Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder led a team of approximately 1,600 staffers in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Helene, which killed 43 people in Buncombe and led to a 52-day water crisis in the city of Asheville. The storm killed over 100 residents in North Carolina and inflicted an estimated $60 billion in damages in the region. Pinder spoke with the Citizen Times Sept. 4.
The following has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Citizen Times: You first began responding to Helene in the days leading up to the storm. When did you first realize how big the storm was going to be for Western North Carolina?…