Editor’s Note 10/23/24: Since this story was first published, officials in Buncombe County, North Carolina, home to Asheville, have reported they overcounted the death toll in their region by as many as 30. Some of the death toll figures in this story are no longer accurate.
The 8,000-acre Biltmore Estate, Asheville’s biggest attraction that welcomes 1.4 million visitors a year, received significant damage in some buildings after Helene ripped through Western North Carolina, the Biltmore said.
“We are still assessing impacts to the estate from Tropical Storm Helene and that will take some time,” the Biltmore said in a statement Thursday.
The estate is home to the Biltmore House, America’s largest privately owned mansion. The 250-room house, along with the estate’s winery, conservatory and hotels, “received minimal or no damage from the storm,” the Biltmore said.
But low-lying parts of the estate, including the entrance and the farm, “experienced significant flooding and damage to buildings,” the Biltmore said. “We sadly lost a few of our animals during the storm, but the vast majority are safe and accounted for.”
In the forested areas, which make up “a large portion of the estate, wind damage is extensive to grounds and some structures,” the Biltmore said. “Crews have been working tirelessly to clear roads so we can begin repairs.”
When will the Biltmore reopen?
It’s not clear when the estate, which employs about 2,400 people, will reopen. “Initial assessments indicate the estate will be closed to guests until at least October 15,” the Biltmore said on its website Friday. “We will continue to provide updates about operations beyond that date as they are available.”
Biltmore Estate is in Buncombe County, the unexpected epicenter of deaths and destruction from Helene. At least 72 victims have died in Buncombe County as of Friday, and about 78,000 homes and businesses there still didn’t have power one week after Helene’s deadly rampage.
Asheville sits in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains – meaning the city turns into a “catch basin” for rainfall cascading like waterfalls down 4,000 feet of elevation, Fire Chief Michael Cayse told CNN.
Helene obliterated houses, washed away roads and crippled power infrastructure hundreds of miles inland.
The electricity substation serving Biltmore Village, a popular destination just outside Biltmore Estate, had catastrophic damage and will take months to repair, regional power company Duke Energy said Friday.
“The water line is almost to the top of that substation,” Duke Energy spokesperson Bill Norton said. “That substation alone is going to take three or four months to repair. Obviously, we are not going to keep those customers out for three or four months. So what we did is we wheeled in a 200,000-pound mobile substation.”
The mobile substation is expected to be powered by Sunday. “We’re digging new spots for wiring so that it will be underground and safe,” Norton said.
About 105,000 homes and businesses in Western North Carolina will have “long-term” power outages after Helene demolished key infrastructure, Norton said.
As for the Biltmore Village substation that will take months to repair, Norton said crews will “build it again on higher ground over the floodwall around it.”