SPRUCE PINE, N.C. — It was a sight that was hard to believe. The lower half of Spruce Pine, North Carolina, was completely underwater.
Water from the North Toe River consumed the downtown area on Sept. 27, decimating the western North Carolina downtown in a way council member Wayne Peight said they never expected.
What You Need To Know
- Helene ravaged Mitchell County in western N.C.
- The county’s wastewater treatment facility was under 30 feet of water at one point during the storm
- Engineers say it could take up to four years to fully replace the system
- Currently, the county has temporary wastewater treatment stations to help find a solution as they rebuild.
“We had a nice long rain shower, a little bit of a lull,” Peight said. “And then Helene came in with a vengeance. And so it really did catch a lot of people by surprise.”
Peight says it’s not uncommon for this part of the mountains to see lots of rain. So, with every big storm, they did their usual work to prepare.
“We moved everything up to the 2004 and 2002 water lines, marks on the wall,” Peight said. “Because we were in a flood plain with our facilities, garages and those, those, those couple of instances, I believe it was Ian and Francis, maybe, the water marks had come to a certain level. Everything got moved above that, for the night. And everybody went home to weather it out.”
But the next morning, when he looked outside, Peight says he knew the town would be in trouble.
“I’m sitting in my kitchen, and I have a row of 100-foot tall pine trees on my back property line,” Peight said. “And I’m watching them go pop, pop, pop. And I said, ‘Honey, this is going to be crazy.’”
Hours later, Peight got down to what used to be the maintenance facility.
“All of our inventory of pipe fittings, pipe saws and all of the specialized equipment. It’s all gone,” Peight said. “Our sweeper truck for street sweeping, it’s gone.”
Now, it’s just a pile of mangled metal sitting on the river’s edge.
“It makes you feel pretty small,” Peight said. “It’s quite something to have watched with your eyes.”
But what is even more worrisome for Peight was the damage to the infrastructure across the county.
“A lot of people don’t know this, but Mitchell County was the only county in this storm that was completely, 100% incommunicado in the sense that there was absolutely no electricity in any homes across the entire county,” Peight said. “There wasn’t a single electric company that had any clients that were receiving service. Of the 43 cell towers that we have, I think there were three that were still standing.”
And it wasn’t just roads or bridges destroyed. The wastewater pipes that run along the rivers and creeks were ripped out of the ground as the storm barreled through the mountain community.
“All along this stream, you can see pipes of all kinds coming into the stream,” Peight said. “I mean, most of these cases, they were connected and formed infrastructure that went to the main, to the main pipes.”
Peight says there are 80 miles of pipes that fuse together their water infrastructure, most of which are designed to run along the flattest areas. And that’s closer to the river.
“We just happened to have a river that is the conduit for everything,” Peight said.
So when the river and creeks expanded, knocking down trees and caving in creek banks, the modern infrastructure came with it.
“We had a ton of electric lines down along the river,” Peight said. “All of the transformers are gone. You know, most of our communication, most of our water and sewer infrastructure is just not there. A lot of it’s just not there.”
It left the people who live here without basic necessities immediately after the storm. And county crews scrambled to get things up and running.
“The first 10 days, no one had water in our house,” Peight said. “Just to be very clear, the maintenance team’s response was, first, water, get fresh water. The homes people need to be able to flush. People need to be able to shower, all of these things. And so that was the first objective. But pursuant to that very, very quickly behind that, we have an issue of, of where the water is going to go.”
Peight says during Helene rushing water overflowed every creek, stream and river in the county.
Downtown Spruce Pine was one of the hardest hit areas.
More than 30 feet of water rushed down the river, engulfing buildings, including the county’s wastewater treatment plant.
“This wastewater treatment facility processes 630,000 gallons a day, or 1,000 gallons of wastewater a day,” Peight said. “And currently none of it’s being treated. So we feel like it’s an emergency.”
The rush of the water also ripped apart everything in its path, even along the smaller creeks and streams.
“It was really surreal to watch all of that. It is obviously the worst thing I’d ever seen,” Peight said. “And so it was quite surreal to watch that whole thing happen.”
That included at the county’s main wastewater treatment facility in Spruce Pine. Peight says the Army Corps of Engineers deemed the facility a total loss.
“The only thing that is still operating that we assume will still operate as it should is our large bio tank up the top here,” Peight said. “The rest of it is wrapped around the corner of the river here in small buildings and small tanks.”
According to Peight, engineers have told the county it will take up to four years to get things fully operational at the wastewater treatment plant again.
But waiting for it to be rebuilt is not an option, as the wastewater continues to seep into their rivers and streams.
“Some of us are very conscientious about what happens with wastewater,” Peight said. “We like to swim in this river. I wouldn’t want my dogs drinking this water. So, yes, I mean, I care about my kids, I care about animals, I care about my neighbor’s animals.”
Until they have a permanent fix, the town is planning for alternative solutions.
“We’re talking about mobile wastewater systems,” Peight said. “Bring it in and send it up on a truck and get it started working.”
The county has received two temporary mobile wastewater systems, which need to be installed. In the meantime, Peight says what’s been truly inspiring is seeing the entire community come together to find solutions.
“The community response here has made me incredibly proud to be part of this community,” Peight said. “This has been a very, very eye-opening experience across the board about what it means to be a neighbor.”
Still, Peight says the temporary wastewater systems aren’t the final solution. And they can’t wait for the community to come up with the funds to fully replace their system.
“We’re putting in multiple big asks to try and get this back to where we can at least prepare for putting a new system in,” Peight said.
He hopes with the help of federal and state resources, they will continue to push forward.
“It’s all hands on deck. Go as fast as you can, make quick decisions,” Peight said. “But make smart ones because no community wants to be saddled with $120 million of debt with no backing.”
To make sure their rivers, streams and community stay pristine for future generations.
“So we’re absolutely 100% behind getting this fix as quick as possible,” Peight said. “There’s no other option.”
Peight says they hope to have the two mobile wastewater systems set up in the next few weeks. Those two temporary systems will help offset the loss of their wastewater treatment facility as they rebuild.
