Days after Helene moved through Asheville, North Carolina, streets remain flooded, downed power lines and trees block some roads and cell service is mostly nonexistent. Residents have waited hours in line for $15 of gas.
In one neighborhood, a dog park with picnic tables, a basketball court and a track are still submerged in water. As is an RV park at the end of the park.
“This is where people did their daily walk with their kids and dogs,” said Chante Hooks, 46, who lives around the corner from the park.
Her home wasn’t damaged, and though they did lose water, they haven’t lost power, she said.
Hooks said that the now-submerged park would overflow when it rained but that it never got as bad as this. “This is a disaster,” she said.
Hooks, who was born in Asheville, said the last natural disaster she experienced in the city was a blizzard in the ’90s when snow reached the top of doors.
“It wasn’t as bad as this, though,” she said.