged home.
- Moving and Storage Assistance for expenses related to moving and storing personal property while repairs are made to the damaged home.
- Rental Assistance if the home remains unlivable for an extended period of time or Direct Temporary Housing Assistance, directly provided temporary housing when approved for the specific disaster.
- FEMA coordinates with HUD and once the public housing is repaired and available any FEMA provided Rental Assistance or Direct Temporary Housing Assistance eligibility will end for the survivor.
- Individuals & Households Program Reference Guide
FEMA representatives are out in our community helping get community members impacted by Helene connected to assistance.
FEMA LOCATIONS
- Black Mountain Ingles – 550 Hwy #9, 28711
- Pack Square Park – 70 Court Plaza
- Emma Street – where Spanish language teams are also available
- New Bridge Baptist – 199 Elkwood Ave
- Basilica of St. Lawrence – 97 Haywood Street
- Walmart in Arden – 60 Airport Road
What You’ll Need When You Apply:
- A current phone number where you can be contacted.
- Your address at the time of the disaster and the address where you are now staying.
- Your Social Security number.
- A general list of damage and losses.
- Banking information if you choose direct deposit.
- If insured, the policy number or the agent and/or the company name.
If you have homeowners, renters or flood insurance, you should file a claim as soon as possible. FEMA cannot duplicate benefits for losses covered by insurance. If your policy does not cover all your disaster expenses, you may be eligible for federal assistance.
Report FEMA Denials Here
Please note: This link is meant to provide details on denials so that the city can work with FEMA to cut the red tape. It is not part of the official FEMA appeals process.
Disaster Unemployment Assistance
General Requirements
To be eligible for DUA, individuals must:
- Provide proof of identity.
- Be a U.S. citizen, non-citizen national, or qualified non-citizen.
- File an application for DUA with the local unemployment insurance agency within 30 days of the date of the public announcement of availability of DUA[2].
- Be ineligible for regular unemployment insurance.
- Be unemployed or partially unemployed as a direct result of the major disaster.
- Be able and available for work, unless injured as a direct result of the disaster (see conditions below).
- Have not refused an offer of employment in a suitable position.
Conditions of Unemployment
Applicants must meet one of the following conditions of unemployment or inability to perform services in self-employment as a direct result of the disaster:
- The individual has had a week of unemployment following the date the major disaster began.
- The individual is unable to reach their place of employment.
- The individual was scheduled to start work and the job no longer exists due to the major disaster, or the individual was unable to reach the job.
- The individual became the major support of the household because the head of the household died as a direct result of the disaster.
- The individual cannot work because of an injury caused as a direct result of the major disaster.
- The individual experienced a lack of work or loss of revenue when the employer (or the self-employed individual’s business) lost a majority of income or revenue from an entity in the major disaster area that was damaged, destroyed, or closed by the federal, state or local government as a direct result of the major disaster.
Small Business (SBA) Disaster Information
Apply for SBA Disaster Loans
City of Asheville Response and Recovery Updates
** Beginning October 10th, the curfew in effect within Asheville city limits is from 11:00 PM – 6:00 AM ***
Daily Progress Report from Mayor Manheimer
The word of the day is gratitude.
By the end of this week, Asheville will have been visited by federal partners from the White House, to Congress, to SBA, EPA, FEMA, and HUD. Their time here gives me the critical in-person opportunity to let them know what’s needed for our recovery. I am grateful for their immediate responses and willingness to partner with the state and local government to get Asheville up and running. Thanks to these important conversations the federal government will reimburse 100% of the total eligible costs of emergency work and debris removal and I will continue to work with our partners to ensure additional funding will be available to us for our long-term recovery.
Yesterday, I met with FEMA to identify the complications in the application process that are leading to denials for individual assistance. They have committed to me that the bottlenecks are being rectified and are working to get residents the assistance they need. Click here for information they have provided that better explains the common reasons for denial. I will continue to work with them to find opportunities to improve the process and help more people recover faster.
Lastly, the EPA, Army Corps of Engineers, NCDOT, local staff, and private contractors have been on the ground, working around the clock to reconnect the water line that supplies 80% of our area. Today we are excited to announce that the bypass has been completed and connected in record time! We are one huge step closer to having the water system fully restored and I am grateful for the hard work of our teams and partners.
Let’s continue to take care of each other, look out for our neighbors, and look for the good every day. We’re making progress!
#AshevilleStrong
Click Here for Previous Daily Updates from the Mayor
Asheville Citizen Times Interactive Page – Where to get food, gas, and water
Hurricane Helene update #7 from Congressman Edwards (Multi County Resource Information)
Emergency Notification One Pagers
Click Here for Previous One Page Notifications
Buncombe County On-Going State Of Emergency Alerts
24/7 Call Center for Hurricane Helene: (828) 250-6100 or Visit buncombeready.org for updates.
Read Buncombe County State of Emergency Announcement
Click Here For More Safety Tips
Text BCALERT on your smart phone to 99411 to receive alerts on important information such as floods, communicable disease, county office closings, and relevant traffic safety notifications.
SHELTERS
- General Population Shelter:
- AB Tech Conference Center – 16 Fernihurst Dr., Asheville, NC 28801 (Please use Victoria Road Entrance.)
- The former’s Gold’s Gym –1815 Hendersonville Road in Asheville. This location has a playroom for children, so it may be more suitable for families. Please note that no pets are allowed at this location.
- Medical Emergency Shelter:
- 10 Genevieve Cir, Asheville – for individuals who are dependent on medical equipment requiring power is located at
The shelter at the Ag Center is full – please do not go there.
These shelters will provide a safe place to stay for individuals who have been displaced by Hurricane Helene. Everyone is welcome at the shelters, regardless of race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, or citizenship status.
If you come to a shelter, you are welcome to bring:
- Special items for children, like food/formula, diapers, extra clothing, toys, etc.
- Prescription medications and medical devices you may need.
- Comfort items like pillows, blankets, towels, change of clothing or other items you may want to have with you at the shelter.
The emergency shelter is staffed by a mixture of Red Cross and Buncombe County employees. Public health regulations do not permit pets in these two shelters. As we work through this disaster, we anticipate adding additional resources to these sites such as transportation shelter operations.
Only call 911 for life threatening situations only.
FOOD & WATER DISTRIBUTION
Distribution Locations:
Food and water distribution sites are open until 7 p.m. or supplies run out. Please bring containers to refill water
- William W. Estes Elementary School – 275 Overlook Road, Asheville
- Sand Hill Elementary – 154 Sand Hill School Road, Asheville (Please enter via Acton Circle)
- North Windy Ridge Intermediate School – 20 Doan Road, Weaverville
- Fairview Elementary School – 1355 Charlotte Highway, Fairview
- Black Mountain Ingles – 550 NC-9, Black Mountain
- Cane Middle Creek Middle – 570 Lower Brush Creek Road, Fletcher
- Leicester Elementary School – 31 Gilbert Road, Leicester
The City of Asheville also has sites:
- Asheville Middle School – 211 S. French Broad Avenue, Asheville – Until 7 p.m.
- Lindwood Crump Shiloh Community Center – 121 Shiloh Road, Asheville – Until 7 p.m.
- Pack Square Park – 70 Court Plaza beginning at 1 p.m. until dark.
- Lucy Herring Elementary School – 98 Sulphur Springs Road. Open 9 a.m. – 7 p.m
OXYGEN REFILLING STATIONS
- Palmetto Oxygen LLC 828-285-0235
- Blue Ridge 828-232-1110
- AeroFlow 888-345-1780
- Lincare 828-255-4545
- Accucare 828-236-3100
- Bradshaw Oxygen LLC 828-380-6287
- East Coast Medical Oxygen 828-252-7770
CELLULAR SERVICE
Temporary Verizon cellular satellite trailers OFFERING limited cellular reception within several city blocks of where it is parked
- Family Justice Center – 35 Woodfin Street
- Groce United Methodist Church 954 Tunnel Road
T-Mobile satellite cellular on light trucks in Asheville, providing cellular service along with Wi-Fi and charging stations
- Asheville Middle School – 211 S French Broad Ave, and
- Dr. Wesley Grant Sr. Southside Community Center – 285 Livingston St.
MISSING PERSON REPORTING
- For missing persons, rescues, or well-checks, please visit www.unitedwaync.org or text PERSON to 40403
OTHER IMPORTANT RESOURCES
- Visit buncombeready.org for donation locations
- Upload photos of adverse conditions such as downed trees and blocked roadways to report.buncombecounty.org.
- Check real-time road conditions via DriveNC.gov before traveling
- For questions about storm-related issues, call (828) 250-6100
- Home well water testing call 828-250-5016
Duke Energy Updates
Carolinas Restoration
Report your outage by texting OUT to 57801, report online or call 800.POWERON (800.769.3766).
It’s been 11 days since Hurricane Helene made landfall in our area. Since then, we’ve restored power to over 1.4 million customers in North Carolina.
While Duke Energy workers have made substantial progress overall, extremely difficult and targeted work lies ahead before the company can restore additional customers in the hardest-hit communities.
We’ve shifted to a targeted approach for our operations and efforts to help our hardest hit areas of western North Carolina. A western N.C. facility will serve as the company’s base of operations while workers continue rebuilding the infrastructure needed to restore the remaining North Carolina customers impacted by Helene. Our engineers, designers, project managers and others will be in one place as they work, plan and make strategic decisions that aid in an efficient reconstruction of the power grid in the hardest-hit areas. This also allows us to collaborate with national, state and local government stakeholders from a central location to help ensure we continue to be coordinated in our efforts.
Learn more about this effort in today’s press release.
This morning, crews restored power to Hot Springs after installing a mobile substation, which will service the town until the Marshall substation is rebuilt. The town has been operating under limited capacity through a solar microgrid restored last week but still experiencing outages overnight.
Duke Energy also established a dedicated webpage, duke-energy.com/HeleneRecovery, to provide the latest information and resources for impacted customers in western North Carolina. The page currently includes a map of the repair and rebuild zones, common questions and answers and more.
You can also continue to check county-specific outage information here www.duke-energy.com/outage.
We greatly appreciate the patience, support and kindness our communities have shown – and continue to show – toward the men and women who are still working around the clock to rebuild the grid and restore power.
Electrical safety guidelines for floods
- If rising water threatens your home or business – or if you evacuate due to flooding – turn off your power at the circuit breaker panel or fuse box.
- Electric current passes easily through water, so stay away from downed electrical lines.
- Don’t drive over – and don’t stand near – downed electrical lines.
- Never replace a fuse or touch a circuit breaker with wet hands, or while standing on a wet or damp surface.
- If your home or business is flooded, Duke Energy cannot reconnect power until the electrical system has been inspected by a licensed electrician. If there is damage, an electrician will need to make necessary repairs and obtain verification from your local building inspection authority before power can be restored.
Steps to take in the event of a power outage
- Report outages through our website, mobile app, text OUT to 57801, or call 800POWERON (800.419.6356).
- Sign up for Outage Alerts and regularly check our Outage Map for estimated restoration times.
- Visit our Storm Center for comprehensive safety tips before, during, and after severe weather.
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