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.
The aftermath of Hurricane Helene saw North Carolina become a trending subject among social media platforms. Social media is a tool, and as such can be used in both positive and negative ways. Over the months spanning after Hurricane Helene’s landfall across the West of NC, the affected people were subject to both types of use.
NCDPS, or the NC Department of Public Safety recorded many instances of false information being perpetuated on the web. The page I’m utilizing acts as a “MythBusters” page, showing stories and fact checking them. For instance, the page puts forward the rumor that current recovery efforts are motivated by a “land grab” initiative by the state. The website shuts down those rumors by stating “The state and local governments are not taking land from property owners. If a property owner wishes to explore the possibility of a buyout or property acquisition as part of the Hazard Mitigation program, they must apply for the program.” This implies the land owner must initiate the buyout process in this situation. The page also discredits another rumor that claims children are being taken from families. They state: “This is not true. Neither the Red Cross nor the State of North Carolina are taking custody of children because a family has a damaged or destroyed home.”
While the general public may be using social media to forward political agendas and potentially perpetuate fear, there are those using it to push resources, contribution links, and life-saving information. This link, posted under a story of Ashville’s destruction totaling over 200k likes, provides a donation link for families in need: https://x.com/extrafabulous/status/1840409663327625512. Without external donations, some families would be in more dire situations than they are because of social media’s help.
While it’s difficult to determine the net impact as positive or negative, social media did have a massive effect on recovery efforts in NC after Hurricane Helene. Personally, I believe more targeted uses of social media as a tool for assistance could help communities isolated from the world from natural disasters in the future.
Citations: “What Does Emergency Management Do during and after a Disaster?” NC DPS, www.ncdps.gov/our-organization/emergency-management/hurricane-helene/ground-truth-facts-helene-response#AreauthoritiestakingchildrenfromfamiliesiftheyhavenoshelterduetoHelene-8438. Accessed 25 Mar. 2025. X.Com, x.com/extrafabulous/status/1840227881928048772. Accessed 26 Mar. 2025.
Hurricane Helene caused massive damage in Western North Carolina with heavy rain, strong winds, and flooding. Rivers like the French Broad overflowed, flooding towns and washing away roads and bridges. Some areas were completely cut off because of landslides and road closures. Thousands of people lost power, and many families had to leave their homes because they were either flooded or destroyed. Emergency workers worked hard to rescue people, but the damage made it really difficult to reach everyone quickly.
The hardest-hit communities were rural and low-income areas. A lot of people in these areas live near rivers or in places that flood easily, and they didn’t have the money to evacuate or protect their homes before the storm. Many didn’t have flood insurance either, so after the storm, they were left with no way to rebuild. Farmers lost their crops and animals, which was a huge blow since farming is their main source of income.Elderly people and those with disabilities also struggled to evacuate. Some couldn’t leave on their own and needed help, but not everyone got it in time. Meanwhile, wealthier areas that had better infrastructure recovered faster, showing how some communities are way more prepared for disasters than others.While recovery efforts are still happening, it’s clear that some people are facing a much tougher road to get back on their feet.
My experience with Hurricane Helene was unique because I was up in Boone the weekend of the Hurricane. My boyfriend goes to App State and I was up visiting him the weekend of the hurricane. I was unaware of how bad the hurricane was going to hit Boone. I had to stay an extra night for my safety. I was scared to drive back to Raleigh because the storm had just hit Boone very badly. My boyfriend was showing me pictures and videos of houses getting destroyed, cars sliding into each other because of landslides and excessive water, and telephone poles and trees falling because of high-speed winds. He even lost power multiple times. It was very scary seeing the impact firsthand and the damage the hurricane did. So much destruction was caused in Boone and they are just now, seeing houses be restored.
In late February of this year, I took a weekend trip out to Western North Carolina to go do some hiking. The place I was staying was in the town of Burnsville, about an hour north of Asheville. On the drive in, the effects of Hurricane Helene were everywhere. I had seen pictures and heard stories about the damage, but nothing I had heard or seen prepared me to witness it first hand. Many of the places we drove by looked abandoned, and the remains of people’s lives were scattered everywhere.
I needed to stop at a gas station, so I navigated to the nearest one. Upon getting there, I realized there was no gas. The shop was empty, the pumps were broken, and there was about three feet of water damage on the building next door that had clearly been looted awhile ago. My immediate reaction was surprise, followed by a deep sense of sadness. Sadness for the people who were here when the floods came, sadness for the people who worked at the gas station, and sadness for the people who found themselves needing what was in that abandoned gas station.
This was not the first time I felt sadness on that trip. The next day, we drove to a trailhead off of the Blue Ridge Parkway. On the way there, there were many more abandoned buildings; this time, however, they were houses. People’s homes had been completely abandoned and destroyed. There were damaged cars along the riverbeds that had been swept far away from any road. There were homes with their roof falling in from fallen trees, and there was a dark ring of water damage around the bottom of nearly every home that was still standing. The most shocking to me, however, were the remnants of a home near the river. As we drove, there were pieces of siding, roofing, and even furniture lodged into the piles of fallen trees that had been washed up by the flooding. As we drove, we followed a trail. A trail containing the remains of someone’s life. At the end of it was the foundation to a house. All that was left was concrete and brick embedded in the ground, and everything else was gone.
We kept driving. We did not reach the trailhead because it was soon that the we encountered a “Road Closed” sign on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was close enough to the trailhead, however, that we decided to park next to the road, get out, and hike the Parkway. It was not far into the hike that it became evident why the road was closed. It was closed because the road was gone, washed away by the earth. Although there was no pavement, there was a footpath that had been made next to where the gap was. So, we kept going. It felt as if I was transported into a dystopian sci-fi world in which the roads were empty and there was not another soul in sight.
That trip was a very strange but eye-opening experience for me. Hearing about the damage from the hurricane and seeing it were two very different things. Thinking back to that hike, one of the things that stuck out to me was the small path that was carved out next to where the road fell away. It made me wonder who else had been here, seen the road was gone, and kept going. This evidence of persistence gave me hope. Even when the road appeared to have ended, people had found a way to keep going. The recovery for Western North Carolina is going to take a lot of time and money, and I know seeing and thinking about the loss it has caused was quite devastating. However, I have hope that people will find a path to keep going.
Sending food, water, and toiletries is a big help for those who were affected by the hurricane. I will also be taking more trips out to the mountains to help contribute to the economy in the area. A lot of shops were closed from the lack of business, and a lot of Airbnb’s have been struggling to stay booked. It’s important for people to share their experiences as much as possible and keep raising awareness for the western half of our state.
Hurricane Helene was a catastrophic category 4 hurricane that made landfall in the southeastern U.S. in September 2024. This storm brought about deadly floods, storm surges, extreme winds, and numerous tornadoes. The hurricane resulted in 249 fatalities, making it the third deadliest hurricane of the modern era. Although the hurricane made landfall in Florida, western North Carolina arguably had the most severe damage. The reason western NC was impacted so drastically was due to the weather pattern in place at the time before and during the hurricane. Meteorologists have identified key factors that lead to a “perfect hurricane”. Among these factors are a dome of high pressure to the east-northeast of the hurricane and an area of low pressure in the upper atmosphere to the north of the storm. When all of these are in place, the atmosphere to the north can siphon huge amounts of warm, moist air from an approaching hurricane. In addition, a frontal system at the surface of the mountains forced air upward contributing to multiple rounds of heavy rain. Meteorologists call these pre-hurricane rain events “PREs,” which stands for Predecessor Rainfall Events. Leading up to the hurricane’s landfall in western NC the area experienced 10-15 inches of rain, leaving the ground saturated and rivers swelling. Hurricane Helene itself brought about a foot of rain meaning that the flooding only worsened. With the ground already greatly saturated, the additional rain and wind created catastrophic flooding and nearly 2,000 landslides. This wiped away homes, schools, buildings, roads, and more. At one point, all roads were closed in western NC to non-emergent travel. In all, it is estimated that the hurricane has caused $78.7 billion in damage. Western NC is still facing hardships as they try to rebuild all they have lost.
I had a friend who was from Asheville, and he wanted to start a supply drive to help his community. With his personal social media, he did not have enough reach to make the impact that he was striving for. He used our Fraternity Instagram and Facebook platform, and the donations started flowing in. He was able to receive two uhauls full of supplies and he was able to help make a difference for his community. One of the unique challenges when responding to the disaster of Helene was the remoteness of the Appalachian community. The North Carolina mountains before the hurricane were already difficult to reach, as there are few highways that run through the mountain ranges. Hurricane Helene wiped out many of these roads, including interstate 40, which just reopened this past month. With there being limited ways to reach these individuals in need, getting them supplies and help was more challenging than usual, and the use of aircrafts became crucial. This led to many people not receiving help for weeks and local aid was completely overwhelmed, and this started a cry out for federal government aid through FEMA. The requests for help climbed into the thousands quickly and it became extremely difficult for everyone to receive federal aid. People began to hear the horror stories from the mountains and started to direct their anger towards the federal government, claiming they were not doing nearly enough to help the individuals of the North Carolina mountains. This outrage turned political, and the Helene recovery became a talking point in the election of the 47th president.
Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina in late September of 2024. The storm exceeded historical flood events and caused billions of dollars in damage across the entire western side of the state. The storm began over the Gulf of Mexico and reached Category 4 status before it made landfall over Florida’s Gulf coast on September 26th. Though the storm had devastating effects on Florida and parts of Georgia, the storm moved relatively quickly at a speed of 20 miles per hour. By the next day the storm began to hit the southern Appalachian mountain region and didn’t dissipate until two days later (National Weather Service).
Over those two days, parts of North Carolina saw over 20 inches of rainfall, which caused extreme flooding along the many rivers that feed through the Blue Ridge mountains between Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee. These rivers and streams flooded extremely quickly and saw unprecedented flooding that no one could have predicted. Lansing, North Carolina, less than 10 miles from the Virginia Border, a town with a population of 128 people, but more in tourist season, is a place that my family and I would visit often in the summer. The town experienced flooding as shown below. The stream that sits on the west side of the Main Street flooded and caused extreme damage in the storefronts along Main Street with water levels reaching above six feet high in the local post office (Norman, 2024). Even though the town sits in a 100-year floodplain, this kind of event is extremely rare and unlikely to be exceeded like was seen in Hurricane Helene. The town is still rebuilding from hurricane damages with the local general store holding a limited reopening in December, but many other stores are still recovering and trying to obtain funding to rebuild and reopen.
Images from: “Lansing NC Facebook Page” and “Rebuild Lansing GoFundMe”
Beyond the more remote areas of Western North Carolina, the City of Asheville was without clean drinking water for almost two months and UNC Asheville, with a campus of almost 3,000 students was closed for over a month before welcoming students back to housing, but remained in virtual learning for the rest of the semester. This hurricane completely obliterated parts of Western North Carolina and caused extreme damage that communities, large and small, will be recovering from for years.
The damage caused by Hurricane Helene was spread across six states: Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. However, the most significant damage occurred in North Carolina, with approximately half of Hurricane Helene’s deaths occurring in the state (Britannica, 2024). Hurricane Helene accounted for a total of 190 deaths, breaking the previous record for the death toll due to a tropical event in NC (NBC News, 2024). A major disaster declaration was made for 27 counties (10 rural) in North Carolina. In those counties, approximately 20% of the population was socially vulnerable, including those living in poverty, elderly, lacking vehicles, disabled, and lacking updated health insurance (US Census Bureau, 2024). Approximately 0.8% of households in these counties had FEMA flood insurance (Politico, 2024). The local government in these areas had also previously resisted updating FEMA flood maps that are used to predict flood damage due to additional costs (Washington Post, 2024). Additionally, small businesses were also disproportionately impacted by the effects of damage. The Small Business Administration (SBA) was willing to offer low-interest loans to those affected by property damage, but those were only available to people with good credit scores (Politico, 2024).
Western North Carolina is filled with small mountain towns known for their beautiful views, amazing hikes, local colleges, and close knit people. When Hurricane Helene hit Western Carolina the people in these mountain towns were not prepared for the devastation it would bring. Roads were swept away from mud slides and flooding, houses were collapsed from heavy rain and strong winds, and power was lost all around so communication lines were cut all around the area. This made it a very unique situation because no one could travel to check in on others in person nor could they call to make sure loved ones were okay- something no one expected to have to deal with. With major roads such as I- 40 being closed off and certain areas only having one road in or out, rescue teams were challenged with whether or not they should clear the roads or focus on getting people out and coming back to clear the roads later on. With many people still being displaced, social media and community efforts are the best ways to continue to assist those in need. Right after the hurricane came through social media was a great platform to utilize. Each of our group members had personal experience with using and relying on social media to gain information about what was going on in the area and how to assist. Influencers such as Tom and Rachel Sullivan who are known for their college meals worked to collect food to bring to those impacted and utilized their platform to inform people in the area of their arrival and to gain collections to give to those in need. Along with the helpful sides of social media came the spread of misinformation on the flip side. There were false claims of areas in being in more danger than what was actually present causing unnecessary evacuations to take place and resources being put into the wrong areas when they were needed more in other locations. This highlighted the need to fact check information being posted on social media as reposting information was the quickest way to spread it but it can cause more damage than help if the information is not accurate.
On a more personal note, there are several well known trails located on the Blue Ridge Parkway that I hiked many times prior to the Hurricane. I have included an image of the area about a year before Hurricane Helene hit. Now, no one can reach this area due to the flooding and the road damage that occurred so it is very sad to think about some of the natural beauties that were lost during this natural disaster.
Hurricane Helene impacted many states, such as Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. However, North Carolina was one of the most affected and hardest hit states. The city of Asheville was one of the cities that were hit hard during Hurricane Helene. The town was once thriving and bustling until Helene turned it into a “post-apocalyptic landscape” with trees blocking the roads, power lines down, and bridges torn apart. In the article, certain parts of Asheville were left with “no power; no water; nor phone; no WiFi; no cable;no air conditioning” and dark with no lights at 7pm. People had no clean water and had to borrow water from their neighbors pool to use the bathroom. The author of this story dined on nothing but apples and Fritos for the first week and had to drive to Hickory, NC to find the last available hotel room to get a warm shower and hot meal across the street. The author describes that the hotels were not full of tourists but burly grizzly construction workers aiding in the disasters of Helene.
There was heavy rainfall for days, which caused fast moving water to flood valley regions in Asheville. Water flooding these valley regions lead to devastating effects, such as wiping out parts of I-40, a major highway that connects North Carolina and Tennessee.
Mary, Mark and their grandchildren were living in Fletcher, NC in a home that they thought would be safe from flooding due to its altitude. However they soon realized they were not exempt from the storm when the water was up to their knees. They lost all of their belongings and were eventually forced out of their home due to the sewage and other smells leaving them with nowhere to go. Luckily they were able to stay at a Red Cross shelter until they could get back on their feet.
Stories like this one show that there are real people behind the headlines you see in the news. There are people being affected everyday from the aftermath of this hurricane even after the mainstream news stops talking about it. It is important to remember the people affected and help and raise awareness in any way we can.
Hurricane Helene impacted many states, such as Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. However, North Carolina was one of the most affected and hardest hit states. The city of Asheville was one of the cities that were hit hard during Hurricane Helene. The town was once thriving and bustling until Helene turned it into a “post-apocalyptic landscape” with trees blocking the roads, power lines down, and bridges torn apart. In the article, certain parts of Asheville were left with “no power; no water; nor phone; no WiFi; no cable;no air conditioning” and dark with no lights at 7pm. People had no clean water and had to borrow water from their neighbors pool to use the bathroom. The author of this story dined on nothing but apples and Fritos for the first week and had to drive to Hickory, NC to find the last available hotel room to get a warm shower and hot meal across the street. The author describes that the hotels were not full of tourists but burly grizzly construction workers aiding in the disasters of Helene.
There was heavy rainfall for days, which caused fast moving water to flood valley regions in Asheville. Water flooding these valley regions lead to devastating effects, such as wiping out parts of I-40, a major highway that connects North Carolina and Tennessee.
Mary, Mark and their grandchildren were living in Fletcher, NC in a home that they thought would be safe from flooding due to its altitude. However they soon realized they were not exempt from the storm when the water was up to their knees. They lost all of their belongings and were eventually forced out of their home due to the sewage and other smells leaving them with nowhere to go. Luckily they were able to stay at a Red Cross shelter until they could get back on their feet.
Stories like this one show that there are real people behind the headlines you see in the news. There are people being affected everyday from the aftermath of this hurricane even after the mainstream news stops talking about it. It is important to remember the people affected and help and raise awareness in any way we can.
