PVC pipes swept away by Hurricane Helene flooding still dominate cleanup of North Carolina river
MountainTrue says crews have removed hundreds of thousands of pipes, but 80% of debris in some areas is still PVC, posing risks to rafters and kayakers.
- Two years after Hurricane Helene, MountainTrue crews continue removing PVC pipes from an IPEX factory near Asheville that washed into the French Broad River, a cleanup spanning 70 miles of waterway.
- IPEX officials acknowledged that 60% of pipes stored outdoors were swept away during the 2024 flood, and the company has since agreed to pay MountainTrue $500,000 toward continued cleanup efforts.
- Anna Alsobrook, MountainTrue's French Broad Riverkeeper, described the work as a 'quite a tedious and technical process' involving removal of pipes from debris mounds reaching 20 feet high.
- MountainTrue has dedicated 50,000 work-hours and over $1.5 million to pipe removal, supported by a $10 million state grant recently extended through February to sustain the labor-intensive project.
- PVC pipe comprises 80% of debris in some areas, raising long-term environmental concerns as operations director Jon Stamper warned that some pipes will likely remain in the river indefinitely.
19 Articles
19 Articles
The Toronto Star
PVC pipes swept away by Hurricane Helene flooding still dominate cleanup of North Carolina river
WOODFIN, N.C. (AP) — They're piled on river banks, lodged in uprooted trees, embedded in sediment and jammed under logs. Many are tangled in mounds of debris up to two stories high.
North Carolina struggle to clean these PVC pipes – The Horn News
They’re piled on river banks, lodged in uprooted trees, embedded in sediment and jammed under logs. Many are tangled in mounds of debris up to two stories high. Two years after Hurricane Helene leveled forests, bulldozed houses and filled western North Carolina rivers with everything from cars to refrigerators, the... Read More The post North Carolina struggle to clean these PVC pipes appeared first on The Horn News - Proudly American, Fiercely…
PVC pipes swept away by Hurricane Helene flooding still dominate clean
WOODFIN, N.C. (AP) — They’re piled on river banks, lodged in uprooted trees, embedded in sediment and jammed under logs. Many are tangled in mounds of debris up to two stories high. Two years after Hurricane Helene
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