New drone images show extensive damage to Asheville's water system from Helene

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — News 13 got an up-close look at some of the progress being made toward rebuilding a large portion of Asheville's water system. Thanks to Hurricane Helene, tens of thousands of people now have to go without running water for more than a week.

City officials said Friday, Oct. 4, that there is still a long way to go, and some newly released images of the damage caused by the storm help explain why.

Ben Woody, Asheville's deputy city manager, called the damage to the city's water system catastrophic during a news conference Friday.

ASHEVILLE, BUNCOMBE COUNTY will be without water for weeks as mains are washed away

New drone videos and photos showed huge fragments of pipe protruding many feet underground. The new drone video also shows some progress crews have made on some pipelines 25 feet underground.

The majority of the video was shot at the city's water distribution site along old US 70.

“As we approach this bridge, you can see the level of destruction there,” Woody said. “This all needs to be rebuilt before we can even think about laying water pipes.”

Many of the pipes had been installed and reinforced after a storm about 20 years ago, but they were still unable to cope with Helene's strong winds and severe flooding.

Neither the city nor the district are saying how long the reconstruction will take.

“I'm happy about the question and we want to keep the community informed. That's why we're here today, showing video images, but your request is logistically impossible. “We are just over a week away from being hit by a major hurricane,” Woody explained.

Mayor is urging Asheville residents to conserve water and prepare for a possible long-term water outage

This was a topic News 13 addressed with Mayor Esther Manheimer on Wednesday evening.

“I'm not an engineer, but I don't know how you can build a system that can withstand a thousand-year flood situation like we just experienced,” she said. “If you had all the money in the world, you probably could, you probably could.”

She also addressed whether anyone had raised a problem with the system in the last 20 years.

“No, because it was rebuilt with redundancy,” Manheimer said.