Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 10 december 2016
Tourists stream back to Gatlinburg, but rebuilding looms

Nov. 28. damaged or destroyed. Up
The hills around the resort the road, a sign advertising
area featured a steady the Relaxation Properties
chorus of chain saws. Fleets stood in front of a burned
of utility vehicles and con- out structures. All that re-
tractors’ trucks came and mained of the Ski Mountain
went. There was little need Chalet office were charred
for security as many of laundry machines.
the homes were so heav- The Jeters have been work-
ily burned that there was ing quickly to make rooms
nothing left to steal. available to people dis-
Tricia Jeter had run the placed by the fires.
Grand Prix Motel for less “We have people scram-
than a month when the bling to find a place to live,
fires spread onto the ridg- because the city’s back
es around Gatlinburg. Her open so they need to get
husband, Kurt, hosed down back to their jobs,” Tricia
the roof to keep embers Jeter said. “If we had more
from lighting the building rooms, we’d put more peo-
on fire. ple here. But we’re full.”
“When that fire came On the winding roads
across the top, the wind around the city, undam-
moving it down the moun- aged homes stand next to
Fire damage to the Laurel Point Resort in Gatlinburg, Tenn., is seen on Friday, Dec. 9, 2016. Gatlin- tain was such that when it buildings burned to their
burg reopened to the public for the first time since fatal wildfires spread to the city on Nov. 28. hit the cabins they looked foundations. Fire at the
(AP Photo/Erik Schelzig)
ERIK SCHELZIG Friday for the first time since of the cleanup and repairs like you’d lit the head of a Laurel Point Resort torched
match,” Kurt Jeter said. “It the indoor pool, covering
Associated Press wildfires killed 14 people. needed in the days ahead. would ignite and then it the water with a thick lay-
GATLINBURG, Tenn. (AP) — While the main drag was Officials estimate 2,500 was gone, gutted.” er of ashes and debris. An
Visitors jammed the main left intact, the charred re- buildings were damaged The Grand Prix avoided abandoned pickup truck
roads and sidewalks in mains of homes, vehicles by the wildfires that spread the fate of several nearby sat burned in a 15-minute
Gatlinburg as the tourism and businesses on side in high winds out of the buildings that were heavily parking spot. q
city reopened to the public roads served as a reminder Great Smoky Mountains on
Snow doesn’t mean drought is

over in northern New England

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Management Agency is
The ground is covered aware of only two reports
with snow and starting to of dry wells in the past two
freeze across northern New weeks, compared to hun-
England, but that doesn’t dreds over the course of
mean the drought is over. the summer and earlier in
Most of Maine remains in a the fall. Recent weeks have
severe drought going into brought rain and snow to
the winter, and the freezing the region, and more pre-
ground means there won’t cipitation is on tap for next
be any major ground- week. But the long-term
water replenishment until forecast is uncertain.
the spring when the snow The National Oceanic
melts, said Tom Hawley, hy- and Atmospheric Admin-
drologist with the National istration currently projects
Weather Service. equal chances of this win-
Surface water levels across ter having above-normal
the state are now in the or below-normal precipita-
normal range, but ground- tion. The Maine State Hous-
water levels are going to ing Authority has received
take longer to recover. another infusion of emer-
Much will depend on the gency funding — $200,000
level of the snowpack. — to help low-income
“We just hope we can build residents drill new wells,
up the snowpack so we said MEMA Director Bruce
have a decent amount of Fitzgerald. The agency re-
snow on the ground for the ceived $250,000 over the
spring melt,” Hawley said. summer, and that was
The Maine Drought Task “gone in a flash,” he said.
Force was told Friday that Going forward, Poland
the situation has improved Spring, the Good Shepherd
since September and Oc- Food Bank and American
tober, when officials were Red Cross are partnering to
carefully monitoring some get bottled water to peo-
public water supplies. ple whose wells dry up, he
The Maine Emergency said.q