Satellite shows flooding in North Carolina following Helene

CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – Extensive flooding hit Asheville, North Carolina, on September 28 and 29, with satellite imagery showing the impacts of Hurricane Helene.

Video posted on Storyful via Planet Labs showed the mammoth of a storm move into the area leaving a catastrophic wake in its path.

Big Donations

Food Lion has donated $1.5 million to support the communities impacted by Hurricane Helene. “Food Lion Food Lion is collaborating with local disaster relief and response teams, hospitals, government agencies and community feeding partners to provide nonperishable snacks, water, gift cards and other supplies to shelters and emergency support service areas — more than 280,000 pounds of food and water to date.” The Charlotte Hornets have also announced they are donating $1 million to help with relief.

$5 million in hurricane relief is being provided by the Charlotte-based Leon Levine Foundation. Spectrum has also committed $1 million in relief aid.

The Charlotte Knights are set to host a supply drive Thursday at the ballpark.

Cooper Visits First Responders

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper has been visiting with first responders this week. “I’m grateful for the efforts and sacrifices of the emergency personnel and volunteers who have given their time and resources to help people in western North Carolina who need it,” said Governor Cooper. “As we continue to recover from this storm, we’ll continue to work with partners at state, federal, local and non-profit levels to deliver resources and assistance to affected communities.”

Correctional Institution Evacuated

The timing and concern over water and power restoration has prompted the North Carolina Department of Corrections to evacuate several facilities. One of those facilities, Avery-Mitchell Correctional Institution in Spruce Pine, began evacuating 841 men on Tuesday. On Monday NCDAC evacuated just over 400 female offenders from Western Correctional Center for Women in Swannanoa and Black Mountain Substance Abuse Treatment Center. 248 men from Asheville’s Craggy Correctional Center were relocated to the Alexander Correctional Institution in Taylorsville.

World Central Kitchen Activated

The emergency kitchen run by renowned chef Jose Andres has been activated for storm victims and has so far sent 23,251 meals and 2,600 sandwiches to North Carolina in addition to setting up a high-capacity field production kitchen in Asheville. “We are deploying 5 tankers of water (6,200 gals each) that are currently being deployed in Asheville, NC, and surrounding areas to deal with the acute water shortage due to infrastructure damage. We’ll be ramping our hot meal distribution up very shortly as our kitchens come online. We’ll continue to expand our scouting operations by air and land to fully assess the need due to Hurricane Helene.”

Animal Shelter a ‘Total Loss’

Asheville’s Brother Wolf Animal Rescue was decimated losing all three buildings during last week’s catastrophic storm that brought widespread flooding to the area, its operators have announced. 150 animals had been evacuated prior to the storm, but now have no where to return. “Many of Brother Wolf’s 34 staff members had to either flee their homes or be rescued, some are still unable to return home. Only three staff members were able to return to work immediately, working from a make-shift office in one of the city’s few areas with any internet service. Cell service is spotty, roads are impassable, there is no power, no water, and fuel is hard to find, so they now walk miles every day, working round the clock.”

Water Aid to Western NC

The City of Charlotte sent a pair of 24″ butterfly valves to Asheville Tuesday morning to make emergency repairs from system damage suffered during this past week’s devastating storm. “Charlotte Water keeps spare parts on hand to make emergency repairs. We are proud to help our colleagues in Asheville. Aid to Western North Carolina is coordinated through NC Water WARN, a mutual aid organization of utilities across NC.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.