Hurricane Helene struck Florida as a Category 4 storm and tore through the Southeast, but it saved the bulk of its devastation for an unlikely destination: the rugged mountain towns of western North Carolina.
The timing could not have been worse.
Days before Helene’s arrival, a slow-moving weather front soaked the Blue Ridge Mountain region, delivering more than 4 inches of rain to Asheville Airport and 9 inches to Yancey County and raising streams to record levels.
The saturated environment yielded what the North Carolina State Climate Office called a “close to worse-case scenario.”
“As mountain streams became overrun with moisture, that water rushed down the rivers and into towns such as Asheville, all while the heaviest rain from Helene was just beginning to fall,” Corey Davis, assistant state climatologist, said in a Monday analysis.
That confluence of events helps explain the high casualty county from Helene, which brought an estimated 40 trillion gallons of rain as it beat a three-day path of destruction across the Southeast before dissipating Sunday.
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“Communities were wiped off the map,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said at a news conference Tuesday.
The death toll from six states rose Wednesday to at least 166, according to an Associated Press count. Nearly half came from western North Carolina, about 300 miles from the Atlantic Coast.
“We’ve seen many disasters in North Carolina from hurricanes to frost and freezes and tornadoes, but I think this probably will go down as the worst disaster we’ve seen in North Carolina,” state Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said at a Tuesday press conference.
As many as 600 people were still missing or unaccounted for, but Helene’s death total had already surpassed those of seminal 21st-century storms such as Superstorm Sandy in 2012, which left 158 dead, and Hurricane Ian in 2022, which resulted in 149 deaths.
Fast-moving floodwaters and mudslides propelled down the western North Carolina mountains, wreaking devastation on the historic tourist city of Asheville and virtually wiping out the town of Chimney Rock Village.
The death toll in Buncombe County, home of Asheville, has been estimated at 40, or more than the count from the entire state of Georgia, where the total number of deaths rose Monday from 17 to 25.
Dozens of people died in South Carolina, and deaths were reported in Florida, Tennessee and Virginia.
One factor making it difficult to get an accurate death toll is the damage to communications in remote regions.
“In fact, communication has been difficult in a number of areas, if not impossible,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Tuesday in a White House briefing.
Eastern North Carolina’s beachfront and coastal communities grappled with their share of hurricanes, including Florence in 2018, Matthew in 2016 and Floyd in 1999, but not the western mountains.
“This really is unprecedented here,” said Rep. David Rouzer, North Carolina Republican. “This would be the equivalent, at least in my mind, of 50 inches of snow at Wrightsville Beach. I mean, how do you prepare for that? There is no way to prepare for that.”
Mr. Cooper said President Biden “gave the green light” to use U.S. military forces soon, citing, among other things, the extensive damage to water systems in the region.
More than two dozen plants were not producing water Tuesday, and Asheville city officials said normal service is likely weeks away because pipes and treatment facilities have been badly damaged.
“We know that this crisis will likely be a sustained crisis because of water system issues,” Mr. Cooper said.
Rep. Gregory Murphy, North Carolina Republican, said there is no comparison between storms that cause flooding along the East Coast and flooding in the Western mountains.
“Here in the mountains, it comes down slopes. You have gully washers, you have flash floods with so much of a higher velocity, which we’ve seen from the air,” Mr. Murphy said. “Tragically, it has taken out villages and homes alike.”
Although Helene came ashore in Florida, that state has essentially completed relief efforts and is now helping neighbors less used to handling hurricanes.
Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters that Florida has sent emergency resources, including members of its National Guard and its transportation and emergency management departments, to North Carolina and Tennessee.
“Just yesterday, a joint Florida State Guard and Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission team rescued a mother and her 1-year-old infant,” said Mr. DeSantis, adding that food and bridge-building teams were also on their way.
This is one of the most significant storms WNC has ever experienced.
— Senator Thom Tillis (@SenThomTillis) October 1, 2024
This will be a long road to recovery for North Carolina.
My staff & I continue to stand ready to assist North Carolinians.
For resources on how to get disaster recovery assistance: https://t.co/kk4ogtWyAQ
The tiny town of Busick in Yancey County topped the list with 31.33 inches of rain. Mount Mitchell received more than 2 feet, and Asheville was soaked by 14 inches of rain, state weather officials said.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation said drivers should “consider roads in western North Carolina to be closed and avoid travel unless it is absolutely necessary” while 1,600 state workers and crews move to clear debris and block off roads destroyed by flooding.
Where cars cannot pass, however, mules can. The Mountain Mule Packer Ranch delivered trailers loaded with donated supplies, including insulin and diapers, to a staging area in western North Carolina, as shown on its Facebook page.
Mr. Biden is scheduled to take an aerial tour Wednesday of the damage in South Carolina and western North Carolina.
Frank Matranga, a representative from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told reporters that more than 150,000 households had registered for assistance. The agency expects that number to “rapidly increase over the coming days.”
He said the federal government has deployed 1,250 urban search-and-rescue personnel, 1.9 million ready-to-eat meals, more than 1 million liters of water, 95,000 tarps, and 150 ambulances.
“This is, without a doubt, a widespread and extraordinarily devastating disaster,” Mr. Matranga said. “We’re here to support the response across all of the affected states and do that with empathy and sensitivity. We’re committed to being there every step of the way, and it’s going to be a long way.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, North Carolina Republican, said, “We’ve got to be prepared to be in this for the long haul.”
“Time and time again, after we’ve had hurricane and flooding events, the people of western North Carolina have come to our aid,” said Mr. Murphy, “and now it’s time for the rest of the state to come to western North Carolina’s aid.”
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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