Helene Shows How Badly We Need to Hurricane-Proof Running Water

Growing up in Asheville during the 1960s and 1970s, restaurateur Kevin Westmoreland saw his neighborhood of Biltmore Village flood—unsurprising, given its location near the French Broad and Swannanoa Rivers. But when tropical storms Ivan and Frances hit Asheville in 2004—supposedly a “once in a century-storm”—floodwaters rose over the front steps of his restaurant Corner Kitchen. He remembers reaching the front door of the restaurant in a canoe—a shocking sight for a non-coastal area of North Carolina.