CLIMATEWIRE | Communities across the Southeast are reeling in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which is likely to make history as one of the country’s most destructive disasters on record.
The swath of devastation, which cut hundreds of miles inland from Florida’s Gulf Coast into southern Appalachia, is a stark reminder of the worsening impacts of climate change. Rising temperatures are fueling stronger, deadlier hurricanes with impacts that can ripple across the country.
It’s also an indicator that no regions are immune to the dangers of climate-fueled disasters. Asheville, North Carolina — which experienced some of the worst hurricane-related flooding in the nation — has previously been described as a “climate haven."
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
Hurricane Helene, an unusually large and powerful storm, rapidly intensified after racing through record-warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico. More than 60 deaths were reported across at least five states as of Sunday night, with officials warning that many more are likely to be reported in the coming days.
Communities across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and surrounding states were inundated by catastrophic floods. Millions of people lost power. And property damages are expected to amount to tens of billions of dollars.
“We have Biblical devastation through the county,” Ryan Cole, assistant emergency service director for North Carolina's Buncombe County, said at a Saturday press conference.
The region was among the worst affected in the country. Authorities in North Carolina have described unprecedented flood damage in the western part of the state, likening the wreckage to the record-breaking destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana in 2005.
Helene made landfall Thursday night as a Category 4 hurricane, first hitting communities on Florida's Gulf Coast that were still recovering from multiple previous hurricanes. Preliminary storm surge estimates suggest that water levels in parts of the Big Bend likely exceeded 15 feet, according to the National Hurricane Center.
As Helene barreled inland, it dumped record-breaking rainfall on communities across Georgia and the Carolinas. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency alert for Atlanta for the first time after the city received an unprecedented 11 inches of rain in 48 hours.
Nearly 2.2 million homes and businesses remained without power Sunday night in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, according to the outage tracker PowerOutage.us, down from more than 4 million in the immediate aftermath of the storm. Georgia and South Carolina accounted for 1.4 million outages, while Florida had only 150,000.
President Joe Biden spent the weekend approving major disaster declarations across the Southeast.
On Sunday morning, he declared parts of western Florida and western North Carolina major disasters, making nearly 3 million households eligible for emergency aid to cover expenses such as housing and minor home repairs. In 42 counties in the two states, FEMA will pay 75 percent of cleanup costs and emergency protection.
On Sunday evening, Biden also approved an emergency declaration for six counties in southwestern Virginia. He previously declared emergencies in all of Georgia, about half of Alabama and five counties in eastern Tennessee, making them eligible for up to $5 million from FEMA for emergency costs.
Helene could become one of the costliest weather-related disasters in the U.S., experts have warned.
Moody's Analytics projected total damage to cost between $20 billion and $34 billion, noting Friday that Helene made landfall "in a sparsely populated area" in Florida with "less expensive housing."
The storm "reinforces growing concern about long-term impacts," Moody's said, noting that Helene marks the third straight year that a major hurricane has hit Florida.
"Although climate hazards alone tend not to compel residents to move out of an area, further increases in insurance premiums might," Moody's said.
AccuWeather has projected property damage between $95 billion and $110 billion, which would rank Helene the fifth-costliest disaster since 1980, behind only Hurricanes Katrina in 2005, Harvey in 2017, Ian in 2022 and Maria in 2017, according to NOAA records.
'This storm spared no one'
Officials from the Gulf Coast to Appalachia have warned that Helene’s true toll remains to be seen as reports of deaths and destruction continue to surface.
Helene exceeded Hurricane Idalia in 2023 as the strongest storm ever to strike Florida’s Big Bend region. The hurricane brought record-breaking storm surge and devastating floods to communities along the state’s Gulf Coast, including as far south as the heavily populated Tampa Bay.
In Georgia, at least 1,100 people took refuge in dozens of shelters statewide, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp said at a press briefing Saturday in Lowndes County, near the Florida border.
At least 17 people have been reported dead across the state. And more than half a million people were still without power as of Sunday afternoon.
“From a statewide perspective, this storm spared no one,” he said. “Literally every commodity in this state has been damaged by this storm. We believe there’ll be a higher monetary value of damage than Hurricane Michael [in 2018].”
At least 25 people have died in South Carolina as a result of Helene, after heavy rains and strong winds triggered flash floods and downed trees.
In eastern Tennessee, officials urged residents of Greene County to evacuate as floodwaters sparked fears that the Nolichucky Dam would fail. Authorities later reported that the dam had held and was secure as of Sunday.
Meanwhile, North Carolina saw unprecedented devastation in a mountainous region frequently considered isolated from the impacts of hurricanes. Many towns in the western part of the state received more than 10 inches of rain, and some places saw more than two feet. The small community of Busick in Yancey County received more than 30 inches between Sept. 24 and Sept. 28.
More than 1,000 people took refuge in 24 shelters across the state, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper reported at a press briefing Sunday afternoon. Around half a million people were still without power Sunday, he said, down from more than one million in the storm’s immediate aftermath.
The National Guard has already rescued dozens of people stranded by floods in the state, according to Maj. Gen. Todd Hunt, adjutant general of the North Carolina National Guard. The largest rescue operation so far involved 41 people in Buncombe County north of Asheville, one of the hardest-hit areas in the state.
Nearly 300 roadways statewide remained closed on Sunday. The North Carolina Department of Transportation warned that “all roads in western NC are considered closed.”
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services has also warned residents of western North Carolina to use only bottled, boiled or treated water for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene. The state is working to deliver water, food and other supplies to affected communities in the midst of continued road closures, power outages and cellular service outages.
“There are a lot of places we’re having difficulty even getting to and communicating with,” Cooper said.
The flooded area of western North Carolina could face a huge struggle to rebuild because almost nobody has flood insurance, according to an analysis by POLITICO's E&E News.
Flood insurance is sold separately from homeowners' policies, which do not cover damage from natural floods. Just 0.8 percent of the nearly 700,000 households in heavily flooded North Carolina counties have flood insurance through FEMA, agency records show. In Cleveland County, North Carolina, 39 of the 36,600 households — 0.1 percent — have flood insurance through FEMA, which sells most of the coverage in the U.S. through its National Flood Insurance Program.
In Florida, which has one of the highest take-up rates in the nation, nearly 25 percent of the 2.2 million households in disaster areas have FEMA flood insurance.
The damage toll in North Carolina remained unknown as of Sunday, Cooper noted, as reports continued to trickle in from the worst affected places.
“As soon as we are in a position, that process of assessing damages will occur,” he said.
Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2024. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.