Helene Death Toll Hits 57 as Catastrophic Flooding Continues in Southeast
“Who would have thought a hurricane would do this much damage in East Tennessee?”
In my last report on the storm formerly known as Hurricane Helene, I noted that a “conveyor belt effect” had brought the storm up through the American Southeast, and places that don’t usually experience such torrential rains and high winds were getting slammed.
The still powerful remnants of the hurricane are now heading up to the nation’s heartland.
Hurricane Helene killed at least 57 people across multiple states and left more than 3 million customers without power from Florida to Ohio as it continued to wreak havoc across the Southeast.
The storm crashed ashore in Florida’s Big Bend area on Thursday night as a dangerous Category 4 storm. Despite weakening to a post-tropical cyclone, Helene was still causing “catastrophic, historic” flooding in the southern Appalachians late Friday night, the National Hurricane Center said.
Helene was expected to hover over the Tennessee Valley on Saturday and Sunday, the hurricane center said. High wind warnings also covered parts of Tennessee and Ohio.
NEWPORT, TN: Floodwater Devastation and Destruction Hits Newport and Cocke County Region in Aftermath of #Helene. Reports of I-40 closed between TN/NC Line and Ashville, NC. #tennesseeflooding pic.twitter.com/0gtnlSfFtm
— Steven Autrey (@StevenAutrey) September 28, 2024
The mountain city of Ashville, North Carolina, was particularly hard hit.
Floodwaters pushed by the remnants of Hurricane Helene left North Carolina’s largest mountain city isolated Saturday by damaged roads and a lack of power and cellphone service, part of a swath of destruction across southern Appalachia that left an unknown number dead and countless worried relatives unable to reach loved ones.
The storm spread misery across western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, where on Friday authorities used a helicopter to rescue dozens of people from the rooftop of a flooded hospital. In North Carolina alone, more than 400 roads remained closed on Saturday as floodwaters began to recede and reveal the extent of damage.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said supplies were being airlifted to that part of the state, and Buncombe County officials said Interstate 26 between Asheville and South Carolina had reopened but most other routes into the city were impassible.
Homes were seen FLOATING AWAY because of Flooding caused by Hurricane Helene in Asheville, North Carolina.#HurricaneHelene #Ashville pic.twitter.com/6gF36nxL5S
— david 🛡️ (@davidmjrobbins) September 28, 2024
More than 3 million people in the region are without power, and warnings are being issued about downed powerlines.
“All roads in Western NC should be considered closed,” its post on X reads. Multiple sections of Interstates 40 and 26, main thoroughfares for traveling into and out of Asheville, remain closed Saturday either due to flooding or landslides, according to the state Department of Transportation.
Since Thursday, Buncombe County has received over 5,500 911 calls and conducted more than 130 swiftwater rescues. Officials warned residents to stay away from the water because of downed power lines, sewage contamination and debris. An emergency shelter is currently serving 400 people at the WNC Agricultural Center near Asheville Regional Airport.
The local airport said its operations are “cancelled for the remainder of the day,” and thanked residents for their patience, during the “unprecedented natural disaster.” A curfew remains in effect in Asheville from 7:30 p.m. Saturday to 7:30 a.m. Sunday and will be extended past Sunday, officials said.
Ariel footage of the destruction today in western North Carolina in Biltmore Village in Asheville after historical rainfall & flooding.
📷: Sky4 (WYFF News 4)#Helene #ncwx #floods pic.twitter.com/vwYJRlY6wN
— StormHQ ☈ (@StormHQwx) September 28, 2024
Americans far from the coast are shocked about the amount of destruction the storm has caused across the Southeast.
U.S. Rep. Diana Harshbarger expressed disbelief at the extent of the damage.
“It’s something like we’ve never seen in this part of the state. Who would have thought a hurricane would do this much damage in East Tennessee?”
In Greene County, Tennessee, the threat from a stressed dam had passed by Saturday afternoon. The Tennessee Valley Authority, which had warned residents overnight that the Nolichucky Dam could breach, said a thorough review determined it was “stable and secure.” It was one of several being closely monitored.
Along the Pigeon River, the small Tennessee city of Newport suffered heavy flooding.
Kendale Ball, who opened his Simpl Cafe in June after relocating from Knoxville, said the water reached nearly thigh-high.
“We never anticipated it to be this devastating,” he said of the storm.
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I have many friends in WNC. Any relief that can be provided is much appreciated.
We’re just on periphery and not impacted (a few miles up the road in Johnson City) and have some acreage down in Green County off the 107. Just watched TDOT presser. It’s all hands on deck. They don’t even have ETA to complete inspection on the remaining bridges. At this point they are still looking at life-safety aspect of getting services to cut off areas.
From an engineering standpoint sounds like TDOT has some rapid response to get contractors going fast on prelim design plans- not sure if they are able to go with no-bid scenarios to move fast on that. They did a good job of mobilizing crews and have worked with other states that do this a lot to prep for this eventuality. They do admit this event was more significant than anything they were expecting.
Power is still out for a lot out & around Greene County where all the bridges were taken out. Greene County will run out of potable water this afternoon and are opening distribution centers. Haven’t heard from our blue state refugee friends who settled down there yet today- we were planning to have them evac to here but sounds like they may be stuck with the bridge situation or can’t communicate because power/cell service is out.
Haven’t seen Griz on since this went down- so he may be impacted.
Do they have anti-price-gouging laws there? If they do, that will slow help coming.
“They need generators. We have generators. We could make a bunch of money by renting a truck and bringing generators to them.”
Mike Munger has a nice youtube on whether that happens or not after a hurricane in NC that he went through
https://youtu.be/8_z-GnhHyGg
NC does indeed have anti gouging laws that are triggered by natural disasters or a disaster declaration. They do not specify what price or increase constitutes gouging but instead base it on the average price for the goods in that area during the preceding 60 days
https://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bysection/chapter_75/gs_75-38.html
No, I a fine! I life up on one of the hillsides common to Johnson City, and the worst I had was power hits of a few seconds at most. I count myself lucky.
Good to hear from you. I was genuinely worried from the radios silence you were up in Unicoi.
This is all standard hurricane reporting, reported by the yard and sold as a crisis for the benefit of advertisers.
Average daily death toll in America: 8,000.
It’s the governor’s responsibility to deal with it. Biden can be asked to send in this or that by the governor.
utterly the most douch-bag-est comment in the history of LI.
You stupid motherfu&&&&. take a second and read the last sentence of my comment above and note that a crap load of those killed are nearby. Then please disappear and never return.
There’s Randy Newman’s very nice song Louisiana 1927, with lyrics in part (i.e. it’s a fixed form)
What has happened down here is the winds have changed
Clouds roll in from the north and it started to rain
Rained real hard and it rained for a real long time
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline
The river rose all day
The river rose all night
Some people got lost in the flood
Some people got away alright
The river have busted through clear down to Plaquemines
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangelne
Louisiana, Louisiana
They’re tyrin’ to wash us away
They’re tryin’ to wash us away
Louisiana, Louisiana
They’re tryin’ to wash us away
They’re tryin’ to wash us away
President Coolidge came down in a railroad train
With a little fat man with a note-pad in his hand
The President say, “Little fat man isn’t it a shame what the river has done
To this poor crackers land.”
You really are an asshole.
and our friends from the other side of the border seem to be right on the scene…
🔶🔶 LOOTERS ARRESTED 🔶🔶
🔶🔶 WASHINGTON COUNTY 🔶🔶
Washington Co, TN – Looters Arrested
Eight Arrested for Looting in Flood Ravaged 107 Area
Deputies continue to patrol our region during the catastrophic flooding, especially along the flood zone.
According to Sheriff Keith Sexton, Deputies arrested eight men for looting on Saturday, Sept. 28. All are now in custody at the Washington County Detention Center, each held on $20,000 bonds. They will appear in court Monday, Sept. 30.
Those men charged with Burglary are:
•Jesus Leodan Garcia-Peneda, 51
•Josue Berardo Ortis-Valdez, 30
•Ersy Leonel Ortis-Valdez, 33
Those charged with Aggravated Burglary for breaking into occupied structures are:
•Albin Nahun Vega-Rapalo, 24
•David Bairon Rapalo-Rapalo, 37
•Kevin Noe Martinez-Lopez, 25
•Marvin Hernandez-Martinez, 43
•Dayln Gabriel Guillen Guillen, 37
For people who don’t live in the area (North Georgia/Eastern TN/Western NC), there doesn’t seem to be an understanding of how rapidly the Latino population in the area has grown the last 15-years. There are high schools in North Georgia that were 95% white in 2010 but are less than 60% white today…some even minority majority. The carpet mills in North Georgia I think were the early magnets for cheap immigrant labor. But, it’s really metastasized the last decade. This is why I think if they ever enact amnesty, GA & NC would be immediately lost and TN would become a purple state.
Knox County TN public schools is 18% Latino. Sevier County public schools (Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg) is almost 20% Latino and Hamblen County (east of Knox and north of Sevier) is more than 30% Latino. Yes, the growth has been incredible since 2010, 400% in Hamblen County.
Our replacements
The fact that these dirt bags got together and did this as a crew tells me they ain’t here for the roofing jobs.
Gee. What do all of them have in common? And a follow-on question is what is their immigration or citizenship status?
My youngest brother lives between Boone and West Jefferson, NC. He is without power and cell service and has been since late Friday. Both towns are flooded.
Seems pre
Seems pretty damn bad. Lots of smaller communities and lots of smaller bridges in the area, many probably washed out given amount of rainfall. With interstate access cut off it is gonna be tough to get support/supplies into some those places. Got areas flooded that aren’t in a 500 year flood zone so kinda doubtful that many of those folks have flood insurance if the lender didn’t require it. Its a beautiful area but if you’ve ever been then you know how the topography of small valleys, mountains and narrow roadways will be a barrier to relief efforts.
If you think your homeowners insurance premium is high right now, wait till the financial fallout from this natural disaster hits.
Flooding as a peril is in flood insurance and available after FEMA establishes the flood zone. It’s federally subsidized.
More likely you’re going to see a lot of damage not covered because flooding was the peril and they weren’t in a flood zone.
I had to drop my flood insurance this year due to premium going up to $1000; 6 years ago it was $400. Have we had any flooding incidents in the area? No, none at all.
But somebody has, and the Feds are making sure we all pay for it.
Flood insurance causes building on flood plains. If the government decides to subsidize flood insurance, it amounts to a transfer of money to the existing owners of the property, not to following owners. The value of their property goes up, and every following owner pays that out when they buy the house (so no net gain to them).
Floods are uninsurable because all the policies go bad at once, and insurance depends on that not happening.
People who scoff at your comment or start blathering about federal flood insurance do not live in NC and have watched their premiums explode to pay for all the people building on the outer banks.
True. I’m a licensed insurance producer (small mom and pop operation which is now down to a side hustle), but I don’t sell flood insurance. As such, I don’t know it from the premium end of the stick. I also don’t know it from the risk pool side- ie- with federal subsidy how they calculate the premium. The point of the subsidy is that it would otherwise but unaffordable since no carrier would do this on their own. Apparently WITH the subsidy it’s getting unaffordable, yet if you have a mortgage, you’re stuck.
Thanks for the info.
You really don’t hear much from the news and certainly Biden, well he’s in his swim silly on a beach God knows where
We need Trump, he needs to go there
And here he is… Trump
https://www.breitbart.com/weather/2024/09/29/trump-visit-georgia-aftermath-devastation-hurricane-helene/
They are the good guys
https://www.samaritanspurse.org/article/pray-for-those-in-helenes-path/
When Africa had its last big Ebola outbreak, all of the NGOs – including the UN and Doctors Without Borders – quickly fled the infected area as the outbreak really began to spread….except for one: Samaritan’s Purse. They stuck around the entire time.
I’m a Floridian who has been through some 15 hurricanes and watching the indescribable destruction in NC, TN, SC and GA is beyond heart wrenching. I have spoken with friends and family in GA, TN and NC and it’s bad.
Yet, being in many hurricanes I and others in similar circumstances don’t want to sit around and wait for government. What is intolerable is that the feds and state governments have been AWOL. I am also a certified DRONE pilot and some of us want to go to these disaster areas and assist. One way is to use drones to drop off supplies and assistance. Unfortunately, we could be fined by the FAA some $20,000 for helping Americans. How sad that our government sends billions to Ukraine and other nations but does care about Americans.
I thought this was a very interesting comment on X particularly after hearing about the MASSIVE communication problems in west Tennessee at the moment:
North Carolina would have 19,522 working @Starlink kits available today after Hurricane Helene had the FCC not revoked in bad faith the grant that was awarded to SpaceX as the winning bidder.
https://twitter.com/ajtourville/status/1840577643839955098
““It’s something like we’ve never seen in this part of the state. Who would have thought a hurricane would do this much damage in East Tennessee?””
Hurricane Camille did similar destruction in Nelson County VA in 1969. There things happen.
https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/hurricane-camille-august-1969/