{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://edwards.house.gov/media/press-releases/hurricane-helene-update-4-congressman-edwards", "Hurricane Helene update #4 from Congressman Edwards", "2024-10-01", "2024", "2024-10", "Republican", "House", "NC", "Chuck Edwards", "E000246", "edwards.house.gov", "edwards", "https://edwards.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "October 1, 2024\n\nDear Friend,\n\nA few days ago, I shared that the people of the United States are showing up for us, and today I\u2019m hoping to bring a slight smile to your face by sharing that even the animals are too.\n\nWestern North Carolina was ravaged by Hurricane Helene, making many areas of this mountainous region inaccessible by car. Our hardest hit communities have been relying on aerial deliveries for supplies, but a rancher from east of Charlotte decided to offer another route for resources, leading his dozen mules into hard-to-reach areas to deliver food, water and diapers.\n\nGetting to these hard-to-reach areas is imperative, as hundreds of Western North Carolinians are still unaccounted for. The cell service outages and power blackouts are making it infinitely more difficult to locate missing people, but I know there are folks working around the clock to bring our friends and family safely home. So far, the National Guard has rescued over 400 residents, and they\u2019re not going to stop searching anytime soon.\n\nReminder: If you are trying to connect with a friend or family member, you can call NC 211 (or 1-888-892-1162 if calling from out-of-state) to report missing loved ones or request a welfare check.\n\nAdditionally, people in the impacted areas can indicate that they are safe by reporting themselves safe through Red Cross Reunification by calling 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767).\n\nBefore I get to the update, I wanted to share one last resource for individuals with significant home damage. If your home has damages and you need assistance with clean up, please call Crisis Cleanup for access to volunteer organizations that can assist you at 844-965-1386.\n\nToday is update number four, with more information to follow in the coming days. Please make sure to read everything and share it with your friends and family.\n\nFood and Water\n\nSupplying drinkable water remains a top priority for emergency crews.\n\n158 water systems are on a boil advisory, 46 plants have reported having no power, and 13 systems are out of water.\n\nLast night, Duke Energy reported they were able to return power to the Marion water supply.\n\nThe State of North Carolina has promised 40 trailer loads of water and 20 trailer loads of food daily through at least October 6.\n\nBuncombe County has begun water distribution at multiple sites. Each will be available daily from 1:00-7:00 p.m:\n\nPack Square Park - you MUST bring your own container for this site\n\n80 Court Plz., Asheville, NC 28801\n\nWilliam W. Estes Elementary School\n\n275 Overlook Rd., Asheville, NC 28803\n\nSand Hill-Venable Elementary\n\n154 Sand Hill School Rd., Asheville, NC 28806\n\nNorth Windy Ridge Intermediate School\n\n20 Doan Rd., Weaverville, NC 28787\n\nFairview Elementary\n\n1355 Charlotte Hwy., Fairview, NC 28730\n\nThere are two major feeding sites in NC-11 where citizens can access food, water and basic necessities:\n\nBuncombe County\n\nBiltmore Baptist Church\n\n35 Clayton Rd, Arden, NC 28704\n\nMcDowell County\n\nGrace Community Church\n\n5182 Hwy. 70 W., Marion, NC 28752\n\nCounties are beginning to stand up Resource Hub locations for water distribution and other supplies as they become available.\n\nDistribution began at 9:00 a.m., Tuesday, October 1, at the following locations:\n\nEtowah Elementary: 320 Etowah School Rd., Etowah, NC 28729\n\nRugby Middle School: 3345 Haywood Rd., Hendersonville, NC 28791\n\nEast Henderson High School: 150 Eagle Pride Dr., East Flat Rock, NC 28726\n\nNorth Henderson High School: 35 Fruitland Rd., Hendersonville, NC 28792\n\nMills River Town Hall: 124 Town Center Dr., Mills River, NC 28759\n\nFletcher Town Hall: 300 Old Cane Creek Rd., Fletcher, NC 28732\n\nEach family unit will be provided supplies for one day\u2019s meal and water, as available.\n\nIndividuals are asked to enter the drive-through and remain in your car unless otherwise instructed by volunteers to ensure an efficient process.\n\nAs I learn of additional hubs, I will continue to update this list.\n\nUnited States Postal Service\n\nAs of late Monday, September 30, all mail delivery operations in the following three-digit ZIP code areas (any ZIP code beginning with these numbers) have been suspended:\n\n287\n\n288\n\n289\n\nAdditionally, operations at the facility below have been suspended:\n\nRutherfordton: 130 E. Court St., Rutherfordton, NC 28139\n\nPower and Gas\n\n301,000 customers remain without power in Western North Carolina.\n\n73 percent of all customers across the state have had their power restored and the citizens of WNC will be next.\n\nDuke Energy has restored power for 16 of the 17 hospitals that experienced outages as of 10:00 p.m. last night.\n\nPower to the Marion water supply has also been restored.\n\nIn Asheville, damage assessments indicate 1,000 broken poles and 2,200 spans of primary are damaged.\n\nDuke Energy has not changed their anticipated restoration of service date.\n\nMost customers in Western North Carolina can expect the power to be back on by Friday, October 4.\n\nWARNING: Customers in areas that are inaccessible, dependent on infrastructure that has been destroyed or are unable to receive service, may see additional delays.\n\nThousands of linemen are working day and night to clear debris, reopen roadways and repair major portions of the power grid.\n\nRoads\n\nA \u201cDO NOT DRIVE\u201d message remains in place from the North Carolina Department of Transportation for Western North Carolina.\n\nUnless it is an emergency, please do not travel.\n\nYesterday, NCDOT reported 220 roads remain closed in Western North Carolina.\n\nThis morning, NCDOT announced that communication and access issues skewed their ability to collect information on road closures and an updated estimate of 300-400 roads are closed.\n\nSeveral crews from Florida are assisting in the repairs by bringing 7,500 feet of temporary bridge to NC.\n\nNorth Carolina is working with other states to determine additionally needed assets to mitigate compromised crossings and open more roads.\n\nNCDOT has reopened I-40 East at the location of the landslide near Old Fort.\n\nIndividuals evacuating the Asheville area are able to use I-40 East or I-26 East.\n\nCell Service\n\nI have heard multiple reports of service weakening over the past 48 areas.\n\nThis is expected, as more individuals are traveling to find cell service and temporary cellular assets are beginning to achieve maximum capacity.\n\nService providers are continuing to deploy additional temporary cell sites to mitigate overwhelming the temporary network in locations where sites have already been deployed.\n\nNorth Carolina National Guard\n\n706 North Carolina National Guard soldiers and airmen have been deployed to provide support to Western North Carolina so far.\n\nThis includes the deployment of 250 vehicles, such as High-Water Vehicles, Palletized Load Systems for commodity distribution and Forestry Support Teams for debris clearance, and 19 helicopters.\n\nAir missions are continuing in support of search and rescue, damage assessments and supply delivery.\n\nA bulk transport of supplies will be flown into Asheville via NC Air National Guard C-17 transport.\n\nSo far, NCNG has:\n\nProvided 97,200 lbs of supplies by air transport\n\nDelivered 306 pallets of water and 230 pallets of food\n\nConducted 60 hoist rescues\n\nRescued 422 Western North Carolinians - 42 were critically injured, four were infants and 64 were animals.\n\nHere are a few key phone numbers from the NCNG:\n\nHOTLINE: 888-892-1162\n\nEmergency Management Watch: 919-733-3300\n\nDonated Goods: 919-825-2474\n\nAsheville Regional Airport\n\nAsheville Regional Airport closed mid-day on Friday, September 27, due to risk of flooding.\n\nCommercial flights at Asheville Regional Airport have resumed.\n\nIf you parked your car in an Asheville Regional Airport lot and could not retrieve the vehicle due to the storm, great news - none of the airport\u2019s lots flooded and all cars are fine.\n\nStay safe and pick up your car when you are able.\n\nFor NC-11 Medical Practices\n\nIf you own a medical practice in NC-11 and are experiencing financial hardship due to Hurricane Helene, the North Carolina Medical Society will be reactivating its Financial Recovery Program (FRP) to help you recover and open your doors again.\n\nThe FRP will be back online to provide much needed assistance soon.\n\nMore information to follow.\n\nFor Local Government Resource Requests\n\nFor county leaders: This is a reminder to make sure your Emergency Operation Center has submitted the request for gasoline, food, water, cell service deployables, etc. with North Carolina Emergency Management to have your request processed and resources delivered.\n\nMy office stands ready to assist with checking the status of your request if the county or municipality has not heard back from NC Emergency Management within 24 hours.\n\nFor Individual Assistance through FEMA\n\nNorth Carolina received a Major Disaster Declaration for the following counties: Buncombe, Clay, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, and Yancey Counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.\n\nIf you reside in one of the above-listed counties and had damage to private property due to Hurricane Helene, you may be eligible for Individual Assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.\n\nIndividual Assistance provides financial aid and services to eligible individuals and households that have been affected by a disaster to assist with the recovery process. Individuals can officially begin applying for Individual Assistance online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov, or by calling the application phone number at 1-800-621-3362 (TTY: 800-462-7585) between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. EST.\n\nTo date, over 10,000 survivors have registered with FEMA for Individual Assistance.\n\nFEMA has also approved two new programs for use in NC:\n\nDisplacement Assistance - Provides immediate housing for up to 14 days\n\nSerious Needs Assistance - Provides immediate financial assistance to replace and recover financial needs.\n\nTo Connect With a Loved One\n\nResidents trying to connect with family members may call NC 211 (or 1-888-892-1162 if calling from out-of-state) to report missing loved ones or request a welfare check.\n\nAdditionally, people in the impacted areas can indicate that they are safe by reporting themselves safe through Red Cross Reunification by calling 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767).\n\nPlease only use 911 for life-threatening emergencies so the lines remain open for critical situations.\n\nShelters\n\nFor those unable to evacuate to a safe location or in need of a place to go, the following shelters are currently open and available as of October 1:\n\nBuncombe\n\nA-B Technical Community College\n\n340 Victoria Rd., Asheville, NC 28801\n\nWNC Agricultural Center\n\n1301 Fanning Bridge Rd., Fletcher, NC 28732\n\nHaywood\n\nHaywood County Government Armory\n\n285 Armory Dr., Clyde, NC 28781\n\nHenderson\n\nEdneyville Elementary School\n\n2875 Pace Rd., Hendersonville, NC 28792\n\nHenderson County Recreation Center\n\n708 S. Grove St., Hendersonville, NC 28792\n\nMadison\n\nMadison County Wellness Center\n\n5734 US 25-70 Hwy., Marshall, NC 28752\n\nMcDowell\n\nMcDowell County Senior Center\n\n100 Spaulding Rd., Marion, NC 28752\n\nYMCA of Western North Carolina\n\n348 Grace Corpening Dr, Marion, NC 28752\n\nPolk\n\nPolk County High School\n\n1681 NC 108 Highway E., Columbus, NC 28722\n\nRutherford\n\nRutherfordton/Spindale Central High School\n\n641 US 221 Hwy. N., Rutherfordton, NC 28139\n\nTransylvania\n\nPisgah Forest Baptist Church\n\n494 Hendersonville Hwy., Pisgah Forest, NC 28768\n\nTransylvania Parks & Rec\n\n1078 Ecusta Rd, Brevard, NC 28712\n\nYancey\n\nBlue Ridge Elementary\n\n910 Cane River School Rd, Burnsville, NC 28714\n\nWith my warmest regards,\n\nChuck Edwards\n\nMember of Congress", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:57:20Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://edwards.house.gov/media/press-releases/hurricane-helene-update-4-congressman-edwards"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.704379053786397, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}