North Carolina's Biltmore Estate will soon reopen after being forced to close when floodwaters pushed by Hurricane Helene devasted the area.
The popular tourist destination announced over the weekend that they plan to open and “celebrate the joy of the holiday season” on Nov. 2.
“For more than 125 years, Biltmore has been a witness to the resilience of this community,” the Asheville-based estate posted in a statement. “The compassion and resolve of our region have been rising every day from beneath the weight of this storm.”
Here are a few things to know:
On Sept. 27, the remnants of Hurricane Helene destroyed large swaths of the Southeast as flooding overwhelmed communities, swiped out roads and knocked out power for thousands. North Carolina's largest mountain city was left largely isolated as many of the main routes into Asheville were washed away or blocked by mudslides.
Officials have warned that rebuilding after Helene will be lengthy and difficult. Helene first roared ashore in northern Florida on Sept. 26 as a Category 4 hurricane and quickly moved through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee. The storm upended life throughout the Southeast, where to date nearly 250 deaths have been reported in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
Western North Carolina was hit especially hard because that’s where the remnants of Helene encountered the higher elevations and cooler air of the Appalachian Mountains, causing even more rain to fall. Asheville and many surrounding mountain towns were built in valleys, leaving them especially vulnerable to devastating rain and flooding.
It was the deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland since Katrina in 2005.
According to the Biltmore Estate, the 8,000-acre property was impacted very little by Hurricane Helene. Along with the Biltmore House, the estate includes a conservatory, winery, gardens and overnight properties, which received varying degrees of minimal or no damage.
Instead, some of the property's more low-lying areas were the most impacted by the storm. Notably, the entrance to the Biltmore Estate experienced flooding and is currently undergoing “extensive repairs.” The estate's website says the recovery effort will result in the removal of weakened poplar trees that lined the entrance gate.
The Biltmore Estate was completed in 1895 during the nation’s Gilded Age. It was anchored by a 250-room French chateau built at the direction of George Vanderbilt and is the largest privately owned home in the United States.
Biltmore draws about 1.4 million visitors on average in a year and employs nearly 2,500 employees — all of whom were accounted for after the storm, according to the estate's website. The estate is one of the largest employers in the Asheville area.
The mansion has rarely closed since opening to the public. When Biltmore laid off most its staff in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, the estate said it was first time it was forced to close since World War II.
FILE - Biltmore Estate crews raise a 40-foot-tall Fraser fir tree in the Banquet Hall of the Biltmore House on Friday, Nov. 1, 2013, in Asheville, N.C. The tree, from an Avery County farm, arrived by horse-drawn carriage. (Bill Sanders/The Asheville Citizen-Times via AP)
FILE - The Biltmore House, a 1890s French Renaissance-style, 250-room chateau in the Blue Ridge Mountains, is shown in Asheville, N.C., Dec. 18, 2006. (AP Photo/Alan Marler, File)
FILE - A horse-drawn trailer carries a 34-foot live Fraser fir to the front doors of the Biltmore House in Asheville, N.C Friday, Nov. 2, 2007. (Bill Sanders/The Asheville Citizen-Times via AP)
This satellite image released by Maxar Technologies shows flood-hit area of Biltmore village, N.C. after Hurricane Helene, on Oct. 7, 2024. (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies via AP)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The United States “will get Ukraine what it needs” to fight its war with Russia, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Monday, but he gave no hint that Washington might endorse key planks of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's so-called “victory plan.”
The United States will provide Ukraine with what it requires "to fight for its survival and security,” Austin said in a speech at the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine. He noted that the U.S. has delivered more than $58 billion in security assistance for Ukraine since Russia's February 2022 full-scale invasion, making it Kyiv's main backer.
But Zelenskyy has asked Ukraine's Western allies to go a few steps further, notably inviting Ukraine to join NATO and letting it use Western-supplied longer-range missiles to strike military targets deep inside Russian territory. Those steps have met with a lukewarm response.
Ukraine is having difficulty holding back a ferocious Russian campaign along the eastern front that is gradually compelling Kyiv’s forces to give up a series of towns, villages and hamlets. It faces a hard winter after Russia targeted its power grid.
Austin's remarks were notable for what they did not include — an endorsement of Ukraine being invited into NATO, or any indication the U.S. will support Ukraine becoming more aggressive in its defense with longer-range attacks on Russian soil.
With the U.S. presidential election about two weeks away, U.S. officials are treading carefully. President Joe Biden has balked at measures that might escalate the war and bring a confrontation between NATO and Russia.
Austin said "there is no silver bullet. No single capability will turn the tide. No one system will end Putin’s assault.”
He added: “Make no mistake. The United States does not seek war with Russia.”
“What matters is the way that Ukraine fights back," Austin told the assembled diplomatic and military personnel at the academy. "What matters is the combined effects of your military capabilities. And what matters is staying focused on what works.”
Zelenskyy said in a Sunday evening video address that his ‘victory plan’ had won the backing of France, Lithuania, Nordic countries and “many other allies” in the European Union, which he didn’t name.
Zelenskyy said he had received “very positive signals from the United States,” but he stopped short of saying he had secured Washington’s blessing for the plan.
Analysts say the U.S. is unlikely to make a decision before the Nov. 5. presidential election.
The latest Russian strikes on Ukraine, targeting Kyiv, Odesa and Zaporizhzhia, rammed home the urgency for Kyiv officials of clinching guarantees of more support, particularly large amounts of ammunition for the war of attrition the sides are engaged in.
A Russian missile attack on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia killed two people and injured 15 in the city center and caused huge damage to civilian infrastructure, including a kindergarten and more than 30 residential buildings, regional Gov. Ivan Fedorov said.
Russia conducted a ballistic missile strike at Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy’s hometown, injuring five people, city administration head Oleksandr Vilkul wrote on social media.
According to Vilkul, Russia has conducted ballistic missile attacks on Kryvyi Rih for three consecutive days, injuring the total of 21 people and damaging dozens of residential buildings and civilian infrastructure.
Machine gunfire and the noise of drones’ engines was also heard in Kyiv’s center throughout the night. Authorities reported minor damages to civilian infrastructure caused by falling drone debris in three districts.
Russia fired three missiles and more than 100 drones at Ukraine overnight from Sunday to Monday, Ukraine's air force said.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha met with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in Ankara on Monday to discuss cooperation between their countries.
According to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, the meeting focused on strengthening strategic relations, defense cooperation and addressing global food security through Black Sea grain shipments from Ukraine that pass through Turkey’′ Bosphorus Strait.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sought to steer a balanced line in his NATO-member country’s close relations with both Ukraine and Russia. He has previously offered to host a peace summit between the two countries.
Associated Press writer Tara Copp in Washington contributed.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
In this photo provided by the Press Service Of The President Of Ukraine on October 21, 2024, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, centre right, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, centre left, attend their meeing in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Press Service Of The President Of Ukraine via AP)
In this photo provided by the Press Service Of The President Of Ukraine on Oct. 21, 2024, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, right, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shake hands during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Press Service Of The President Of Ukraine via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on Oct. 21, 2024, a rescue worker extinguishes a fire at a house destroyed by a Russian strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on Oct. 21, 2024, rescue workers clear the rubble of a house destroyed by a Russian strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency workers clear the rubble after Russia attacked the city with guided bombs overnight in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency workers clear the rubble after an overnight Russian attack with guided bombs in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency workers clear the rubble after Russia attacked the city with guided bombs overnight in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, a Russian self-propelled mortar Nona-SVK fires towards Ukrainian positions at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
