The real estate industry has taken notice. Quite coincidentally, as Hurricane Helene was bearing down on the Southeast last week, Zillow announced a new feature that displays climate risk scores on listing pages alongside interactive maps and insurance requirements. Now, you can look up an address and see, on a scale of 1 to 10, the risk of flooding, extreme temperatures, and wildfires for that property, based on data provided by the climate risk modeling firm First Street. Redfin, a Zillow competitor, launched its own climate risk index using First Street data earlier this year.
The new climate risk scores on Zillow and Redfin can’t tell you with any certainty whether you’ll be affected by a natural disaster if you move into any given house. But this is a tool that can help guide decisions about how you might want to insure your property and think about its long-term value.
It’s almost fitting that Zillow and Redfin, platforms designed to help people find the perfect home, are doing the work to show that climate risk is not binary. There are no homes completely free of risk for the same reasons that there’s no such thing as a perfect climate haven.
Climate risk is a complicated equation that complicates the already difficult and complex calculus of buying a home. Better access to data about risk can help, and a bit more transparency about the insurance aspect of homeownership is especially useful, as the industry struggles to adapt to our warming world and the disasters that come with it.
“As we start to see insurance costs increase, all that starts to impact that affordability question,” Skylar Olsen, Zillow’s chief economist, told me. “It’ll help the housing market move towards a much healthier place, where buyers and sellers understand these risks and then have options to meet them.”
That said, knowledge of risk isn’t keeping people from moving to disaster-prone parts of the country right now. People move to new parts of the country for countless different reasons, including the area’s natural beauty, job prospects, and affordable housing. Those are a few of the reasons why high-risk counties across the country are growing faster than low-risk counties, even in the face of future climate catastrophes, which are both unpredictable and inevitable. It’s almost unfathomable to know how to prepare ourselves properly for the worst-case scenario.
“The scale of these events that we’re seeing are so beyond what humans have ever seen,” said Vivek Shandas, an urban planning professor at Portland State University. “No matter what we think might be a manageable level of preparedness and infrastructure, we’re still going to see cracks, and we’re still going to see breakages.”
That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t build sea walls or find new ways to fight wildfires. In a sense, we have the opportunity to create our own climate havens by making cities more resilient to the risks they face. We can be optimistic about that future.
Mobile homes surrounded by flood water after Hurricane Milton made landfall, in St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S. October 10, 2024.
Octavio Jones | Reuters
If your home is temporarily uninhabitable after a natural disaster, a provision in your homeowners or renters insurance policy may help you with new lodging and other living expenses.
Insured wind and flood damage from Hurricane Helene is estimated to be up to $17.5 billion, according to CoreLogic, a real estate data site. Insured losses from Hurricane Milton could range from $30 billion to $60 billion, per Morningstar DBRS.
Homeowners and renters affected by a natural disaster can ask about so-called “loss of use” or “additional living expenses” coverage from their insurance providers, experts say.
The provision is meant to help cover reasonable living expenses if your home is not suitable to live in as a result of a covered peril such as a hurricane, fire or burst pipe.
“I don’t know of any homeowners policy that doesn’t have it already there,” said Karl Susman, president and principal insurance agent of Susman Insurance Services, Inc. in Los Angeles.
As you file a claim, it will be important to ask your insurance company about the loss of use coverage and how quickly it can kick in, said Shannon Martin, a licensed insurance agent and analyst at Bankrate.com.
“If you call your carrier, they might be able to expedite the loss of use claim filing for you and issue a check early so that you’re not stuck trying to figure out how to pay for separate housing,” she said.
Here’s what the coverage is and what to consider before you use it, according to experts.
Loss of use coverage is a provision that is typically included in your homeowners insurance policy. It’s usually about 20% of the dwelling coverage and is paid out in the event that the home becomes uninhabitable and a policyholder needs funds for living expenses while the home is repaired or rebuilt, experts say. Eligible expenses might include a hotel or rental home, food, pet boarding or storage fees, among others.
For example, if you’re ensuring a house for $100,000, and that’s what it costs to rebuild the house, that is considered the dwelling coverage, Susman said.
“Then the policy would automatically come with $20,000 in coverage for loss of use,” he said.
“That way you and your family can pay for your hotel and pay for food, because you might be separated from your home for an extended period of time,” Martin said.
Renters insurance typically has a similar provision, as would condominium policies, Susman said.
For renters and condo insurance, the primary coverage is not dwelling because you’re insuring personal property rather than the building, he said. You’ll typically get 20% of the personal property coverage for loss of use, he said.
Ask your insurer about any policy restrictions. There may be expense-specific dollar caps or time limits to claim loss of use coverage.
Loss of use coverage can help homeowners cover living expenses after a natural disaster. However, the money is meant to be a short-term fix, experts say.
“It’s generally not intended to be a long-term solution,” said Jeremy Porter, head of climate implications research at First Street Foundation, an organization focused on climate risk financial modeling in New York City. “It’s generally not enough money to carry people through an extended period of time.”
That can be a problem because what it would cost to move out would be very different after a major disaster than during more typical times, Susman said, as there’s often less housing available and hotels may raise their prices amid demand.
While the coverage is meant to be temporary, repairs and broader financial recovery take a long time after major disasters, experts say.
“It takes a long time to recoup and recover,” said Loretta Worters, a spokeswoman for the Insurance Information Institute.
You might be able to use funds from the government to help you stay in a hotel for a month, then get a place closer to your home and use your loss of use coverage to pay for the difference, Martin said.
Millions of Floridians from coast to coast are assessing the overnight destruction left by Hurricane Milton, which made landfall at Siesta Key off Sarasota as a Category 3 storm at around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, trekked across the state and exited the east coast near Cape Canaveral before dawn Thursday.
At least 3 million homes and businesses were without power, St. Petersburg residents without water, and major damage was done in the Tampa area, where flash flood warnings were still in effect Thursday.
St. Petersburg residents also could no longer get water from their household taps because a water main break led the city to shut down service. St. Petersburg recorded over 16 inches of rain.
Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team in St. Petersburg, appeared badly damaged. The fabric that serves as the domed stadium’s roof was ripped to shreds by the fierce winds. It was not immediately clear if there was damage inside. Multiple cranes were also toppled in the storm, the weather service said.
As of 5 a.m. Thursday, Milton was still producing damaging winds and heavy rain in east-central Florida. It was located 15 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral with 85 mph winds and moving northeast at 18 mph.
About 5,500 people live in Siesta Key where Milton made landfall. The popular tourist destination has for years been considered one of the best beaches in the U.S., known for its particularly white sand. An MTV reality show called “Siesta Key” was filmed there.
On its march toward landfall, Hurricane Milton spawned tornado outbreaks across the state. Multiple people were reported dead in a St. Lucie County housing development; St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson told WPEC-CBS12 that his deputies and state emergency crews will go door-to-door at Spanish Lakes Country Club Village to conduct search-and-rescue operations. In all, more than 100 people are looking for people who may be trapped.
“This is like nothing other we’ve seen,” Pearson said, adding that between six and 12 tornadoes tore through the area within a span of 20 minutes..
Milton’s path zeroed in on the south side of Tampa Bay late Wednesday. A gust of 102 mph was recorded at the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport by late Wednesday night, a 105-mph gust at Egmont Channel and a 98-mph gust at Middle Tampa Bay, the National Hurricane Center said.
A crane collapsed in downtown St. Petersburg during Hurricane Milton’s furious winds Wednesday night, leaving a gaping hole in an office building that houses several business, including the Tampa Bay Times.
Florida has mobilized helicopters, boats and high-wheeled vehicles to go into the hardest-hit areas, with emergency supplies of water and military rations already distributed to the counties likely to see the worst impacts.
Heavy rain, powerful winds and a series of tornadoes struck Florida from the storm’s leading edge, the National Hurricane Center said Wednesday. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said 19 tornadoes were confirmed across the state and 116 tornado warnings were issued. He did not provide a number but said “numerous counties” reported damage and specifically mentioned damage in Palm Beach County and Port St. Lucie.
“Regardless of the winds from the storm directly, we’ve already seen probably more tornado watches than I’ve ever seen … No one remembers ever seeing this many tornado warnings that have been done,” DeSantis said at a news conference Wednesday. The National Weather Service in Miami issued 55 warnings just in its region.
About 125 homes were destroyed before the hurricane made landfall, many of them mobile homes in communities for senior citizens, said Kevin Guthrie, the director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management.
The storm grew dramatically in size Wednesday afternoon. Milton’s tropical-force winds extend up to 255 miles from its center as of 11 p.m. Wednesday. Tropical-force winds have speeds of 39-73 mph.
Catastrophic storm surges of between 8 and 13 feet were expected from Anna Maria Island in Manatee County south to Bonita Beach in Lee County. Areas to the north, including Tampa Bay, could see storm surges of 6 to 9 feet.
The Sun Sentinel has made its coverage of Hurricane Milton free to all readers as a public service. Please consider supporting important breaking news such as this by subscribing to SunSentinel.com at a special rate.
DeSantis said at a news conference Wednesday night that Milton’s landfall came before expected, ahead of high tides.
Boats are stacked up at Marina Jack in Sarasota following Hurricane on Milton’s landfall. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
“That’s good for the high tide because the high tide’s not here yet. I think it’ll help with the surge, but it’s going to mean pretty much all the rescues are going to be done in the dark, in the middle of the night,” DeSantis said.
Preparing for what’s certain to be a lengthy, difficult and dangerous aftermath, Florida has assembled about 50,000 electricity repair workers from across the United States and brought in an additional 500 law enforcement officers, DeSantis said.
Search-and-rescue teams are ready to deploy. The state has assembled dozens of aircraft, including helicopters and airplanes, as well as hundreds of high-wheeled vehicles. Emergency food and water kits have been made ready.
Authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders across 11 Florida counties ahead of landfall, with a combined population of about 5.9 million people, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
On Monday, Milton had intensified at an astonishing rate with barometric pressure plunging below 900 millibars, making it one of the top five most intense Atlantic hurricanes on record.
A hurricane hunter aircraft reported early Tuesday evening the pressure in the eye of Milton had plunged yet again, indicating another explosive intensification. Colorado State University meteorologist Philip Klotzbach said in a post on X that the only other hurricane on record in the Atlantic with a lower pressure this late in the year was Hurricane Wilma in 2005.
On Anna Marie Island along the southern edge of Tampa Bay, Evan Purcell packed up his father’s ashes and was trying to catch his 9-year-old cat, McKenzie, as he prepared to leave Tuesday. Helene left him with thousands of dollars in damage when his home flooded. He feared Milton might take the rest.
“I’m still in shock over the first one and here comes round two,” Purcell said. “I just have a pit in my stomach about this one.”
Milton presented a worst-case scenario that hurricane experts have worried about for years.
A 2015 report from the Boston-based catastrophe modeling firm Karen Clark and Co. concluded that Tampa Bay is the most vulnerable place in the U.S. to storm surge flooding from a hurricane and stands to sustain $175 billion in damage.
The city is particularly vulnerable because of the Gulf of Mexico’s underwater topography. The Gulf’s gentle slope allows storms to push water long distances and far inland.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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David Fleshler, David Schutz, Robin Webb, Angie Dimichele
As Hurricane Milton bears down on Florida, those who safely evacuated and came to New England are watching nervously.
Donna Sheinberg of Tampa is staying with her daughter in Sudbury, Massachusetts, but she is on pins and needles with concern for her husband.
“I’m worried for our neighborhood, our city, our state. My husband is still there,” she said. “It’s hard. You have to stay busy. I feel like I can’t breathe.”
The coast of Florida was hit by Hurricane Milton Wednesday night.
Sheinberg evacuated on Monday. Her husband hunkered down 30 miles inland from their home in Tampa to keep an eye on the damage.
“We’re the first to be evacuated,” Sheinberg said. “Before the orders were even given, I knew that I had to leave, that I couldn’t watch the storm surge rising.”
Just two weeks ago, during Hurricane Helene, a storm surge swallowed their cars and left several feet of water in their garage.
Now, another natural disaster has made landfall.
Sheinberg says she’s afraid they’ll be left without their home.
“That’s a very realistic possibility,” she said. “We were really spared two weeks ago, but this time, if the storm surge is higher, it’ll take our neighborhood, take our city.”
Video shared on social media shows part of the roof of Tropicana Field is torn.
The Red Cross is recommending that people like Sheinberg set specific times to check in with loved ones throughout the storm.
“Especially after Helene, there was a lot of connectivity issues,” said Kelly Isenor, director of communications for the American Red Cross of Massachusetts. “If you try to call during off hours when there aren’t as many people trying to make the same calls at the same time, text messages sometimes get through when a full phone call won’t.”
She added that there are resources if you can’t make contact with someone.
“The Red Cross does offer reunification services as well, post-disaster,” she said.
Sheinberg says she and her husband are considering moving further inland or leaving Tampa altogether because of how strong these hurricanes have gotten.
Golden hashbrowns, gravy-smothered biscuits and crispy waffles with a hearty helping of maple syrup are among the classic Southern comfort foods. But when hurricanes tear through Southeastern towns, the hot meals and bold yellow signs of the local Waffle House provide another kind of comfort.
If a Waffle House stays open in town, even in a limited capacity, neighbors are reassured that the coming storm is unlikely to cause devastation. A closed location of the dependable diner chain has come to indicate impending disaster. The metric is known as the Waffle House Index.
What might sound like silly logic has become one of the most reliable ways for Southerners — and even federal officials — to gauge a storm’s severity and identify communities most in need of immediate aid.
Golden hashbrowns, gravy-smothered biscuits and crispy waffles with a hearty helping of maple syrup are among the classic Southern comfort foods. But when hurricanes tear through Southeastern towns, the hot meals and bold yellow signs of the local Waffle House provide another kind of comfort.
If a Waffle House stays open in town, even in a limited capacity, neighbors are reassured that the coming storm is unlikely to cause devastation. A closed location of the dependable diner chain has come to indicate impending disaster. The metric is known as the Waffle House Index.
What might sound like silly logic has become one of the most reliable ways for Southerners — and even federal officials — to gauge a storm’s severity and identify communities most in need of immediate aid.
About two dozen Waffle House locations remained closed in the Carolinas and the chain’s home state of Georgia on Tuesday, nearly two weeks after the states were among those battered by Hurricane Helene. Several other locations were open but serving a limited menu.
As Hurricane Milton closes in on Florida communities still recovering from Helene, many Waffle House locations along the Gulf Coast, including those in Tampa, Cape Coral and St. Petersburg, have closed in preparation.
What is the Waffle House Index?
The South’s favorite disaster authority provides an informal measure of how significantly a storm will affect or has affected a community.
A map of the chain’s over 1,900 locations, concentrated in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic, helps residents of storm-prone states assess whether they’re likely to lose power, experience severe flooding or endure other extreme conditions that might cause a resilient restaurant to close its doors. For some, it’s a telltale sign of whether they need to evacuate.
Waffle House is known not just for serving breakfast 24/7, 365 days a year, but also for its disaster preparedness. For decades, people across the South have noticed that the local Waffle House seemed to be the only business still open during a storm or the first to reopen after it passed.
The restaurant chain’s reputation for remaining open when people desperately needed a place to warm up, charge devices and grab a hot meal became a fairly reliable — albeit amusing — resource to help track recovery efforts. The company even operates its own storm center, which Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp visited Tuesday as he continues to assess damage from Helene and prepare for Milton’s impact.
How does the index work?
Waffle House’s social media shares color-coded maps of its restaurant locations in certain regions that will soon be hit or are recovering from storm damage. The Federal Emergency Management Agency also offers some live tracking.
Green means the location is serving a full menu, indicating minimal damage in the surrounding area. The lights are on and the syrup is flowing.
Yellow means the restaurant is serving a limited menu, a signal that it’s pulling power from a generator and might have a low food supply. The area might not have running water or electricity, but there’s enough gas to fry up bacon for hungry customers.
Red means the location is closed, a sign of unsafe operating conditions and severe destruction to the restaurant or nearby communities.
How did the index start?
Former FEMA administrator Craig Fugate has said he thought up the Waffle House Index while leading Florida’s emergency management efforts in 2004. He had been searching for something to eat while surveying the devastation left by Hurricane Charley and was only able to find a Waffle House serving a limited menu.
His team began to notice other open Waffle Houses in communities without power or running water. The restaurants eventually became a key feature on a color-coded map that his team provided to help the public and local officials identify where storm damage was most severe.
Fugate continued to use his color-coded map when he joined FEMA under President Barack Obama. He was the agency’s administrator in 2011 when a deadly tornado tore through the town of Joplin, Missouri. Both of the town’s Waffle Houses reportedly stayed open.
The restaurant chain’s disaster readiness is no coincidence. Seven locations were destroyed and 100 more shut down in 2005 during Hurricane Katrina, but company executives saw business skyrocket at restaurants that reopened quickly.
They soon embraced a business strategy centered around keeping their restaurants operable during and after a disaster, according to the company’s website. The chain said it has invested in portable generators, bought a mobile command center and trained employees on what they can still serve if they lose electricity.
What does the index say about Hurricane Milton?
Waffle House closed many Florida locations before Hurricane Milton made landfall, indicating damage to the area would likely be severe.
Milton was churning toward the center of Florida’s west coast and could land a once-in-a-century direct hit on Tampa and St. Petersburg. Residents had been strongly encouraged to evacuate.
Less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene tore through the American Southeast, hospitals and health care providers in Florida are preparing for yet another destructive storm as Hurricane Milton hurtles toward the state’s west coast.
Though downgraded to a Category 4 hurricane, the National Hurricane Center described the storm as “extremely dangerous” late Tuesday morning. As it makes landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday near Tampa, Milton is predicted to bring high winds and storm surges of 10 feet or higher to parts of Florida’s west coast and heavy rains throughout most of the peninsula.
As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 200 health care facilities in impacted areas were reporting evacuations, including over 100 assisted living facilities and 10 hospitals. In preparation for the storm, the Florida Department of Health has deployed more than 600 ambulances and other emergency response vehicles and has set up 11 special-needs shelters for people with disabilities.
“We truly are concerned about the magnitude of this hurricane and the potential catastrophic impacts,” Mary Mayhew, president and CEO of the Florida Hospital Association, tells WIRED. The organization represents the state’s more than 300 hospitals. In Florida, which gets hit with more storms than any other US state, hospitals have closed in the past because of weather disasters, but Mayhew says what is unusual this time is the high number of health care facilities that have evacuated ahead of Milton.
Affected hospitals are transferring patients to other facilities within their health care systems. Steve McCoy, Florida’s chief of emergency medical oversight, said during an emergency preparedness briefing on Tuesday that nearly 600 vehicles, including buses, ambulances, and vans, have been deployed to move patients to safety. “This has been our largest evacuation ever,” he said.
HCA Florida Healthcare, a network of hospitals and physician practices that operates across the state, said Tuesday afternoon that it is temporarily closing or suspending services at several hospitals and emergency rooms. “Once the patient transfers are complete, the hospitals will be temporarily closed and will reopen when it is safe to do so following the storm,” the health care system said in a statement.
Hospitals that remain open have implemented flood-mitigation plans, moved electrical equipment away from flood areas, and stocked supplies that may be needed in an emergency.
Tampa General Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in Milton’s path, will remain open and has activated its hurricane-preparedness plan. The academic health system is the region’s only Level I Trauma Center and, in a statement issued on Tuesday, said it is “ready to meet the needs of patients throughout the state who require care after the storm has passed.” Health care providers and staff who are trained in emergency management will remain on-site throughout the storm to care for patients. Additional providers and staff will return to work as soon as the storm passes and the roads are safe.
The hospital—which is sited on the Davis Islands at sea level and is protected by various systems including an AquaFence barrier—has an on-site central energy plant located 33 feet above sea level that can provide a power supply in the event of power disruption. According to Tampa General, the energy plant was built to withstand the impact and flooding of a Category 5 hurricane. The hospital says it has more than five days of supplies, including food and linens, on-site.
Meanwhile, analysts anticipate that Hurricane Milton could be a “once-in-a-century” storm with the potential to generate record-breaking damage when it makes landfall along Florida’s west coast on Wednesday.
Once you’re safely out of harm’s way, starting the insurance claim process is an important consideration. The sooner you report a claim, the sooner your insurance company can start the process and you can begin rebuilding, experts say.
“Your adjuster is assigned on a first-come, first-serve basis,” said Shannon Martin, a licensed insurance agent and analyst for Bankrate.com.
The processing arm of your insurance company is going to have a “tremendous amount of paperwork and claims coming through,” said Jeremy Porter, head of climate implications research at First Street Foundation, an organization focused on climate risk financial modeling in New York City.
“The longer you wait, you’re not only delaying the ability to have your claim approved and make its way to you, but you’re lengthening the time in which that claim will sit in the processing pipeline,” Porter said.
Here are three important steps to quickly file an insurance claim after a disaster, according to experts.
Once a disaster has passed, immediately contact your insurance company to let them know that your home has damage from a recent disaster and you’d like to start the claims process, said Porter.
If you evacuated, “you can start the claim from anywhere,” Porter said. “You’ll eventually have to schedule with the insurance company to actually review and inspect the damage.”
But if you decide to wait out the storm in your house, you need to first prevent further damage to the home before calling, said Bankrate.com’s Martin.
A typical home insurance policy has language requiring homeowners to lessen the impact and prevent further damage, she said.
“Then you can call the insurance company, take pictures of the damage and [move] items into safer locations,” Martin said.
During your call, provide your insurance company with some initial details, like if your roof blew off or several windows broke, said Porter.
“But they really won’t make their assessment until they come in and inspect the damage,” he said.
While the insurer will make its own inspection, it’s always important to document your damages, including taking pictures, so that you can align that with the formal inspection record that comes out from the insurance company, Porter said.
This way, you can dispute any claims if you have to later, he said.
In the event of a loss, you have to give prompt notice to your insurer and you have a duty to protect the property, said Daniel Schwarcz, an insurance law professor at the University of Minnesota Law School.
You have to protect the property from further damage after the storm, make reasonable repairs and have an accurate record of repair expenses, Schwarcz said.
The receipts that you need to keep on file are for purchased materials used to prevent further damage on the property that’s already been damaged by a covered peril, said Schwarcz — meaning wind and trees, but not generally flooding unless you have a flood insurance policy. The insurer will generally reimburse you for reasonable expenses you incur.
If you don’t take such measures after the storm, and that inaction results in further damage, the insurer is not obligated to cover the loss, he said.
Materials purchased to protect the home before the natural disaster — for example, plywood to cover windows — are oftentimes not covered.
You also want to keep a record of receipts when you start working with contractors to rebuild from the damage, experts say.
One of the reasons why you want to document the damage immediately with your insurer is so that you can attach it to the event itself, increasing the likelihood of the event being covered by your home insurance, said Porter.
“Filing the claim immediately is the number one most important thing to do,” Porter said.
It’s important to keep track of where the damage came from, and having evidence can help avoid problems down the road, he said.
Port offers the hypothetical of of someone whose home sustained wind damage from Hurricane Debbie or Helene, but hasn’t filed a claim before the Milton makes landfall and causes flood damage.
“All of a sudden, you have a problem where the National Flood Insurance Program, which covers flood, and your home insurance company, which covers wind, can potentially start to argue over what actually caused the damage to the property,” Porter said.
You want to make sure you file any claim within three to five days of when the incident occurred, said Martin. As long as you had submitted all of your information in a timely manner for the first incident, if something else arises, you’re able to show the adjuster that it happened from a second event, she said.
Last week, Hurricane Helene spun north into western North Carolina causing catastrophic damage, particularly in the Asheville area and surrounding counties. Entire homes and businesses were flooded, some floating away in a horrific wave of debris.
In the midst of it all, some bird-watchers noticed something: People in some of the most heavily impacted areas were continuing to log sightings in the popular app eBird. As it happens, some of those areas—Buncombe and Henderson Counties in particular—have been birding hot spots for years. Less than a day after the storm passed, as many were still assessing the damage, birders were back to chronicling their finds.
Helene made landfall as a category 4 hurricane in western Florida on September 26 before becoming a tropical storm as it made its way north. When it struck Appalachia, rivers overflowed, and flooding buried valley towns. Thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed. The storm’s current death count is over 200, which is expected to rise in coming days as emergency crews reach increasingly remote areas.
For birders, the storm was traumatic. None of them had power, cell service, or water in their homes. But they could walk outside, try to take their mind off of the tragedy unfolding around them, and spot birds both local and exotic to the area. When they finally got limited cell service—either by traveling or by satellite connection or through temporary cell towers—posting their findings to eBird, which has more than 900,000 users around the world, was almost instinctual.
Tambi Swiney has lived in Appalachia all her life and in the Asheville area for about two years. An ordained minister, Swiney works as a spiritual adviser—which is similar to a life coach but focused exclusively on the spiritual. She started birding about five years ago because of her son, who had a budding interest.
“I got serious about downloading the eBird app and the Merlin app that helps you to identify birds by sight and sound,” she says. “Ever since then, it’s been something that has just become a part of the regular rhythm of my life.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Guard weren’t in the area in full force until a few days after the storm, she says. Before then, they had to rely on their neighbors. One, who had a generator, she says, opened up their home to people who needed to charge their phones or boil water.
Swiney began volunteering with her local First Baptist Church to distribute food and supplies donated from a group in South Carolina. It’s been overwhelming, she says, to come to terms with the “heaviness” of the storm. Birding, she says, has been a source of reprieve. Even before the storm, she had checked for birds in her backyard every day.
“It’s been a relief to me to have moments where I’m just looking out the window at the bird feeder hanging on my porch and identifying the birds that are coming up,” Swiney says. “It just has brought some peace and comfort in the midst of this storm.”
Normally, at this time of year, Swiney would have traveled to birding hot spots to look for migrating hawks, which come in by thousands as they fly south. The road to the area is currently closed, so she has birded only in places she can travel to by foot.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government’s top disaster relief official said Sunday that false claims and conspiracy theories about the federal response to Hurricane Helene — spread most prominently by Donald Trump — are “demoralizing” aid workers and creating fear in people who need recovery assistance.
“It’s frankly ridiculous, and just plain false. This kind of rhetoric is not helpful to people,” said Deanne Criswell, who leads the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “It’s really a shame that we’re putting politics ahead of helping people, and that’s what we’re here to do. We have had the complete support of the state,” she said, referring to North Carolina.
AP AUDIO: Correspondent Julie Walker reports after the deluge, lies and misinformation are clouding the recovery effort from Hurricane Helene.
Republicans, led by the former president, have helped foster a frenzy of misinformation over the past week among the communities most devastated by Helene, promoting a number of false claims, including that Washington is intentionally withholding aid to people in Republican areas.
Trump accused FEMA of spending all its money to help immigrants who are in the United States illegally, while other critics assert that the government spends too much on Israel, Ukraine and other foreign countries.
“FEMA absolutely has enough money for Helene response right now,” Keith Turi, acting director of FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery said. He noted that Congress recently replenished the agency with $20 billion, and about $8 billion of that is set aside for recovery from previous storms and mitigation projects.
There also are outlandish theories that include warnings from far-right extremist groups that officials plan to bulldoze storm-damaged communities and seize the land from residents. A falsehood pushed by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., asserts that Washington used weather control technology to steer Helene toward Republican voters in order to tilt the presidential election toward Democrat Kamala Harris.
Criswell said on ABC’s “This Week” that such baseless claims around the response to Helene, which caused catastrophic damage from Florida into the Appalachian mountains and a death toll that rose Sunday to at least 230, have created a sense of fear and mistrust from residents against the thousands of FEMA employees and volunteers on the ground.
“We’ve had the local officials helping to push back on this dangerous — truly dangerous narrative that is creating this fear of trying to reach out and help us or to register for help,” she said.
President Joe Biden said in a statement Sunday that his administration “will continue working hand-in-hand with local and state leaders –- regardless of political party and no matter how long it takes.”
Meantime, FEMA is preparing for Hurricane Milton, which rapidly intensified into a Category 1 storm on Sunday as it heads toward Florida.
“We’re working with the state there to understand what their requirements are going to be, so we can have those in place before it makes landfall,” she said.
Hurricane Milton isn’t expected to directly affect the tri-state area, but with so much of Florida’s heavily populated cities, including Tampa and Orlando, in its path, many residents locally have expressed concern for families and friends in the south. And rightfully so.
Milton rapidly strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane Monday on a path toward Florida population centers, threatening a 12-foot storm surge in Tampa Bay and setting the stage for potential mass evacuations less than two weeks after a catastrophic Hurricane Helene swamped the coastline.
Milton had maximum sustained winds of 150 mph over the southern Gulf of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. The storm could make landfall Wednesday in the Tampa Bay area and remain a hurricane as it moves across central Florida toward the Atlantic Ocean.
That path would largely spare other southeastern states ravaged by Helene, which caused catastrophic damage from northern Florida to the Appalachian Mountains and killed at least 230 people.
Here’s a look at the latest cone and potential weather hazards from NHC:
Typically, Muench says, the solution isn’t something too complicated: Just build infrastructure higher. But engineers can’t build roads and bridges to survive every disaster, which would lead to expensive, overbuilt projects that would “take generations to finish,” says Muench.
‘Rice Krispie’ Roads
When engineers are rebuilding roads from scratch, they have also started to use different materials to account for the possibility of lots of water arriving really quickly. In the past decade, road builders have increasingly installed more permeable, “spongy” roads.
Pervious concrete, unlike regular concrete, usually excludes sand from the typical “gravel, sand, cement, water” recipe. It also has a lower water-to-cement ratio, which creates a thick paste before it dries. “It’s like caramel popcorn, or a Rice Krispie bar,” says Nara Almeida, who studies the material as an assistant teaching professor in the civil engineering program at the University of Washington Tacoma.
On normal concrete roads, water pools and collects, with the stagnant water eventually damaging its various layers, and especially critical underlying ones, which bear vehicles’ heavy loads. But the increased porosity of pervious concrete allows water to flow through the material more easily, so it can reach and be absorbed into the ground—a nice feature for roads subject to lots of wetness.
Pervious concrete does have its downsides. It’s weaker than normal concrete, which means it’s a better fit for sidewalks, parking lots, and low-traffic streets than interstates that expect a lot of heavy trucks. (Research into reinforcing the material with steel, natural, glass, and synthetic fibers is ongoing.) Its porosity means it’s not a great fit for cold climates, where water can seep in, freeze, and break down the material inside. The concrete also needs regular pressure washing or vacuuming, to “unclog” it from the sort of material often found on the roadway—dust, leaves. Because states sometimes have to switch vendors and processes to use the newer material, the projects might cost them more. But some places have put the material on the shoulders of interstates, says Almeida, which are much less likely to get regular tire poundings.
Ultimately, though, there’s not a lot that can be done when a huge volume of water quickly flows across a roadway or the base of a bridge, which engineers call “scour.” “We’ve all played in the backyard with water and hoses—it’s very damaging,” says Muench, the engineering professor. Part of climate resilience is planning ahead—and staging the quick-fix materials nearby—so communities can rebuild quickly.
Nearly a week after Hurricane Helene brought devastation to western North Carolina, a shiny stainless steel tanker truck in downtown Asheville attracted residents carrying 5-gallon containers, milk jugs and buckets to fill with what has become a desperately scare resource — drinking water.
Flooding tore through the city’s water system, destroying so much infrastructure that officials said repairs could take weeks. To make do, Anna Ramsey arrived Wednesday with her two children, who each left carrying plastic bags filled with 2 gallons (7.6 liters) of water.
“We have no water. We have no power. But I think it’s also been humbling,” Ramsey said.
Helene’s path through the Southeast left a trail of power outages so large the darkness was visible from space. Tens of trillions of gallons of rain fell and more than 200 people were killed, making Helene the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. since Katrina in 2005. Hundreds of people are still unaccounted for, and search crews must trudge through knee-deep debris to learn whether residents are safe.
It also damaged water utilities so severely and over such a wide inland area that one federal official said the toll “could be considered unprecedented.” As of Thursday, about 136,000 people in the Southeast were served by a nonoperational water provider and more than 1.8 million were living under a boil water advisory, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Western North Carolina was especially hard hit. Officials are facing a difficult rebuilding task made harder by the steep, narrow valleys of the Blue Ridge Mountains that during a more typical October would attract throngs of fall tourists.
“The challenges of the geography are just fewer roads, fewer access points, fewer areas of flat ground to stage resources” said Brian Smith, acting deputy division director for the EPA’s water division in the Southeast.
After days without water, people long for more than just a sponge bath.
“I would love a shower,” said Sue Riles in Asheville. “Running water would be incredible.”
The raging floodwaters of Helene destroyed crucial parts of Asheville’s water system, scouring out the pipes that convey water from a reservoir in the mountains above town that is the largest of three water supplies for the system. To reach a second reservoir that was knocked offline, a road had to be rebuilt.
Boosted output from the third source restored water flow in some southern Asheville neighborhoods Friday, but without full repairs schools may not be able to resume in-person classes, hospitals may not restore normal operations, and the city’s hotels and restaurants may not fully reopen.
Even water that’s unfit to drink is scarce. Drew Reisinger, the elected Buncombe County register of deeds, worries about people in apartments who can’t easily haul a bucket of water from a creek to flush their toilet. Officials are advising people to collect nondrinkable water for household needs from a local swimming pool.
“One thing no one is talking about is the amount of poop that exists in every toilet in Asheville,” he said. “We’re dealing with a public health emergency.”
It’s a situation that becomes more dangerous the longer it lasts. Even in communities fortunate enough to have running water, hundreds of providers have issued boil water notices indicating the water could be contaminated. But boiling water for cooking and drinking is time consuming and small mistakes can cause stomach illness, according to Natalie Exum, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
“Every day that goes by, you could be exposed to a pathogen,” Exum said. “These basic services that we take for granted in our everyday lives actually do do a lot to prevent illness.”
Travis Edwards’ faucet worked immediately after the storm. He filled as many containers as he could for himself and his child, but it didn’t take long for the flow to weaken, then stop. They rationed water, switching to hand sanitizer and barely putting any on toothbrushes.
Scientists from California to Europe agree rain from Hurricane Helene increased as much as 50% due to the impacts of climate change. Meteorologist Chase Cain shows us how Helene compares to other hurricanes which brought flooding well after landfall.
“(We) didn’t realize how dehydrated we were getting,” he said.
Federal officials have shipped millions of gallons of water to areas where people also might not be able to make phone calls or switch on the lights.
Power has been restored to about 62% of homes and businesses and 8,000 crews are out working to restore power in the hardest hit parts of North Carolina, federal officials said Thursday. In 10 counties, about half of the cell sites are still down.
The first step for some utilities is simply figuring out how bad the damage is, a job that might require EPA expertise in extreme cases. Ruptured water pipes are a huge problem. They often run beneath roads, many of which were crumpled and twisted by floodwaters.
“Pretty much anytime you see a major road damaged, there’s a very good chance that there’s a pipe in there that’s also gotten damaged,” said Mark White, drinking water global practice leader at the engineering firm CDM Smith.
Generally, repairs start at the treatment plant and move outward, with fixes in nearby big pipes done first, according to the EPA.
“Over time, you’ll gradually get water to more and more people,” White said.
Many people are still missing, and water repair employees don’t typically work around search and rescue operations. It takes a toll, according to Kevin Morley, manager of federal relations with the American Water Works Association.
“There’s emotional support that is really important for all the people involved. You’re seeing people’s lives just wiped out,” he said.
Even private well owners aren’t immune. Pumps on private wells may have lost power and overtopping floodwaters can contaminate them.
There’s often a “blind faith” assumption that drinking water won’t fail. In this case, the technology was insufficient, according to Craig Colten. Before retiring to Asheville, he was a professor in Louisiana focused on resilience to extreme weather. He hopes Helene will prompt politicians to spend more to ensure infrastructure withstands destructive storms.
And climate change will only make the problem more severe, said Erik Olson, a health and food expert at the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council.
“I think states and the federal government really need to step back and start looking at how we’re going to prepare for these extreme weather events that are going to be occurring and recurring every single year,” he said.
Edwards has developed a system to save water. He’ll soap dirty dishes and rinse them with a trickle of water with bleach, which is caught and transferred to a bucket — useable for the toilet.
Power and some cell service have returned for him. And water distribution sites have guaranteed some measure of normalcy: Edwards feels like he can start going out to see friends again.
“To not feel guilty about using more than a cup of water to, like, wash yourself … I’m really, really grateful,” he said.
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Phillis reported from St. Louis. Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana contributed from Washington.
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Michael Phillis, Jeff Amy and Brittany Peterson | The Associated Press
Widespread devastation left behind by Hurricane Helene came to light Monday across the South, revealing a wasteland of splintered houses, crushed cargo containers and mud-covered highways in one of the worst storms in U.S. history. The death toll topped 130.
A crisis was unfolding in western North Carolina, where residents stranded by washed-out roads and by a lack of power and cellular service lined up for fresh water and a chance to message loved ones days after the storm that they were alive.
At least 133 deaths in six Southeastern states have been attributed to the storm that inflicted damage from Florida’s Gulf Coast to the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia.
The toll steadily rose as emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding. During a briefing Monday, White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall suggested as many as 600 people hadn’t been accounted for as of Monday afternoon, saying some might be dead.
President Joe Biden said he will travel to North Carolina on Wednesday to meet with officials and take an aerial tour of Asheville.
He said earlier that the federal government would be with affected residents in the nation’s southeast “as long as it takes.”
Government officials and aid groups worked to deliver supplies by air, truck and even mule to the hard-hit tourism hub of Asheville and its surrounding mountain towns. At least 40 people died in the county that includes Asheville.
The destruction and desperation were overwhelming. A flattened cargo container sat atop a bridge crossing a river with muddy brown water. A mass of debris, including overturned pontoon boats and splintered wooden docks and tree trunks covered the surface of Lake Lure, a picturesque spot tucked between the mountains outside Asheville.
A woman cradled her child while people around her gathered on a hillside where they found cellphone service, many sending a simple text: “I’m OK.”
The North Carolina death toll included one horrific story after another of people who were trapped by floodwaters in their homes and vehicles or were killed by falling trees. A courthouse security officer died after being submerged inside his truck. A couple and a 6-year-old boy waiting to be rescued on a rooftop drowned when part of their home collapsed.
Rescuers did manage to save dozens, including an infant and two others stuck on the top of a car in Atlanta. More than 50 hospital patients and staff in Tennessee were plucked by helicopter from the hospital rooftop in a daring rescue operation.
How some of the worst-hit areas are coping
Several main routes into Asheville were washed away or blocked by mudslides, including a 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) section of Interstate 40, and the city’s water system was severely damaged, forcing residents to scoop creek water into buckets so they could flush toilets.
People shared food and water and comforted one another in one neighborhood where a wall of water ripped away all of the trees, leaving a muddy mess nearby. “That’s the blessing so far in this,” Sommerville Johnston said outside her home, which has been without power since Friday.
She planned on treating the neighborhood to venison stew from her powerless freezer before it goes bad. “Just bring your bowl and spoon,” she said.
Others waited in a line for more than a block at Mountain Valley Water, a water seller, to fill up milk jugs and whatever other containers they could find.
Derek Farmer, who brought three gallon-sized apple juice containers, said he had been prepared for the storm but now was nervous after three days without water. “I just didn’t know how bad it was going to be,” Farmer said.
Officials warned that rebuilding would be lengthy and difficult. Helene roared ashore in northern Florida late Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane and quickly moved through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee. The storm upended life throughout the Southeast, where deaths were also reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia.
Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said Monday that shelters were housing more than 1,000 people.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper took an aerial tour of the Asheville area and later met with workers distributing meals.
“This has been an unprecedented storm that has hit western North Carolina,” he said afterward. “It’s requiring an unprecedented response.”
Officials implored travelers from coming into the region to keep the roads clear for emergency vehicles. More than 50 search teams spread throughout the region in search of stranded people.
Waiting for help and searching for a signal in North Carolina
Several dozen people gathered on high ground in Asheville, where they found one of the city’s hottest commodities — a cell signal.
“Is this day three or day four?” Colleen Burnet asked. “It’s all been a blur.”
The storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. Rainfall estimates in some areas topped more than 2 feet (61 centimeters) since Wednesday.
Ten federal search and rescue teams were on the ground and another nine were on their way, while trucks and cargo planes were arriving with food and water, FEMA said. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell surveyed damage with Cooper Monday.
Volunteers were showing up, too. Mike Toberer decided to bring a dozen of his mules to deliver food, water and diapers to hard-to-reach mountainous areas.
“We’ll take our chainsaws, and we’ll push those mules through,” he said, noting that each one can carry about 200 pounds (90 kilograms) of supplies.
Why western North Carolina was hit so hard
Western North Carolina suffered relatively more devastation because that’s where the remnants of Helene encountered the higher elevations and cooler air of the Appalachian Mountains, causing even more rain to fall.
Asheville and many surrounding mountain towns were built in valleys, leaving them especially vulnerable to devastating rain and flooding. Plus, the ground already was saturated before Helene arrived, said Christiaan Patterson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“By the time Helene came into the Carolinas, we already had that rain on top of more rain,” Patterson said.
Climate change has exacerbated conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones, sometimes within hours.
Destruction from Florida to Virginia
Along Florida’s Gulf Coast, several feet of water swamped the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, forcing workers to move two manatees and sea turtles. All of the animals were safe but much of the aquarium’s vital equipment was damaged or destroyed, said James Powell, the aquarium’s executive director.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said the storm “literally spared no one.” Most people in and around Augusta, a city of about 200,000 near the South Carolina border, were still without power Monday.
With at least 30 killed in South Carolina, Helene was the deadliest tropical cyclone to hit the state since Hurricane Hugo made landfall north of Charleston in 1989, killing 35 people.
Tropical Storm Kirk forms and could become a powerful hurricane
Tropical Storm Kirk formed Monday in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and is expected to become a “large and powerful hurricane” by Tuesday night or Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The storm was located about 800 miles (1,285 kilometers) west of the Cabo Verde Islands with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph). There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect, and the storm system was not a threat to land.
A North Carolina county that includes the mountain city of Asheville reported 30 people killed.
Gov. Roy Cooper predicted the toll would rise as rescuers and other emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding.
Supplies were being airlifted to the region around the isolated city of Asheville. Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder pledged that she would have food and water to the city by Monday.
“We hear you. We need food and we need water,” Pinder said on a Sunday call with reporters. “My staff has been making every request possible to the state for support and we’ve been working with every single organization that has reached out. What I promise you is that we are very close.”
Officials warned that rebuilding from the widespread loss of homes and property would be lengthy and difficult. The storm upended life throughout the Southeast. Deaths also were reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia.
Cooper implored residents in western North Carolina to avoid travel, both for their own safety and to keep roads clear for emergency vehicles. More than 50 search teams spread throughout the region in search of stranded people.
One rescue effort involved saving 41 people north of Asheville. Another mission focused on saving a single infant. The teams found people through both 911 calls and social media messages, North Carolina National Guard Adjutant General Todd Hunt said.
President Joe Biden described the impact of the storm as “stunning” and said he would visit the area this week as long as it does not disrupt rescues or recovery work.
In a brief exchange with reporters, he described the impact of the storm as “stunning” and said that the administration is giving states “everything we have” to help with their response to the storm.
Hurricane Helene roared ashore late Thursday in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph (225 kph) winds. A weakened Helene quickly moved through Georgia, then soaked the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains that flooded creeks and rivers and strained dams.
There have been hundreds of water rescues, including in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were plucked by helicopter from a hospital rooftop Friday.
More than 2 million homeowners and other utility customers were still without power Sunday night. South Carolina had the most outages and Gov. Henry McMaster asked for patience as crews dealt with widespread snapped power poles.
“We want people to remain calm. Help is on the way, it is just going to take time,” McMaster told reporters outside the airport in Aiken County.
Begging for help in North Carolina as that help is slow to arrive
The storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. One community, Spruce Pine, was doused with over 2 feet (61 centimeters) of rain from Tuesday through Saturday.
Jessica Drye Turner in Texas had begged for someone to rescue her family members stranded on their rooftop in Asheville amid rising floodwaters. “They are watching 18-wheelers and cars floating by,” Turner wrote in an urgent Facebook post on Friday.
But in a follow-up message Saturday, Turner said help had not arrived in time to save her parents, both in their 70s, and her 6-year-old nephew. The roof collapsed and the three drowned.
“I cannot convey in words the sorrow, heartbreak and devastation my sisters and I are going through,” she wrote.
The state was sending water supplies and other items toward Buncombe County and Asheville, but mudslides blocking Interstate 40 and other highways prevented supplies from making it. The county’s own water supplies were on the other side of the Swannanoa River, away from where most of the 270,000 people in Buncombe County live, officials said.
Law enforcement was making plans to send officers to places that still had water, food or gas because of reports of arguments and threats of violence, the county sheriff said.
Helene caused heavy structural damage as it moved through northern Florida as a category 4 hurricane.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell toured south Georgia on Sunday and planned to be in North Carolina Monday.
“It’s still very much an active search and rescue mission” in western North Carolina, Criswell said. “And we know that there’s many communities that are cut off just because of the geography” of the mountains, where damage to roads and bridges have cut off certain areas.
Biden on Saturday pledged federal government help for Helene’s “overwhelming” devastation. He also approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina, making federal funding available for affected individuals.
Storm-battered Florida digs out, residents gather for church
In Florida’s Big Bend, some lost nearly everything they own. With sanctuaries still darkened as of Sunday morning, some churches canceled regular services while others like Faith Baptist Church in Perry opted to worship outside.
Standing water and tree debris still covers the grounds of Faith Baptist Church. The church called on parishioners to come “pray for our community” in a message posted to the congregation’s Facebook page.
“We have power. We don’t have electricity,” Immaculate Conception Catholic Church parishioner Marie Ruttinger said. “Our God has power. That’s for sure.”
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Saturday that it looked “like a bomb went off” after viewing splintered homes and debris-covered highways from the air.
In eastern Georgia near the border with South Carolina, officials notified Augusta residents Sunday morning that water service would be shut off for 24 to 48 hours in the city and surrounding Richmond County.
A news release said trash and debris from the storm “blocked our ability to pump water.” Officials were distributing bottled water.
With at least 25 killed in South Carolina, Helene was the deadliest tropical cyclone for the state since Hurricane Hugo made landfall north of Charleston in 1989, killing 35 people.
Moody’s Analytics said it expects $15 billion to $26 billion in property damage.
Climate change has exacerbated conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones sometimes within hours.
New tropical depression in Atlantic could become strong hurricane, forecasters say
A new tropical depression in the eastern Atlantic Ocean could become a “formidable hurricane” later this week, the National Hurricane Center said Sunday. The depression had sustained 35 mph (55kph) winds and was located about 630 miles (1,015 kilometers) west-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands, the center said. It could become a hurricane by Wednesday.
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Whittle reported from Portland, Maine, and Collins reported from Columbia, South Carolina. Haya Panjwani in Washington, Kate Brumback in Atlanta and Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, contributed.
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Kate Payne, Jeffrey Collins and Patrick Whittle | The Associated Press
A North Carolina county that includes the mountain city of Asheville reported 30 people killed.
Gov. Roy Cooper predicted the toll would rise as rescuers and other emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding.
Supplies were being airlifted to the region around the isolated city of Asheville. Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder pledged that she would have food and water to the city by Monday.
“We hear you. We need food and we need water,” Pinder said on a Sunday call with reporters. “My staff has been making every request possible to the state for support and we’ve been working with every single organization that has reached out. What I promise you is that we are very close.”
Officials warned that rebuilding from the widespread loss of homes and property would be lengthy and difficult. The storm upended life throughout the Southeast. Deaths also were reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia.
Cooper implored residents in western North Carolina to avoid travel, both for their own safety and to keep roads clear for emergency vehicles. More than 50 search teams spread throughout the region in search of stranded people.
One rescue effort involved saving 41 people north of Asheville. Another mission focused on saving a single infant. The teams found people through both 911 calls and social media messages, North Carolina National Guard Adjutant General Todd Hunt said.
President Joe Biden described the impact of the storm as “stunning” and said he would visit the area this week as long as it does not disrupt rescues or recovery work.
In a brief exchange with reporters, he described the impact of the storm as “stunning” and said that the administration is giving states “everything we have” to help with their response to the storm.
Hurricane Helene roared ashore late Thursday in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph (225 kph) winds. A weakened Helene quickly moved through Georgia, then soaked the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains that flooded creeks and rivers and strained dams.
There have been hundreds of water rescues, including in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were plucked by helicopter from a hospital rooftop Friday.
More than 2 million homeowners and other utility customers were still without power Sunday night. South Carolina had the most outages and Gov. Henry McMaster asked for patience as crews dealt with widespread snapped power poles.
“We want people to remain calm. Help is on the way, it is just going to take time,” McMaster told reporters outside the airport in Aiken County.
Begging for help in North Carolina as that help is slow to arrive
The storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. One community, Spruce Pine, was doused with over 2 feet (61 centimeters) of rain from Tuesday through Saturday.
Jessica Drye Turner in Texas had begged for someone to rescue her family members stranded on their rooftop in Asheville amid rising floodwaters. “They are watching 18-wheelers and cars floating by,” Turner wrote in an urgent Facebook post on Friday.
But in a follow-up message Saturday, Turner said help had not arrived in time to save her parents, both in their 70s, and her 6-year-old nephew. The roof collapsed and the three drowned.
“I cannot convey in words the sorrow, heartbreak and devastation my sisters and I are going through,” she wrote.
The state was sending water supplies and other items toward Buncombe County and Asheville, but mudslides blocking Interstate 40 and other highways prevented supplies from making it. The county’s own water supplies were on the other side of the Swannanoa River, away from where most of the 270,000 people in Buncombe County live, officials said.
Law enforcement was making plans to send officers to places that still had water, food or gas because of reports of arguments and threats of violence, the county sheriff said.
Helene caused heavy structural damage as it moved through northern Florida as a category 4 hurricane.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell toured south Georgia on Sunday and planned to be in North Carolina Monday.
“It’s still very much an active search and rescue mission” in western North Carolina, Criswell said. “And we know that there’s many communities that are cut off just because of the geography” of the mountains, where damage to roads and bridges have cut off certain areas.
Biden on Saturday pledged federal government help for Helene’s “overwhelming” devastation. He also approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina, making federal funding available for affected individuals.
Storm-battered Florida digs out, residents gather for church
In Florida’s Big Bend, some lost nearly everything they own. With sanctuaries still darkened as of Sunday morning, some churches canceled regular services while others like Faith Baptist Church in Perry opted to worship outside.
Standing water and tree debris still covers the grounds of Faith Baptist Church. The church called on parishioners to come “pray for our community” in a message posted to the congregation’s Facebook page.
“We have power. We don’t have electricity,” Immaculate Conception Catholic Church parishioner Marie Ruttinger said. “Our God has power. That’s for sure.”
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Saturday that it looked “like a bomb went off” after viewing splintered homes and debris-covered highways from the air.
In eastern Georgia near the border with South Carolina, officials notified Augusta residents Sunday morning that water service would be shut off for 24 to 48 hours in the city and surrounding Richmond County.
A news release said trash and debris from the storm “blocked our ability to pump water.” Officials were distributing bottled water.
With at least 25 killed in South Carolina, Helene was the deadliest tropical cyclone for the state since Hurricane Hugo made landfall north of Charleston in 1989, killing 35 people.
Moody’s Analytics said it expects $15 billion to $26 billion in property damage.
Climate change has exacerbated conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones sometimes within hours.
New tropical depression in Atlantic could become strong hurricane, forecasters say
A new tropical depression in the eastern Atlantic Ocean could become a “formidable hurricane” later this week, the National Hurricane Center said Sunday. The depression had sustained 35 mph (55kph) winds and was located about 630 miles (1,015 kilometers) west-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands, the center said. It could become a hurricane by Wednesday.
___
Whittle reported from Portland, Maine, and Collins reported from Columbia, South Carolina. Haya Panjwani in Washington, Kate Brumback in Atlanta and Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, contributed.
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Kate Payne, Jeffrey Collins and Patrick Whittle | The Associated Press
The most recent major hurricanes to hit the U.S. left hundreds of people dead and caused billions of dollars worth of damage.
HURRICANE BERYL – 2024
Hurricane Beryl was the first of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Exceptionally warm ocean temperatures caused it to strengthen into a Category 5 storm rapidly in early July. It’s winds peaked at 165 mph (270 kph) before weakening to a still-destructive Category 4.
When hurricane Beryl hit Texas, it had dropped to a Category 1 storm. Beryl has been blamed for at least 36 deaths. The storm caused an estimated $28 billion to $32 billion in damages, according to AccuWeather’s preliminary estimates.
HURRICANE IDALIA – 2023
Hurricane Idalia slammed into Florida on Aug. 30, 2023 with 125-mph (201-kph) winds that split trees in half, ripped roofs off hotels and turned small cars into boats before sweeping into Georgia and South Carolina where it flooded roadways and sent residents running for higher ground.
The category 4 hurricane was the largest to hit Florida’s Big Bend region in more than 125 years. The storm left 12 dead and produced 5 to 10 inches of rain across Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, leaving damages topping $3.6 billion, according to the National Hurricane Center.
HURRICANE IAN – 2022
Hurricane Ian briefly reached maximum Category 5 status before weakening to a Category 4 storm as it blasted ashore in September 2022 in southwest Florida. The storm caused more than $112 billion in damage in the U.S. and more than 150 deaths directly or indirectly, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The agency reported that Ian was the costliest hurricane in Florida history and the third-costliest ever in the U.S. as a whole. In addition to Florida, Ian impacted Georgia, Virginia, the Carolinas and Cuba before it fell apart Oct. 1, 2022.
HURRICANE IDA – 2021
Hurricane Ida roared ashore in Louisiana as a Category 4 storm with 150-mph (241-kph) winds in late August 2021, knocking out power to New Orleans, blowing roofs off buildings and reversing the flow of the Mississippi River as it rushed from the Louisiana coast into one of the nation’s most important industrial corridors.
At the time it was tied for the fifth-strongest hurricane ever to hit the mainland. At least 91 deaths across nine states were attributed to the storm – most from drowning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Damages from the storm were estimated to be about $36 billion.
HURRICANE ZETA – 2020
Hurricane Zeta left millions without power when it hit southeastern Louisiana on October 29, 2020. It had weakened to a tropical storm after leaving the Yucatan Peninsula but intensified to a category 3 storm before making landfall.
The hurricane caused five direct fatalities and about $4.4 billion in damage in the United States, according to the National Hurricane Center.
HURRICANE DELTA – 2020
When Hurricane Delta slammed into Louisiana on Oct. 9, 2020, residents were still cleaning up from Hurricane Laura, which had taken a similar path just six weeks earlier. Delta was a category 4 storm before it made two landfalls – both at category 2 intensity, according to the National Hurricane Center.
It first hit the Yucatan Peninsula before coming ashore in southwestern Louisiana. Delta cost $2.9 billion in the United States and was linked to six deaths in the U.S. and Mexico, according to a report from the National Hurricane Center.
HURRICANE LAURA – 2020
Hurricane Laura, a category 4 storm, roared ashore in southwest Louisiana on Aug. 27, 2020, packing 150-mph (240-kph) winds and a storm surge as high as 15 feet (4.5 meters) in some areas. Laura was responsible for 47 direct deaths in the United States and Hispaniola, and caused about $19 billion in damage in the U.S., according to the National Hurricane Center.
The deaths included five people killed by fallen trees and one person who drowned in a boat. Eight people died from carbon monoxide poisoning due to unsafe operation of generators.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Helene is forecasted to become a Category 4 hurricane before it makes landfall.
Impact of Hurricane Helene on Pa., NJ and Del.
While our region won’t see any direct impact from the hurricane, First Alert meteorologist Michelle Rotella says the moisture from the remnants of the storm on Friday through the weekend could make it into our area.
Extensive cloud coverage could keep conditions gloomy and bring some rain to our area by Friday afternoon.
At this time, the highest amounts of rain we could see between now and through Sunday would be around 1-2” mainly south of Philadelphia.
We have been experiencing some drought conditions across our area so some rain would be beneficial.
Not all of this rain will be due to Helene, we also have a front swinging through our area late in the week that will also bring clouds and on-and-off rain showers.
Locals sending support for impact from hurricane
Atlantic City electric company Delmarva Power is sending crews and support personnel to Georgia to assist Georgia Power with expected impacts from the hurricane as it moves through the southern region.
Exelon utilities Pepco and BGE are also sending crews to Georgia Power, according to Delmarva.
Pennsylvania Task Force 1, which is sponsored by the Philadelphia Fire Department, will begin mobilizing Thursday morning to deploy 45 members to Greensboro, North Carolina to support the response to Hurricane Helene.
Today’s live coverage has ended. Catch up on what you missed below and find more at apnews.com.
Hurricane Helene left an enormous path of destruction across Florida and the southeastern U.S. on Friday, killing at least 40 people in four states
Here’s where things stand Friday:
Storm tracker: Helene has been downgraded to a tropical depression, according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center. The storm is slowing down and is expected to stall over the Tennessee Valley through the weekend.
Power outages: Nearly 4 million homes and businesses were without power in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, according to poweroutage.us.
Fatalities: The storm has been blamed for at least 40 deaths, including at least 17 people in South Carolina. State officials say dozens are still trapped in homes damaged by Helene.
Vice President Harris urges residents affected by Helene to heed local officials
Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday urged residents impacted by Hurricane Helene to pay heed to local authorities as the storm continues to wreak havoc on a significant swath of the southeast.
“The storm continues to be dangerous and deadly, and lives have been lost and the risk of flooding still remains high,” Harris said at the start of a campaign speech in Douglas, Arizona. “So, I continue to urge everyone to please continue to follow guidance from your local officials until we get past this moment.”
1 dead in Virginia from a falling tree, governor says
In southwestern Virginia, one person died after a tree fell and a building collapsed in Craig County, Gov. Glenn Youngkin said.
The death toll from Hurricane Helene has reached at least 44 across five states: Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
Dam near North Carolina-Tennessee border not experiencing ‘catastrophic failure,’ officials say
By KIMBERLEE KRUESI
Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said Friday that a “catastrophic failure” was not taking place at Walters Dam, also known as the Waterville Dam, which sits in North Carolina close to the Tennessee border.
A local mayor had urged residents to evacuate due to the dam potentially breaking, but TEMA said in a statement that the “dam has not failed” after talking to Duke Energy, which owns the nearly 100-year-old dam.
Mother and her two infant twins are among those dead in Georgia
Among people who have died in Georgia are a 27-year-old mother and her two 1-month-old twins, who were killed when trees fell on their house in Thomson, just west of Augusta, said McDuffie County Coroner Paul Johnson.
The coroner said an 89-year-old woman was killed when trees fell on her house elsewhere in the same county.
EVs could catch fire if inundated with saltwater from Hurricane Helene, officials warn
Electric vehicles can catch fire if they are inundated by saltwater, so owners who live in the path of a major storm like Hurricane Helene should take precautions.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been researching this problem since it was first seen after Hurricane Sandy struck the Northeast in 2012. But no one seems to have detailed statistics on just how often this happens.
Two years ago, Hurricane Ian compromised the batteries of as may as 5,000 electric vehicles, and 36 of them caught fire. Several more electric vehicles caught fire in Florida last year after Hurricane Idalia.
It happens often enough that Florida officials were worried about the possibility before Hurricane Helene arrived because they were expecting a potentially devastating storm surge up to 20 feet deep in the northwestern part of Florida.
These fires do seem to be linked specifically to saltwater because salt can conduct electricity. Similar problems haven’t been reported after freshwater flooding in California that was driven by heavy rains early this year.
Weather reporter interrupts live broadcast to help a woman stranded in her car
By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER
A weather TV reporter in Atlanta interrupted his live report about Hurricane Helene on Friday to rescue a woman from a vehicle stranded by rising floodwaters.
Standing in the rain with the submerged vehicle behind him, Fox reporter Bob Van Dillen described how the woman drove into a flooded area.
In the footage, he said he called 911 and she can be heard screaming as he tries to assure her that help was on the way.
Then, he told the camera, “It’s a situation. We’ll get back to you in a little bit. I’m going to see if I can help this lady out a little bit more you guys.”
The death toll from Hurricane Helene in South Carolina is 19 people, with many of the deaths happening from falling trees as the storm moved through early Friday, authorities said.
In Saluda County, two firefighters were killed when a tree fell on their truck while they were answering a call, the Highway Patrol said.
Five people were killed in Spartanburg County, according to Coroner Rusty Clevenger who planned to release details about the deaths later.
In Greenville County, four people were killed by falling trees, Senior Deputy Coroner Shelton England said.
Four people were also killed in Aiken County by trees falling on homes, including a 78-year-old husband and his 74-year-old wife, Coroner Darryl Ables said.
Two people died in Anderson County when trees fell on their houses, the Coroner’s Office said.
And in Newberry County, a married couple died when their car slid on a wet highway and ran into a tree, Coroner Laura Kneece said.
Helene is the deadliest tropical storm in South Carolina since Hurricane Hugo killed 35 people when it came ashore just north of Charleston in 1989.
The deadliest recent hurricanes to hit the US
Recent major hurricanes that made landfall in the U.S. have left hundreds dead and caused billions of dollars in damages.
Since 2020, not including Helene, there have been seven major destructive hurricanes: Laura, Delta, Zeta, Ida, Ian, Idalia and Beryl.
Hurricane Beryl was the first of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Exceptionally warm ocean temperatures caused it to strengthen into a Category 5 storm rapidly in early July.
When hurricane Beryl hit Texas, it had dropped to a Category 1 storm. Beryl has been blamed for at least 36 deaths. The storm caused an estimated $28 billion to $32 billion in damages, according to AccuWeather’s preliminary estimates.
Rainfall from Helene breaks Atlanta’s 48-hour record
Atlanta received 11.12 inches (28.24 centimeters) of rain in 48 hours, breaking the city’s all-time record since record keeping began in 1878, Georgia’s Office of the State Climatologist said on X.
The previous record of 9.59 inches (24.36 cm) in 48 hours was set in 1886.
Hurricane Helene leaves deeps scars where it made landfall
The windswept beauty of what residents claim is one of Florida’s longest stretches of undeveloped coastline was left deeply scarred after Hurricane Helene crashed ashore in rural Taylor County along the state’s Big Bend.
It’s a part of the state where salt marshes and pine flatwoods stretch unspoiled into the horizon, a region that has largely avoided the crush of condo developments, strip malls and souvenir shops that has carved up so much of Florida’s coastlines. It’s a place where Susan Sauls Hartway and her four-year-old Chihuahua mix Lucy could afford to live within walking distance of the beach on her salary as a housekeeper.
At least until her home was carried away by Helene.
“I knew it would be bad, but I had no idea it was going to be this bad,” she said. “This is unbelievable.”
Friday afternoon, Hartway and Lucy wandered around their street near Ezell Beach, searching for where the storm may have deposited her home.
“It’s gone. I don’t know where it’s at. I can’t find it,” she said.
Born and raised in Taylor County, Hartway said there is nowhere in the world she would rather be, even after Helene. But she’s watched as wealthier residents from out of state have bought up second homes here. She wonders how many of them will sell out — and what will happen to the locals who have nowhere else to go.
“There’s so many people down here, they don’t have any place to go now. This was all they had,” Hartway said. “Some people, they’ll just make do down here. Rough it.”
Insurers could pay $5B to cover losses from Helene
Insurance data provider A.M. Best on Friday estimated that insurers will pay $5 billion or more to cover losses from Hurricane Helene.
That’s not the total amount of loss, some of which is uninsured and some of which may be repaid with federal aid. Instead, it’s the amount that insurance companies are on the hook for.
A.M. Best said insurers paid $2.5 billion to $4 billion in losses for Hurricane Idalia last year, and it expects losses from Helene to be more severe given its broader wind field and a path that hit more urban areas inland.
Curfew issued in western North Carolina community hit hard by Helene
Officials in a western North Carolina town have issued a curfew due to safety risks from flooded streets and downed power lines from what remains of Hurricane Helene.
“It’s very dangerous out there,” Asheville Police Chief Mike Lamb said. “If you don’t have to be out, don’t go out.”
Lamb said the curfew would occur over a 12-hour period starting at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
No fatalities have been reported, although officials said any death count won’t be released until family notifications have been made.
Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder said hundreds of residents were forced to seek safety at shelters.
The county’s 911 center received more than 3,300 calls over an eight-hour period Friday, and more than 130 swift-water rescues have been conducted, said county Emergency Services Assistant Director Ryan Cole. He said it took crews more than four hours to reach several homes that were hit by a mudslide.
“This is something that we’re going to be dealing with for many days and weeks to come,” Cole said. “So please be patient.”
Former Tropical Storm John dissipates over Mexico
By The Associated Press
Former Tropical Storm John has dissipated over Mexico, but its remnants will continue to produce rain over the Mexican states of Guerrero and Michoacán.
The storm made landfall twice in Mexico, first as a hurricane Monday and a second time as a tropical storm Friday.
Helene downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone
By The Associated Press
The U.S. National Hurricane Center has downgraded Helene from a tropical depression to a post-tropical cyclone.
Helene, a Category 4 hurricane when it made landfall in Florida late Thursday night, was 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Louisville, Kentucky, at about 5 p.m. EDT. It was moving northwest at 17 mph (28 kph), according to the hurricane center.
The storm was expected to continue producing heavy rain in the area and cause severe flash-flooding as a result. Isolated tornadoes Friday evening were possible in Virginia and North Carolina, the hurricane center said.
Thousands ordered to evacuate after ‘catastrophic failure’ of a dam in eastern Tennessee
By JONATHAN MATTISE
In eastern Tennessee, a “catastrophic failure” of Waterville Dam spurred Cocke County Mayor Rob Mathis to hand down evacuation orders for all of downtown Newport, according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. Newport is a city of about 7,000 people roughly 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of where dozens of people were being rescued from the roof of a hospital.
Over 1 million customers are still without power in South Carolina
More than 1 million customers remained without power in South Carolina several hours after the remnants of Hurricane Helene left the state and the sun started to come out.
Utility officials warned power could be out for many for a long time. Crews were still assessing the damage and in some cases needed to cut their way through debris just to determine what was left standing.
“You will be frustrated. Tomorrow it’s going to be 86 degrees and clear. You’re going to say ‘Why can’t I watch the football game? Why can’t my life be back to normal?’ Life’s not going to be back to normal until probably the middle of next week,” Dominion Energy South Carolina President Keller Kissam said Friday.
The 1.2 million South Carolina customers without power represent more than 40% of homes and businesses in the state.
Gov. Henry McMaster said the storm moved east of where it was forecast and gave the state a bigger blow than expected.
“We urge everybody to be patient and keep your neighbors in your prayers,” McMaster said.
4 people critically injured after a tornado touches down in North Carolina
Four people were critically injured and numerous others sustained minor injuries after a tornado touched down in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, officials said.
Three buildings received significant damage, including two restaurants and an auto service center, while a fourth building, a cafeteria, received minor roof damage, Nash County Communications Director Jonathan Edwards said Friday.
The damage appeared to be concentrated on Wesleyan Boulevard and Tiffany Boulevard. An 18-wheel tractor-trailer truck also flipped over in that area, but the driver was not hurt, Edwards said.
Death toll in Georgia rises to 15
At least 15 people have died in Georgia from causes related to Hurricane Helene, according to Garrison Douglas, a spokesperson for Gov. Brian Kemp.
‘The word that just keeps coming to my mind is just devastated’
Taylor County, Florida has had a rough couple of years.
Since August of 2023, the rural community along Florida’s Big Bend has taken direct hits from three hurricanes — and seen the closure of its local paper mill, which for decades had been one of the economic lifelines for a county where one in six residents lives below the poverty line.
“The word that just keeps coming to my mind is just devastated,” said Aaron Portwood, publisher of Perry Newspapers, which is based in the county seat of Perry. “You get hit with one thing. And you think, ‘This is bad’. And you recover from that. And then another one hits, and you’re like, ‘ok that stings’. But after about four or five, it starts to feel pretty overwhelming.”
Portwood’s house in Dekle Beach on the county’s long undeveloped coastline was gutted by Hurricane Helene, though the structure still stands. Beyond his own home, Portwood said he’s worried about the future of this county that is steadily having its tax base wiped off the map.
2 firefighters killed in South Carolina were struck by a tree
Two firefighters killed during Hurricane Helene in South Carolina were struck by a tree, authorities said.
The tree hit their firetruck around 6:30 a.m. Friday about 4 miles (6 kilometers) west of Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina Highway Patrol Cpl. David Jones said.
The Saluda County Coroner’s Office has not released the names of the firefighters.
At least 17 people have been killed in South Carolina as Hurricane Helene tore through the western part of the state.
A mudslide and floodwaters wash out interstate at the North Carolina-Tennessee state line
A mudslide and record floodwaters from the remnants of Hurricane Helene washed out a section of an interstate highway at the North Carolina-Tennessee state line, transportation officials said.
Photos and video posted on social media showed at least one lane of I-40 had collapsed above the swollen Pigeon River.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation said the interstate was closed in both directions.
The National Weather Service said a flash flood warning continued for the Pigeon River, which crested Friday morning about 3 feet (1 meter) above its previous record level set by the remnants of Hurricane Ivan in September 2004.
Georgia Power to make an emergency water release from a dam near Lake Rabun
Georgia Power Co. is making an emergency release of water from a northeast Georgia dam following heavy rains from Hurricane Helene.
Georgia Emergency Management Director Chris Stallings said no residents who live near Lake Rabun in the state’s mountainous northeast corner were in danger of being flooded. But he said the water release would likely flood roads and bridges that some residents use to access their homes.
“If they don’t leave now, they’re going to be stuck there for at least a day or multiple hours,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp told reporters at a morning news briefing. The dam is the third in a series owned by Georgia Power along the Tallulah River, which cuts a deep gorge through part of the area.
“We’ve got to get water out so it doesn’t cause dam failure,” Stallings said. He was unable to say how long the water release would last, saying that would be up to technical experts.
Georgia Power didn’t immediately respond to phone calls, emails and texts seeking information.
Dozens rescued by helicopter from a flooded Tennessee hospital inundated by Helene
By Jonathan Matisse
Dozens of people were being rescued by helicopter from a flooded Tennessee hospital inundated by Helene.
Some 54 people were moved to the roof of the Unicoi County Hospital while water rapidly flooded the facility, according to Ballad Health.
The company said on social media that county officials had ordered an evacuation of the hospital Friday morning due to rising water in the Nolichucky River, including 11 patients.
Boats ordered up by the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency were unable to safely evacuate the hospital, which was taking on flood water, the company said.
As of midday, Ballad reported that an additional seven people remained in rescue boats as the hospital was engulfed by “extremely dangerous and rapidly moving water.”
Tornado damages businesses in North Carolina
A tornado was confirmed Friday in northern Rocky Mount, North Carolina, along U.S. Route 301, city communications specialist Robin Cox said.
There was damage to businesses in the area, but the city did not yet confirm if there were any injuries. Cox said there were emergency workers on the scene as of 2:30 p.m.
DeSantis: ‘We are going to bounce back’
By MICHAEL SCHNEIDER
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday that even communities hardest hit by Hurricane Helene would get back on their feet, though it won’t happen overnight.
The governor said it’s extremely difficult when someone loses a home with photos and family keepsakes that don’t have a dollar value. But he vowed, “We are going to bounce back.”
“It’s tough and we understand that. We also understand that this is a resilient state,” DeSantis said at a news conference in storm-damaged St. Pete Beach, not far from where he grew up in Dunedin, Florida.
“We’re going to get people back on their feet,” DeSantis said. “It’s not easy to go through this. It’s not going to be easy in the immediate future, but there’s going to be a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Tropical Storm John hits Mexico’s Pacific coast a 2nd time
By The Associated Press
Tropical Storm John made its second landfall along Mexico’s Pacific coast Friday, while in its wake authorities in the resort city of Acapulco called for help from anyone with a boat to deal with the flooding.
John came ashore near Tizupan in Michoacan state with sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kmh) after making its initial landfall farther east on the coast on Monday as a Category 3 hurricane.
It blew tin roofs off houses, triggered mudslides and toppled scores of trees. After weakening inland, it reemerged over the ocean, reforming as a tropical storm Wednesday and eventually regaining hurricane strength.
At least eight people have died as a result of the storm.
At least 17 people have died in South Carolina
At least 17 people have died after Hurricane Helene moved across South Carolina overnight Friday.
The dead included two firefighters responding to calls in Saluda County, Gov. Henry McMaster said at a Friday news conference.
Two additional deaths were reported in Newberry County, according to McMaster, who didn’t provide details.
Coroners reported 13 other deaths — four in Greenville County, four in Aiken County, three in Spartanburg County and two in Anderson County.
“We’re asking keep all of those families and friends in your prayers,” McMaster said.
The death toll from Hurricane Helene has reached at least 30 across 4 states
By The Associated Press
The death toll from Hurricane Helene has reached at least 30 across four states.
According to an Associated Press tally Friday, the deaths occurred in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
‘Dangerous rescue situation’ unfolding at a northeast Tennessee hospital
By Jonathan Matisse
A “dangerous rescue situation” was unfolding in northeast Tennessee on Friday as 54 people were moved to the roof of the Unicoi County Hospital while water rapidly flooded the facility, according to Ballad Health.
The company said on social media that county officials ordered an evacuation of the hospital Friday morning due to rising water in the Nolichucky River, including 11 patients.
Boats ordered up by the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency were unable to safely evacuate the hospital, which was taking on flood water, the company said.
As of midday, Ballad reported that 54 people were relocated to the roof and seven remained in rescue boats as the hospital was engulfed by “extremely dangerous and rapidly moving water.”
“The situation at the hospital is very dangerous and TEMA and National Guard resources are engaged in what can only be described as a dangerous rescue operation,” Ballad wrote, asking for prayers.
Death toll in South Carolina rises to 13
Four people were killed overnight by falling trees in Greenville County, bringing the death toll in Hurricane Helene to 13 in South Carolina.
Greenville County Senior Deputy Coroner Shelton England confirmed the deaths Friday afternoon. He said more information would be released later.
During the storm four people were killed in Aiken County, three people in Spartanburg County and two people in Anderson County, authorities said.
Some bridge lanes connecting Florida barrier island communities reopen
By MICHAEL SCHNEIDER
Some bridge lanes connecting barrier island communities on Florida’s Gulf Coast started reopening on Friday.
The northbound lanes of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge connecting the St. Petersburg area to the Bradenton area were opened Friday afternoon, though southbound lanes remained closed for cleaning up debris and assessing damage, according to the Florida Department of Transportation.
Southbound lanes of the Howard Frankland Bridge connecting the Tampa area with the St. Petersburg area also were opened to traffic, while northbound lanes were still being inspected and cleared of debris.
The Courtney Campbell Causeway connecting Hillsborough and Pinellas counties remained closed because of debris.
The bridge “took on heavy debris, washout, and roadway damage,” the agency said in a statement. “Bridge inspectors and maintenance clean-up crews are still on-site doing their best to clear the roadway and open it back up to motorists.”
Helene downgraded to a tropical depression
By The Associated Press
Tropical Storm Helene was downgraded to a tropical depression by forecasters on Friday afternoon.
The storm was located about 125 miles (201 km) southeast of Louisville, Kentucky, and was moving toward the north-northwest at about 28 mph (44 kph). The center said the storm was forecast to stall over the Tennessee Valley Friday night and through the weekend. Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 35 mph (55 km/h) with higher gusts.
Forecasters said Helene was expected to become extratropical later in the day.
A map shows the Friday afternoon rainfall outlook for Tropical Storm Helene (NOAA).
North Carolina dam overtopped is not expected to fail, officials say
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
People living on about 30 streets in a western North Carolina county were ordered Friday to evacuate as water from Tropical Storm Helene overtopped the entire length of a dam in a town best known for the 1980’s movie “Dirty Dancing.”
There is no indication, however, that the Lake Lure Dam is about to fail, state Department of Environmental Quality spokesperson Kat Russell said Friday.
Russell didn’t know how many people lived on the 29 streets within what she called the dam inundation area within Rutherford County, where Lake Lure and the town of the same name are located about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Asheville.
The lake flows into the Broad River and was created nearly 100 years ago. The dam is listed as 480 feet (146 meters) long and about 120 feet (36.6 meters) high.
Russell said there is some erosion on one side of the dam caused by the overtopping. Town officials are monitoring it, she said.
Downstream communities have been made aware of the overtopping but have been told they would have several hours to alert residents to their own evacuations if needed, Russell said. The North Carolina and South Carolina state agencies also have received emergency action plans if conditions worsen.
Waters in the iconic lake used to film scenes for the movie “Dirty Dancing,” transforming Lake Lure into upstate New York’s Catskill Mountains.
Helene severely damaged Georgia’s utility infrastructure, electrical group says
An electrical utility group is warning of “catastrophic” damage to Georgia’s utility infrastructure by Hurricane Helene.
The Georgia Electric Membership Corp., which represents the state’s electric cooperatives, says that the hurricane damaged more than 100 high-voltage transmission lines and that more than 60 substations were out of service Friday morning.
A down tree and power lines seen along Margret Mitchell Drive in the Buckhead area, Friday, Sept 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)
Without transmission lines and substations, the cooperatives can’t feed electricity to homes and businesses. The group warned Friday that “there will be extensive delays in total restoration” and told customers, especially those who rely on electric power for medical needs, to make temporary arrangements.
Of the more than 1 million Georgia electricity customers without power on Friday afternoon, more than 400,000 were customers of cooperatives. Restoration for customers of those utilities in rural areas can take much longer because customers are far apart.
Death toll in South Carolina rises to 9
At least nine people have died in South Carolina from the winds and rains of Hurricane Helene, authorities said.
Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger reported three deaths happened Friday morning. He did not release additional details.
Four deaths have already been reported in Aiken County and two deaths in Anderson County.
Rain from Helene has helped reduce autumn forest fire risks in West Virginia, governor says
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice was thankful Friday that several days of rain, including Friday’s arrival of the remnants from Hurricane Helene, helped reduce the risk of autumn forest fires during an exceptional drought in much of the state.
“I’m tickled to death that we finally have gotten this amount of rainfall,” Justice said during his weekly news briefing. “This will surely, surely assist us in many, many ways in regard to this terrible potential that we had for forest fires.”
Hurricane Ian remembrance event canceled in Fort Meyers Beach
The town of Fort Myers Beach has canceled its Hurricane Ian Remembrance and Resiliency Ceremony due to cleanup efforts from Hurricane Helene.
In a post on the social platform X, the town said it had to cancel the ceremony and did not say if it would be rescheduled. The town planned the ceremony for Saturday morning to mark when Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida.
A residential street near the Chattahoochee River is completely flooded
A residential street near the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta and the parking lot of a shopping center across the street is completely flooded. Flooding in the area is expected to get worse.
John Swalm, 17, lives part-time with his dad whose house is on the flooded street. His dad is not in the state and his house is on stilts, but Swalm anticipates “devastating” damage to the house’s yard and wooden patio.
He also believes his dad’s cars are submerged and his kayaks have floated away.
Rainfall in parts of the Carolinas and Tennessee reached at least half a foot
By HANNAH FINGERHUT
Preliminary data shows rainfall in parts of northwest South Carolina, southwest North Carolina and southeast Tennessee reached at least half a foot between Tuesday and Friday, according to the National Weather Service office for Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Some parts of the region saw more than a foot of rain.
Widespread airport delays and cancellations persist
Even as Helene’s wind and rain move northward, air travel snarls remain at many airports in the southeast.
The airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, a major hub for American Airlines, saw nearly 400 inbound and outbound flights canceled through 1 p.m. Thursday, with another 500 inbound and outbound flights delayed, according to flight tracking software FlightAware. That’s nearly half of all flights to the airport.
The larger Atlanta Airport saw nearly 200 inbound and outbound flights canceled, while more than 400 were delayed. That’s nearly a quarter of all the flights at that airport.
Problems also lingered at airports in Florida including in Tampa, Tallahassee and Jacksonville, while smaller airports in Asheville, North Carolina and Augusta, Georgia saw a majority of flights canceled.
Water rescues underway in Morristown, Tennessee
By Jonathan Matisse
The National Weather Service in Morristown, Tennessee, said late Friday morning that several water rescues and evacuations were happening near the mountains in the northeastern part of the state, with thousands of trees down in the area.
Local officials had ordered people in locations such as Embreeville and Roan Mountain to evacuate.
WATCH: Florida resident gives tour of devastated, flattened Cedar Key
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A Florida resident provided a devastating first-hand look at hard-hit Cedar Key Friday morning after parts of the town were flattened by Hurricane Helene.
5 people have died in Pinellas County after disregarding evacuation warnings
Five people have died in Pinellas County in Florida after Helene blew through the area overnight, county officials said Friday.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said the deaths all occurred in neighborhoods where residents were told by authorities to evacuate, but many chose to stay and then found themselves trapped by 8 feet of storm surge — an unprecedented event in the county.
Debris cover the street in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene at Harbor Lights Club mobile home park in Pinellas County, Fla., Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (Tampa Bay Times via AP)
Gualtieri said survivors told them they didn’t believe the warnings after other residents told them the surge wouldn’t be that bad. He said people wound up hiding in their attics to get away from the water.
“We made our case, we told people what they needed to do and they chose otherwise,” Gualtieri said. He added that his deputies tried overnight to reach those who had been trapped, but it just wasn’t safe.
“I was out there personally. We tried to launch boats, we tried to use high-water vehicles and we just met with too many obstacles,” Gualtieri said. He said the death toll could rise as emergency crews go door-to-door in the flooded areas to see if anyone remains.
At least 6 people have died in South Carolina
At least six people died in South Carolina as Hurricane Helene tore through the western part of the state early Friday.
Four people died overnight in Aiken County, said Coroner Darryl Ables who planned to release more details later.
In Anderson County, the coroner’s office said two people were killed when trees fell on houses.
The storm brought wind gusts to near hurricane force across much of the state west of Columbia. At the storm’s peak, power was out for 45% of the 2.9 million homes and businesses in the state.
Nearly everyone was without power right after the storm passed through in several counties, including Greenville and Spartanburg where more than 900,000 people live.
Utilities companies urged patience, saying it could take at least days to restore power.
Multiple people are trapped in 115 heavily damaged buildings in Valdosta
By HANNAH FINGERHUT
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp gave staggering numbers to describe the early damage from Helene Friday morning:
1 million meters without power
1,300 traffic signals out of commission
1,100 people in shelters across the state
152 road closures and 2 interstate closures
In one south central city, Valdosta, 115 buildings were heavily damaged with multiple people trapped inside. One shelter temporarily housing Georgians lost its roof. A tree fell on one hospital’s generator, cutting the facility’s power.
App State cancels football game against Liberty in North Carolina due to Helene
By The Associated Press
Appalachian State’s home football game against Liberty in Boone, North Carolina, scheduled for Saturday has been canceled due to severe weather in the area from Tropical Storm Helene, the school announced Friday.
Heavy rains in the North Carolina mountains brought flooding to Boone and the town was placed under a state of emergency Thursday.
The nonconference game was scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. EDT kickoff and will not be rescheduled, the school said.
App State also canceled a home field hockey game against Bellarmine that was slated for Friday.
Tropical Storm John is causing severe flooding along Mexico’s Pacific coast
By The Associated Press
Tropical Storm John has caused a total of eight deaths in southern Mexico, and five days of heavy rains have generated severe flooding and mudslides in the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco.
John, in its second incarnation, was lingering off the Pacific coast just short of a second landfall early Friday. It hit further east on the coast Monday as a Category 3 hurricane.
The flooding is so bad in Acapulco — which still hasn’t recovered from Hurricane Otis last October — that the head of the municipal civil defense agency said authorities were starting to use boats inside the city to rescue people from low-lying neighborhoods. Residents posted videos and photos of cars floating away in floodwaters, and people rescued from raging waters using lifelines.
“We are getting boats to start carrying out more effective evacuations,” Efrén Valdez, civil protection coordinator for Acapulco, told the Milenio Television station. “The situation is very complicated.”
Several Ballad Health facilities closed across multiple states
By JONATHAN MATTISE
In northeast Tennessee, Unicoi County Hospital was closed Friday due to the weather and its 11 patients were being moved to other hospitals, according to parent company Ballad Health. The company urged people who need care to go to the nearest hospital or call 911.
Meanwhile, every Ballad Health facility postponed all elective surgeries, including those in southwest Virginia, northwest North Carolina and southeast Kentucky. Some of its clinics and urgent care offices were also closed.
Atlanta firefighters rescue a half-dozen people in Hanover West
Atlanta Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Ronald Slatton said rescue efforts Friday morning helped about half a dozen people who didn’t feel safe in their homes in Hanover West, a neighborhood in north Atlanta. A creek behind some of the residences had risen to about four or five feet, he said.
“We’re just here standing by if they need us,” he said of his expectations for the rest of the day.
Shattered storefronts and mangled awnings dot downtown Valdosta
In downtown Valdosta, Georgia, Hurricane Helene ripped the sheet metal roof from a large brick building that houses a furniture and antiques store and blew out the back wall. Bricks, plywood and twisted metal covered the grass outside, exposing old lamps, cabinets and other knickknacks in the store’s inventory.
Many shops and businesses along the tree limb-covered sidewalks of the downtown area appeared unscathed. But a few had shattered storefront windows and mangled awnings.
Electricity was out across the city and traffic moved slowly on many roads, with stoplights blacked out and trees blocking several streets.
The year’s first super typhoon erupted over the steamy waters of the western Pacific Ocean on Thursday as Yagi churned toward an eventual landfall in southern China.
Having formed as a tropical cyclone in the Philippine Sea on Sunday, the powerful storm peaked on Thursday afternoon local time with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph, which would be the equivalent of a high-end Category 4 hurricane. At least 13 people have been killed in the Philippines as a result of flooding and landslides.
Forecasters expect the storm to weaken somewhat before striking the Chinese island of Hainan by the end of the week, raking the popular tourist destination with dangerous winds and flooding rains. Yagi is expected to be the strongest storm to hit the region in a decade, with the southern Chinese provinces of Hainan and Guangdong shutting schools, closing bridges, and grounding flights in preparation.
But Super Typhoon Yagi’s ferocity isn’t as uncommon as one would think. The western Pacific Ocean is uniquely capable of supporting some of the strongest storms on Earth.
A satellite image of Yagi on September 4, 2024.Courtesy of NOAA
Typhoons are strong tropical cyclones, a catch-all term for low-pressure systems that develop through a special process compared to the “everyday” lows we contend with on a regular basis.
Powerful thunderstorms bubbling around the center of low pressure act like the engine that drives these systems. Warm ocean waters feed those thunderstorms the energy they need to survive and thrive as they swirl through the tropics. These storms can keep going for days or even weeks as long as they maintain access to sultry waters and favorable conditions in the surrounding atmosphere.
All tropical cyclones are the same around the world—the only difference is what we call them. A mature tropical cyclone in the Atlantic is called a hurricane, while the same storm in the western Pacific Ocean is dubbed a typhoon.
This story originally appeared on Grist and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
No matter where you live, extreme weather can hit your area, causing damage to homes, power outages, and dangerous or deadly conditions. If you’re on the coast, it may be a hurricane; in the Midwest or South, a tornado; in the West, wildfires; and as we’ve seen in recent years, anywhere can experience heat waves or flash flooding.
Living through a disaster and its aftermath can be both traumatic and chaotic, from the immediate losses of life and belongings to conflicting information around where to access aid. The weeks and months after may be even more difficult, as the attention on your community is gone but civic services and events have stalled or changed drastically.
Grist compiled this resource guide to help you stay prepared and informed. It looks at everything from how to find the most accurate forecasts to signing up for emergency alerts to the roles that different agencies play in disaster aid.
Flooding in Merced, California, following a “bomb cyclone” in January 2023.
Photograph: JOSH EDELSON/Getty Images
Where to Find the Facts on Disasters
These days, many people find out about disasters in their area via social media. But it’s important to make sure the information you’re receiving is accurate. Here’s where to find the facts on extreme weather and the most reliable places to check for emergency alerts and updates.
Your local emergency manager: Your city or county will have an emergency management department, which is part of the local government. In larger cities, it’s often a separate agency; in smaller communities, fire chiefs or sheriff’s offices may manage emergency response and alerts. Emergency managers are responsible for communicating with the public about disasters, managing rescue and response efforts, and coordinating between different agencies. They usually have an SMS-based emergency alert system, so sign up for those via your local website. (Note: Some cities have multiple languages available, but most emergency alerts are only in English.) Many emergency management agencies are active on Facebook, so check there for updates as well.
Local news: The local television news and social media accounts from verified news sources will have live updates during and after a storm. Follow your local newspaper and television station on Facebook or other social media, or check their websites regularly.
