Asheville having a tough time -- travel alert
 

Hi, all. Just wanted to alert anyone heading to Asheville in the near future that the remnants of Frances are wreaking havoc on Asheville. The Swannanoa River is flooding many areas, and Biltmore Village was under many feet of water at last report. Part of I-40 east of Asheville had to be closed (don't know if it has yet reopened). Reports are that the Biltmore Estate itself is okay, being on rather high ground, but access to it is under water.

Suggest you check with your hotel, etc. if you had plans to go there in the next few days or so -- and don't know how long it will take Biltmore Village to recuperate. It is being called the worst flooding in over 50 years.

Update this morning: sections of the city have no water, and it's likely that much of the city (if not all) will be under a "boil water" advisory for a while. They got about a foot of rain, and the rivers are all well above flood stage.

Anyone in Asheville with power and not needed to pump out the basement want to give a report?

Cassandra:

Thanks for the info. We been trying to get a room through Priceline at the Ren. hotel for the past couple of weekends, but were unsuccessful. I guess we will now have to wait until later in the fall.

All in Asheville take care.

Here's a pic

http://www.citizen-times.com/cache/a...ws/61011.shtml

Update from Asheville this morning (9/9): Floodwaters in most affected areas of the city have receded, and almost all roads are open (including interstate highways). Most roads through Biltmore Village have reopened, and the Biltmore Estate itself is open as well. However, many businesses in Biltmore Village are closed due to flood damage and/or power loss.

Many parts of the city are without water, mostly those north of I-40. This will likely be the case through today. Most businesses and homes south of I-40 in the southern part of the city and county have plenty of water and are fine.

Flooding and Rock Slides Close Sections of Parkway

Date
September 09, 2004

Contact
Phil Noblitt, (828) 271 4779 ext 242

A half-dozen rockslides have severely damaged and forced the closure of sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway in western North Carolina. A number of visitor facilities along the length of the 469-mile scenic road have also been temporarily closed by wind, power outages and flood from the remnants of Hurricane Frances.
Parkway Superintendent Daniel W. Brown said that damage is less along the Virginia portion of the Parkway and that he is hopeful that most visitor facilities will reopen Thursday. He cautioned that the rockslides could force extended detours while debris is removed and the destroyed road sections are reconstructed. In addition, the flooding Linville River extensively damaged the small visitor center at Linville Falls.

Preliminary estimates of damage to the road and visitor facilities is $6 million.

Road closures are as follows: Milepost 317-331, between Linville Falls and Spruce Pine; mile 344-375 from NC Highway to 80 to Ox Creek, and Milepost 393-443 between NC 191 near Asheville and Balsam Gap at Waynesville.

Rockslides are at Mileposts 322, 345, 348,349, 413 and 429. Most of those between mile 322 and 349 took out portions of the motor road and this segment of the Parkway, from just south of Linville Falls to south of Buck Creek Gap at NC 80 near Marion, may be closed for up to a year. The slides at 413 and 429 are also extensive but do not appear to have damaged the road?s supporting structure significantly. Detour routes will be announced and posted.

Brown said he had discussed the slides with the Federal Highway Administration, which provides assistance for emergency Parkway repair, and that full engineering assessments will be made early next week and road repair initiated shortly thereafter.

I certainly sympathize with those of you in the Asheville area. I have friends up there and some are even being evacuated from boarding school due to all the problems. I wish you all well. Please stay safe.

Things are even worse now. Higher water predicted, debris from last flood now sweeping around loose, many buildings had begun to clean up now under more water. Many areas have had a boil-water directive ever since Frances, now starting over again. Biltmore itself is closed.

Good thoughts for you-all.

My in-laws just got their water back on day before yesterday. They were out for six days.

My mother in law said Biltmore Village was under almost 20 feet of water and the Blue Ridge Parkway probably would not open this year in its entirety.

As a new residence in this area I would like to report that rains and high winds are over. We lost power, lots of trees are down, many roads were under water, some roads washed out. It seems that route 25 in Flat Rock got hit very hard. We are fine but there are a few people who died in WNC. Asheville got more damage from this hurricane than Frances mostly due to heavy winds. Today we have a beautiful day with the sun shining all day and that makes easier for the Duke Power to work on all lines knocked down by so many falling tree. Still it is such beautiful area

I was in Asheville Sat. Everything was getting back to normal. Power still out in some areas, but not where I went in Brevard and downtown Asheville.

Pisgah nat'l forest was closed, an unprecedented move, but they expect to reopen early this week.

Some trees just being cleared from the roads in Flat Rock, no standing water on any of the roads I saw. Only the immediate areas of Biltmore Village were closed down to commerce, and they looked bad. I feel really bad for the proprieters of those shops and restaurants. Crossing the Swannanoa, you can't believe that tiny little creek caused that much destruction.

YOu should be fine to go to Asheville now as power and water have been restored in all except some of the outlying areas. Downtown Biltmore village will not be much to see for a while but downtown Asheville is fine. There are plenty of hotels that were not affected. The merchants need your business!