Asheville City School officials said they expect to reopen classrooms by the end of October. Schools around Asheville have been closed since Helene knocked out power and running water in many school buildings nearly two weeks ago. Maggie Furman is Asheville City Schools Superintendent. She said crews are now digging wells on every campus.
"We're estimating a range of two to three weeks before we can take that water from the well to be used in our schools. Regardless of what happens with our water system, we will always have a backup for our Asheville City Schools," she said.
Furman says with portable toilets and hand-washing stations on the way, they expect schools to reopen by Oct. 28 or sooner. Meanwhile, in Buncombe County, 40 of its 45 schools have power, but only 13 of the 45 have water.