Hurricane Helene destroyed rural communities with massive flooding that threatens to continue as storms grow stronger.
With this past summer seeing a massive spike in extreme weather, from massive flooding in Pakistan to continued heat waves in the UK, it’s no surprise that this year’s hurricane season was an especially intense one. While coastal communities are often used to extreme storms, hurricane Helene surprised many with a sharp turn inland, one that devastated some of the poorest and most isolated communities in the United States.
Hurricane Helene originally made landfall as a category 4 hurricane in the state of Florida, where winds reached nearly 220 kilometres per hour. Parts of the state also saw massive storm surges that reached up to 10 feet (3 metres), setting records, destroying communities and causing 11 deaths. Even as the storm moved north, the aftermath saw fires, entire communities without power, and millions of dollars in damages.
While areas like Florida and Georgia, where the hurricane was strongest, are well-used to the constant threat of storms throughout the season, Helene began to cause major problems as it moved up north into the Appalachian region and the state of North Carolina. Even downgraded to a tropical storm, Helene brought over 30 inches – or 76 centimetres – of rain to parts of North Carolina over a five-day period. Due to much of the area already being saturated from earlier rainfall, much of the region experienced devastating flooding and tornados.
Over 100 deaths were recorded in the state of North Carolina, with 72 of them coming from the town of Asheville, where entire neighbourhoods were swept away by fast-moving floodwaters. The storm also wiped entire smaller communities off the map. In Chimney Rock, a small community of around 200, residents said that nearly every building had been either destroyed or severely damaged. Other small towns across the region were experiencing the same devastation.
The isolated nature of communities throughout Appalachia was part of the reason for the flood’s sheer devastation. Being a highly mountainous region, many towns, often situated in valleys, only have one way in and one way out. With the floodwaters washing out these points of access and the storm taking out electricity and reception, many towns were impossible to reach with rescue efforts. Residents describe using pack mules and having to wade through water on foot in order to reach crucial supplies like food and water.
In terms of rebuilding, isolated geography as well as poorer infrastructure will make efforts difficult. According to the Appalachian Regional Commission, around 19.2% of households live in poverty, and the median income is around $10000 less than the average in non-Appalachian rural communities. In an effort to help with immediate recovery, more than 1500 American military troops have been deployed to the region, alongside several thousand national guards, to aid in immediate rebuilding and searches for the missing.
Scientists have said that part of the reason for the power behind storms like Hurricane Helene is the warming waters in the Gulf of Mexico. With temperatures increasing year on year, these storms are able to gather more power and keep their strength to travel further inland.
Globally, the story is much the same. Rural and isolated communities often struggle with many of the same geographical situations as the Appalachian region. When these communities are hit by massive weather events, the fallout can be catastrophic – over 1000 deaths were recorded in Pakistan and Afghanistan this spring, when massive flooding hit the region. For the United States, this means isolated, or rural communities now face new threats, ones that are especially devastating in areas with low amounts of infrastructure to withstand or repair.
