ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — When Tropical Storm Helene sent floodwaters surging through Western North Carolina last year, homes and businesses weren’t the only buildings washed away — several post offices were lost, too.
Residents in Alexander, Marshall and Swannanoa have spent months without local mail service. Service in Alexander was finally restored in July, nearly 10 months after flooding forced the post office to close for repairs.
In Swannanoa, residents have long cited three major needs since Helene: a grocery store, a hardware store and a post office. Progress on two of those fronts is now underway.
In August, Rite Buy Grocery announced plans to open a store in Beacon Village, offering fresh produce, meat, dairy and bulk pantry staples. The following month, Peter and Beth Ballhaussen — owners of Town Hardware and General Store in Black Mountain — revealed plans to open a new hardware store in the same shopping area.
Earlier this month, Ingles Markets submitted plans for a new 95,000-square-foot supermarket to replace its flood-damaged Swannanoa location.
“All we need now is a post office,” one Swannanoa resident said recently.
The U.S. Postal Service says it’s working on that.
“The property owners of the Marshall and Swannanoa post offices previously informed us that repairs would not take place, which means the Postal Service was forced to initiate a search for a new office for each location,” USPS spokesperson Philip Bogenberger said Tuesday.
“The Postal Service continues to make progress with the relocation process, and we hope new sites will be determined soon,” he said. “When relocation is necessary, our goal is to find a new location as close to the current location as possible that is suitable for our short- and long-term operational needs. We thank customers for their continued support.”
