Update: Massive ongoing catastrophe along path of Hurricane Helene

Most of the national media is ignoring the shear scale of ongoing devastation and human tragedy from Tampa Bay, Florida northward 600 miles (966 km) to Bristol, Virginia. Only the Weather Channel, Acu-Weather, Fox Weather and CNN are sending reporters into the heart of the devastation in western North Carolina. This a catastrophe on the same scale as Hurricane Katrina, but affecting a much larger area of the nation.

by Richard L. Thornton, Architect & City Planner

While the rapid transition of a low pressure area south of Cuba to a powerful hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico dominated the newscasts of all news services for several days last week, coverage ceased only a few hours after Hurricane Helene struck land. The most dramatic and long-lasting devastation occurred yesterday and continues today in the Southern Appalachians.

The Asheville, NC area received over 30 inches of rain in the past three days. Normally, it receives 43.7 inches a year! That is probably the reason that the streams of the Georgia Mountains are far more capable of handling heavy rains than those around Asheville. The Northeast Georgia Mountains’ average annual rainfall ranges from 65 to 73 inches . . . depending on the location.

This amount of rainfall has and is causing mass destruction in much of western North Carolina and the eastern edge of Tennessee. Asheville and several other cities along the French Broad River have no electrical service, no public water service, no telephone service, no cellular phone service, no internet service, no garbage pickup service and very limited mail service. North Carolina mountain cities in the main path of Helene are running out of gasoline, propane gas and diesel fuel because all petroleum products are trucked in from the Piedmont.

All highways and most other roads are closed in western North Carolina due to bridge collapses, washed out paving, rock slides and mud slides. The number of deaths, caused by Hurricane Helene in the Atlanta Area, western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee are likely to skyrocket after the floods recede.

Following the current tally of the disaster, I have posed a surrealistic newscast from Downtown Asheville by Fox Weather News on the morning of 9/28/2024.

Tally of Destruction by Hurricane Helane as of 9/28/2024

• As of the morning of 9/28/2024 . . . at least 50 known deaths

• At least 2-4 million homes destroyed or significantly damaged

• Probably over 100 homes still covered by mudslides or fallen trees with occupants inside. Rescuers are unable to reach them because of inaccessible roads.

• At least 5 1/2 million homes were or are without electrical power.

• At least four large hydroelectric dams have collapsed or are about to fail.

• At least 200 bridges have collapsed in six states.

• Several thousand miles of federal, state and local roads in seven states will require extensive repairs.

• At least 100.000 commercial building have been destroyed or require extensive repairs.

• The Central Mountains of North Carolina and the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee will be inaccessible to tourists during the Fall Leaf Season.

Eyewitnesses in Downtown Asheville, NC