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There was a sense of relief in the city, though some residents said they were still afraid to drink the water.
Nov. 19, 2024, 4:17 p.m. ET
Jeff Watts, 57, barely followed the incremental updates on his city’s water distribution system after Hurricane Helene knocked it offline in September. All he knew was that life in Asheville, N.C., had become more difficult and dirty.
But on Monday, he listened to every word of a voice mail message from the city informing him that, for the first time in 53 days, the water was clean enough to drink, a significant breakthrough for a place that has been dragged down by grief and financial hardship.
Mr. Watts, a landscaper who has had little work since the storm devastated western North Carolina, decided to have a beer at the Rankin Vault Lounge on Monday afternoon, but it was not quite celebratory. His home was still destroyed, most of his belongings were gone and he would continue to live in a tiny hotel room indefinitely.
“I got water,” he said, “but I have nothing else.”
The announcement from Asheville officials on Monday that the boil water advisory had been lifted brought a sense of relief to residents who have spent the past two months finding ways to live without drinkable tap water. But while it felt like a promising step on the city’s path to recovery, there was still anxiety about whether Asheville, an artsy tourist destination in the mountains, could rebound from the worst natural disaster to ever strike the state.
About 12,000 people in Buncombe County, which includes Asheville, have filed for disaster-related unemployment benefits, according to Blue Ridge Public Radio. Schools did not reopen until late last month. And some renters have called for a moratorium on evictions because so many people are struggling financially.
The storm unleashed torrential rain in Asheville and the rural areas surrounding it in late September, causing land that had already been saturated by previous rainfall to rapidly flood. Mudslides ripped through homes perched high in the mountains, floodwaters wrecked roads and water systems, and more than 100 people were killed in the region.
