Hurricane Helene Downgraded to Tropical Depression, Kills at Least 40 in 4 States
Hurricane Helene is an unusual example of “conveyor belt” weather conditions, similar to those for Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Hurricane Helene, a powerful Category 4 hurricane that made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region, has since weakened to tropical depression status. Unfortunately, its impact is still being felt. The death count is 40 people in four states.
Hurricane Helene left an enormous path of destruction across Florida and the entire southeastern U.S. on Friday, killing at least 40 people in four states, snapping trees like twigs, tearing apart homes and sending rescue crews on desperate missions to save people from floodwaters.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said dozens of people were still trapped in buildings damaged by the Category 4 hurricane. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (225 kph) when it made landfall late Thursday in a sparsely populated region in Florida’s rural Big Bend area, home to fishing villages and vacation hideaways where Florida’s Panhandle and peninsula meet.
The damage extended hundreds of miles to the north, with flooding as far away as northeast Tennessee, where a “dangerous rescue situation” was unfolding after 54 people were moved to the roof of the Unicoi County Hospital while rapid waters flooded the facility, according to Ballad Health.
In North Carolina, a lake used in the movie “Dirty Dancing” overtopped a dam. People in surrounding neighborhoods were evacuated, although there were no immediate concerns it was about to fail.
Some climate scientists projected this might be a relatively quiet hurricane season due to the development of an Atlantic Ocean version of La Niña. What appears to have happened is that the storm’s development and movement were influenced by a combination of factors, including a high-pressure system to the northeast and a trough or low-pressure system to the northwest, creating a sort of “conveyor belt” steering Helene.
This effect is similar to what occurred with Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Helene is “going to do a dance,” but not with another hurricane or tropical storm, said Gus Alaka, director of the Hurricane Research Division at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Lab.
Instead, Helene is responding to the effects of a low-pressure weather system to its northwest.
That interaction is occurring in the upper levels of the atmosphere, where commercial jets fly, and not at surface level. That means it’s not technically undergoing the Fujiwhara Effect.
The combination of that weather event to the northwest, and a high pressure system to the northeast, are creating a fast-moving “conveyor belt” for Helene, steering it and ultimately forcing it to a standstill over Tennessee, northern Georgia and lower Appalachia, Alaka said.
The interaction between a tropical storm and an atmospheric weather system is more common than the Fujiwhara Effect. Weather systems are common, regularly moving through the country and providing weather changes, Alaka said.
The International Space Station flew over Hurricane Helene at 2:25 p.m. EDT Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, as it approached the Gulf Coast of Florida packing winds in excess of 120 miles an hour. pic.twitter.com/J1iU0Iztpx
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) September 26, 2024
Unfortunately, some of the deaths appear to be related to people ignoring evacuation orders. And the damage reports from Florida are already daunting.
All five who died in one Florida county were in neighborhoods where residents had been told to evacuate, said Bob Gualtieri, the sheriff in Pinellas County in the St. Petersburg area. He said people who stayed because they didn’t believe the warnings wound up hiding in their attics to escape the rising water.
…Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the damage from Helene appeared to be greater than the combined damage of Idalia and Hurricane Debby in August. “It’s demoralizing,” he said.
Social media reports indicate widespread effects and recovery efforts will be lengthy.
But there is uplifting news of successful rescues.
Incredible job U.S. Coast Guard — saving man and his dog after their sailboat became disabled off the coast of Sanibel Island as Hurricane Helene approached Florida. pic.twitter.com/JgVBJYmsaw
— Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) September 27, 2024
And one weatherman took the storm personally (satire).
Hurricane Helene Chaos: Weatherman Loses It Live On Air. pic.twitter.com/tXiUVlno2P
— VINCENT OSHANA (@VincentOshana) September 27, 2024
Prayers of support continue for all our friends in the Southeastern US.
Flood waters remain in Crystal River, Florida from Hurricane Helene surge pic.twitter.com/FdJbffm8hk
— Reed Timmer, PhD (@ReedTimmerUSA) September 27, 2024
Birds-eye-view from the aftermath of #Helene’s storm surge at St Armands Circle in Sarasota, FL.
This morning’s sunrise shed light on scenes just like this repeated across the west coast of Florida. “Helene” will almost certainly be retired from future storm naming lists. pic.twitter.com/scbcU6WkK9
— Nash Rhodes (@NashWX) September 27, 2024
Heartbreaking scene as catastrophic storm surge leaves Horseshoe Beach, Florida destroyed. Almost every house sustained damage. @MyRadarWX #Hurricane #Helene pic.twitter.com/LcfXADRnEB
— Jordan Hall (@JordanHallWX) September 27, 2024
BIG mega flood problems in the Lake Lure, NC area with reports of dam breaks there and also in the Newport, TN area. Cellular data for the region is pretty much non-existent, with trees down blocking rescue workers. I still cannot get a hold of my mom pic.twitter.com/3zR9lD9lPG
— Reed Timmer, PhD (@ReedTimmerUSA) September 27, 2024
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Comments
The mountains in TN/NC got hit pretty bad, but Tricities TN got hit less bad, they evac’ed a hospital in Unicoi due to flooding. We lost power for a few hours after the fact but fairly mild.
I miss my generator. Also a reminder I need to always keep a bunch of water on hand. We’ve really gone soft on our readiness plan since moving out here.
I looked at some of the clips on YouTube even though I live only 17 miles from that hospital. I had not realized just how far our nation had degenerated into such mean spirited, nasty people.
Everything from remarks about Tennessee to “that Ballad CEO cares more about the building than the people!” when he mentioned that the hospital was destroyed. “They will grab the insurance money and leave!”
It seems divide and conquer has been more successful than I imagined.
Such destruction such power
These people are going to need a whole lot more than prayer
The weatherman, got to give it to him
That was fast, from Cat 4 to tropical depression in about a day. Love motorcycling in that area and know, for sure, that a lot rain will really mess things up, fast.
I’ve lived in ATL for over a decade. While we’ve had a number of hurricanes make there way up here from the Gulf, I’ve never seen one come up from the Gulf, hit ATL and then turn left. They’ve always turned right, heading East/Northeast. Bizarre. It’s looking like the real damage from this storm might just be done by flood waters in the eastern Carolinas and Tennessee, particularly if it stalls as it looks like it has.
One of the really cool sites after a natural disaster is:
https://poweroutage.us/
You can look at power outages by region, state, and counties for the United States.
At 18:00 EDT today (September 27, 2024) the state with the most accounts with a power outage (both in number and as a percentage of accounts) was…….
SOUTH CAROLINA
Here are the numbers
STATE / OUTAGES / ACCOUNTS / PERCENTAGE
South Carolina 1,192,602 / 2,904,276 (41.0%)
Georgia 902.863 / 4,907,955 (18.4%)
North Carolina 747,369 / 5,882,617 (12.7%)
Florida 668.221 / 11,328,141 (0.06%)
Given where Helene came ashore, this is somewhat surprising.
When you look at the maps, it looks like the western half of South Carolina got killed as far as power is concerned.
Ohio 306,246 / 4,910,611 (0.06%)
Wry cool thxs
https://www.foxweather.com/extreme-weather/interstate-40-north-carolina-flooding-helene
I was not clear. The news clips were from our local stations and done well. I am referring to the YouTube comment-makers.
Speaking of a conveyor belt effect, DW tells me that two more hurricanes are already on the way, following Helene’s path inland, to touch down in the next two weeks or so.
(By all rights, should be Hurricane Lucy and Hurricane Ethel, but that’s not the way we do things anymore,)
Helene should be followed by Curtiss under the new system.
No, it doesn’t, and it’s irresponsible to say so.
https://www.facebook.com/share/6aRgY4ZPKtnqHHYX/
Senator Rick Scot is a lunatic
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2024/09/27/rick-scott-hurricane-storm-surges-getting-worse-climate-is-clearly-changing/
When you get TOO proud of your lawn.
Another reason the hurricane developed like it did was an unusual tongue of warm water between Cuba and The Yucatan that the storm followed right over allowing it to continue to strengthen.
That weather guy may have just surpassed the infamous Shepherd Smith’s “Your Gonna Die and your kids are gonna die too”
I spent that night in my basement, but the storm veered east. Just enough.
For those in rural areas (yours truly) with spotty cell service. Have a land line, and an old fashioned phone. Those new wireless phones don’t work in a power outage, where the old kind just might. This could be critical. You can pick them up at a thrift store.
I have travel plans on Monday that involve Greenville. I am grateful that the storm spared my area, but then I feel guilty when I see the devastation elsewhere. .
While an “old fashioned phone” is not a bad idea, if a power pole goes down, it is taking hard line phone lines with it.
After Katrina, cell phone towers were hardened and unless underwater, are self powered for the most part. The cell towers will come back up sooner than the down land lines.
Assuming that one does not go the route of a generator, It is also good to get an emergency radio and either have lots of batteries or has a crank that generates electricity.
My family (who is semi-rural) also has a bunch of solar charging battery banks. They are easy to maintain, keep devices charged and allows phones, laptops, Bluetooth speakers etc., charged and ready to go.
After a storm, it is amazing how fast the sun returns, so that solar option for battery banks works well.