The city of Asheville, North Carolina, which has approximately 100,000 residents, may be without water for weeks.

“The devastation has already claimed over 103 lives, and more than 1,073 people are still missing,” Rawsalerts noted.

“Extensive repairs are required to treatment facilities, underground and aboveground water pipes, and to roads that have washed away which are preventing water personnel from accessing parts of the system,” a press release from the city read, according to WUNC.

“Although providing a precise timeline is impossible, it is important to note that restoring service to the full system could potentially take weeks,” it added.

Per WUNC:

This news comes as Asheville residents are already facing severe water shortages. On Sunday morning, hundreds lined up at a Harris Teeter in North Asheville with hopes of purchasing water and other goods that are in short supply.

Mel Salla, a resident of the River Arts District neighborhood, said she arrived at 6 a.m. to make sure she could purchase water from the grocery store, which opened around 8 a.m. on Sunday morning.

Before the grocery store even opened, the line was astoundingly long – with hundreds of people winding through the store’s parking lot and along Merrimon Avenue. The grocery store allowed 10 people in at a time.

Officials from the City of Asheville and Buncombe County have not released a plan for distributing food or water to its residents yet. At a press conference this morning, Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder said that trucks of food and water are on their way, but have been stuck in transit.

“In North Carolina, floodwaters have rendered cell service and local roads useless in the state’s largest mountain city, Asheville. Supplies are being airlifted to the region, but many residents remain stranded and isolated. NewsNation’s Mills Hayes has more on the ground in Asheville,” NewsNation wrote.

WATCH:

Asheville Citizen Times reports:

For days, Buncombe County officials have said water is on the way and distribution sites will be set up. As of a 4 p.m. media briefing Sept. 29, it was still unclear when that would happen.

Earlier in the day, the City of Asheville released a statement that said fully restoring water to city’s system might take weeks.

On Sunday, children at Pisgah View played with a downed tree limb, hanging it off the edge of the playground’s jungle gym.

Brown, who residents acknowledged kept an eye on her neighbors’ well-being, yelled at them to stop. And they listened.

“I’m Aunt Julie,” Brown said. “Everyone here calls me Aunt Julie.”

At a unit around the corner, resident Sabrina Commons, 45, told the Citizen Times that her family, which includes four young children, has “no water, no lights – we can’t even flush our commodes.”

Even if they could access water, residents were unsure how they could even purchase it, as many stores, if open, are only accepting cash.

 

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