Hurricane Helene Causes & Impacts

Posted on by Logan Anthony Serino

Hurricane Helene was responsible for devastating flooding in western North Carolina, where it caused what is called a “rain predecessor event” – heavy rains before Helene’s actual impact on WNC exacerbated the flooding and landslide effects of the hurricane, causing many rivers in the area to crest very high and flood most of their surroundings. Western North Carolina is unfortunately very susceptible to this weather event, as most rural communities are built inside mountain valleys and around these rivers. Given the rarity of this type of event in the area, these communities and the water infrastructure were not built to cope with this influx of rainwater.

As a result of the flooding, many areas were impacted. Asheville, one of the largest cities in the area, was left without clean water for months, with the French Broad river cresting far over its banks. More secluded communities were impacted even further, with important connecting roads washed away and homes and businesses leveled. Some areas were completely inaccessible for weeks. Six months afterwards, the impacts of Helene are still being felt, with fallen branches and debris from the hurricane fueling wildfires in parts of Polk County.

What are some unique challenges in responding to this particular disaster?

Posted on by Thomas Yash Hartnett

One challenge that has been proven tough to manage regards construction companies. Contractors in the area are pivoting all efforts to remodeling, demolition, and repairs. Due to time constraints, construction estimates have been sloppy and inaccurate, causing lost revenues and hurting local construction contractors. At the same time, those in the area who have lost their office jobs are flooding into the construction industry as all these jobs become available, this is good to fill the labor shortage, but forces local companies to hire unfit candidates. 

However, companies from areas not affected, which have all of their machinery unaffected and fully staffed with qualified workers, have been traveling into the region and price gouging, taking advantage of their upper hand in the situation. “The Attorney General just filed a case against a contractor out of Durham that was here price gouging people, which was great,” Cope said. “I hope they make an example out of that.”

There are donations and government subsidies aimed to assist the local contractors in the construction efforts.

Reference: https://www.wncbusiness.com/2025/02/14/522236/builders-tackle-restoration-and-recovery-in-western-north-carolina

Hurricane Helene: What Happened, and Why?

Posted on by Mia Laine Owen

On Friday, September 27th, 2024, Hurricane Helene hit North Carolina. Residents initially felt safe, as at this point the hurricane had degenerated into a tropical storm. While there is a history of tropical storm damage in western NC, it is unusual for a large amount of damage to occur, as the area is quite far inland. This time, however, was different. Hurricane Helene brought record-breaking rains, strong winds, and tornadoes. The rains brought the worst of the damage, causing WNC rivers to flood and sweep away vegetation, houses, roads, and people. Hurricane Helene caused over 100 confirmed deaths, with many more people still missing.

The question is: why? Why did Hurricane Helene cause so much damage in Western NC? There are reasons due to local geography—many of the rivers in WNC are located at the bottoms of mountains, making them flood-prone. Also, much of WNC is rural, which means less hurricane-stable infrastructure. However, there is another, overarching reason: climate change. According to a study by World Weather Attribution, human-driven climate change made Hurricane Helene’s strong winds and intense rainfall up 500 times more likely. This is due to the oceans warming—warm water is a significant ingredient in hurricane formation.

Unless action is taken against climate change, natural disasters such as these will only continue to get worse.

Donate to help Western NC with recovery here.


Hurricane Helene Research Assignment

Posted on by Amy Glaser

Today, we’ll be learning about Hurricane Helene. We are going to share details about what happened and how different communities were affected, updates about the recovery effort, how the public can support people affected, stories about how we were personally affected, information about how NC State has responded to the disaster, and more. You can share anything you want related to Hurricane Helene to this page.

Here are some questions you might try to answer through your research:
1. What happened? Describe the events and their impact on Western North Carolina.
2. Who was impacted the most and how?
3. Why did it happen?
4. What does the recovery effort look like in different communities?
5. How are different groups of people experiencing the effects of the hurricane differently?
6. What are some unique challenges in responding to this particular disaster?
7. What can we do to help support people in Western North Carolina?
8. What has the response to Helene been like on social media?
9. How has social media been related to the recovery effort or to the event itself and how it unfolded?
10. How did the hurricane impact you?

Do not answer all of these questions. Instead, pick one or a few that interest you, and do a deep dive into research (or in some cases self-reflection) into that issue. Then post your findings to this blog. Present the information you find in a way that is easy to read and accessible. For instance, if you want to share a website, be sure to explain what the website is and why you are sharing it. If you discover something shocking, you might write about it in a blog post. By reading this blog, viewers should become knowledgeable about the hurricane and moved to care about it. You can include any type of media (writing, photos, videos, etc.) that you want.

Be sure to cite any outside sources you use, and tag each post with the names of who contributed.