WOODFIN, N.C. — Two years after Hurricane Helene, huge numbers of PVC pipes swept from a factory north of Asheville are still littering North Carolina’s French Broad River, The Associated Press reported.
The pipes are piled on riverbanks, stuck in uprooted trees and buried in sediment. MountainTrue, the nonprofit leading cleanup on several rivers, estimates its crews have pulled out hundreds of thousands of them, with an untold number still spread along 70 miles of river to a lake at the Tennessee border.
“Just the amount of time and energy that we put into removing all this pipe is exhausting,” said Jon Stamper, MountainTrue’s operations director. “We still have stretches of river that haven’t been touched.”
PVC makes up 80% of the debris in some areas, according to MountainTrue, creating hazards for rafters and kayakers and altering the river’s flow and ecosystem. The group estimates it has spent 50,000 work-hours and more than $1.5 million on pipe removal on the French Broad alone.
Canada-based IPEX would not say how many pipes were stored at its Woodfin site, calling it “commercially sensitive.” Officials said 60% of pipes stored outdoors were swept away in the 2024 flood. The company has agreed to pay MountainTrue $500,000 for continued cleanup.
“We recognize that … recovery efforts are complex, they’re resource-intensive,” IPEX CEO Colleen Pritchett said. Company officials said they prepared for a 100-year flood but not a 1,000-year flood.
A $10 million state cleanup grant awarded to MountainTrue in 2025 has been extended to February, according to the AP.
Sources: KTAR News/AP. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Brandi Symons/USFWS / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
