ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Nearly two weeks after Helene blasted through western North Carolina, the once-picturesque Biltmore Village is now a dusty, mud-caked disaster zone. The trees and banks along the Swannanoa River are speckled with debris, and mounds of rubble line Biltmore Avenue.
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At the Citi Stop gas station, all the inventory is gone and the floor is coated with dried-up mud. Michael Paes, who works for the store’s property owner, looks out across Biltmore Village and becomes emotional.
“Sadness, a deep sadness,” he said. “This is where we live. These are our people. This is our community.”
Chris Dockery, who does maintenance work for the chain of Citi Stop convenience stores, set up a grill and cooked hamburgers for anyone who needed something to eat. All the businesses in the heart of Biltmore Village are either heavily damaged or destroyed.
“It’s gone, it’s all gone,” said Toni Turkal, who worked at the First Watch restaurant. It’s now in ruins. She still has a home – and power – but a cruel irony of the flood is that so many people around Asheville have no running water.
“We still don’t have usable water,” she said. “The bathing is awful. Obviously, I’m covered in mud.”
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She spent the day at the Citi Stop, where she used to work, to help with cleanup.
Across the street, four feet of water gushed inside the Precision Tune auto care shop. One of the managers, Blake Moody, a 70-year-old native of Asheville, said it would take months to clean up and make repairs. He hopes the shop can stay in business.
“We think we will, but it’s gonna take a while,” he said.
He describes the destruction in Biltmore Village as ‘unreal.’
“I mean, we’ve seen storms for forever, but not like this,” he said.
About a mile and a half away in the River Arts District, the French Broad River barged into art studios. Brian Luzater spent much of Wednesday clearing out his studio at Riverview Station, a 120-year-old brick building that’s home to dozens of studios.
“I was one of the lucky ones,” he said. “I was on the second floor. Most of my work was on the wall. I was able to save about 70 percent of my paintings.”
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The district is classic Asheville, showcasing the works of artists inspired by the beauty of this mountain city. “When the district is alive and thriving, we have guests coming here daily,” he said.
It’s unclear whether the building is structurally sound to reopen.
Laura Loercher has a pottery studio on the second floor. She, too, was able to save most of her work. She dreaded what she’d find when the floodwater retreated.
“I didn’t want to have a life meltdown seeing my dreams and money and career messed up like this,” she said.
For many months to come, the tattered canvas of the River Arts District will be a work in progress.
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