Hurricane Helene is the first recorded Category 4 hurricane in Florida’s Big Bend region since 1851. On Thursday evening, at about 11:10 PM EST, Helene arrived 10 miles out of Perry, Florida, it reached wind gusts of 140 mph. Helene has cut millions of civilians out of power and caused immense flooding as it has transitioned across Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. Since then, the hurricane has shifted northwards towards Virginia resulting in more power outages, deaths, and housing damages. Due to heavy rainfall, many states issued flood warnings and evacuation orders for places such as Newport, Tennessee and several parts of North Carolina with the flooding of the Lake Lure Dam causing more issues. Although the hurricane has weakened as it has moved in-land; the damage is evident that this hurricane is still immensely powerful.
Though there has been a minimal amount of rain and slight winds in Ashland, Hurricane Helene affected the Southeast region of Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina, including the Blue Ridge Mountains, being the main targets of this natural disaster. Appalachian Power reports that 155,000 customers have lost power. In Asheville, North Carolina, there are at least 100 deaths and nearly 1.6 million people who have lost power as of Monday evening. There have been countless water rescues across Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Virginia since Helene made landfall. Atlanta has experienced 11 inches of rain within 48 hours, breaking the record from 150 years ago. In western North Carolina, there has been damage including houses floating away, bridges crumbling, semi-trucks tossed in mangled piles, mud, tree branches, and food from local grocery stores flowed into the disastrous torrent of water in the streets.
Buncombe County has recorded about 40 fatalities, however that number is expected to rise with the missing reports being about 600 people. Supplies are having to be airlifted since some roads are damaged by the water, leaving limited roads to travel on. Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina has ordered more than 500 soldiers from the National Guard along with more than 200 vehicles and aircraft to work to save whoever they can find. In addition to the effects of Governor Cooper, President Joe Biden sent the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Administrator, Deanna Criswell, to help the citizens of Asheville, North Carolina until “the situation has stabilized,” while other teams are deployed to help in the Blue Ridge Hospital.
As hurricane season continues to do its course, there is no foretelling on what weather could develop, so please always be safe and be aware of the forecast.
