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We are finally starting to get a little better scope of the damage done by Helene.  It is vast, and widespread in portions of NE TN and SW VA.  The downslope today was less than expected, and that meant more rain into rivers which were well past flood stage.  The Euro and RGEM were pretty accurate that the rains would cross the spine of the Apps.  If you have Facebook, Scannerfood is the page to follow along with Tri-Cities Weather and Alert Crew.  Rescues in these communities are ongoing.  Their photos are pretty incredible.  Helene just didn't weaken as it traveled quickly overnight into the Southern Apps.   Really from Damascus, VA, down to Harmons Den(TN/NC line on I-40), the damage has been widespread in mountain communities.  

I am not trying to leave out the North Carolina crew.  They have a very informative thread in the SE forum.  This is a historic event for both sides of the Apps.  

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National Weather Service Morristown TN
420 PM EDT Fri Sep 27 2024

...New SHORT TERM, LONG TERM...

.SHORT TERM...
(This evening through Saturday)
Issued at 306 PM EDT Fri Sep 27 2024

Key Messages:

1. Rain is coming to an end but historic and catastrophic flooding
continues across the region.

2. Winds will remain quite gusty into the evening hours but will
be write around the advisory/warning cutoff.

Discussion:

The remnants of Helene are lifting northward away from the region
at a fast clip this afternoon. We will continue to have some
shower activity develop through the afternoon hours but it should
be light to moderate rainfall. Depending on the location, any
showers may further exacerbate ongoing flooding issues, of which
there are many. The concern would be, given the circulation around
the system, that banded precip would stream over the same area,
like band of precip that is ongoing from Cocke county northward
into Virginia. If something like that sets up any further east we
could have additional flooding problems. Current plan is to
continue the numerous flash flood warnings through later this
afternoon and evening to accommodate ongoing water rescues,
recovery, etc.

Wind wise, we`ve dropped the tropical storm warnings in our NC
counties this afternoon and replaced them with wind advisories
that go through the overnight hours. Elsewhere, the low level wind
field has switched to a southeasterly direction across the
Appalachians and subsequently the higher terrain has finally
ramped up in winds. In general, outside of the mountains, we`re
not seeing winds that are techinically hitting warning criteria.
But from an impacts perspective we`re certainly seeing downed
trees and power outages and such, and it`s also been very close at
several locations throughout the day. So, have decided to let the
warning outside of the mountains ride until the original 8pm
expiration time. For the mountains, indications are that the winds
will continue to be near warning criteria at least for the Smoky
Mountains and nearby areas so will carry that through 12z tomorrow
morning. Can reevaluate that later this evening and see if changes
need to be made.

 

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Per MRX and there has been some confusion as two lanes of I-40 hav been washed out.

There is no longer a risk of an imminent dam failure for Walters Dam on the Pigeon River. Major flooding continues, however. Continue to heed evacuation orders from local emergency management and law enforcement. Do not drive into flooded or closed roads.

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1 hour ago, Carvers Gap said:

We are finally starting to get a little better scope of the damage done by Helene.  It is vast, and widespread in portions of NE TN and SW VA.  The downslope today was less than expected, and that meant more rain into rivers which were well past flood stage.  The Euro and RGEM were pretty accurate that the rains would cross the spine of the Apps.  If you have Facebook, Scannerfood is the page to follow along with Tri-Cities Weather and Alert Crew.  Rescues in these communities are ongoing.  Their photos are pretty incredible.  Helene just didn't weaken as it traveled quickly overnight into the Southern Apps.   Really from Damascus, VA, down to Harmons Den(TN/NC line on I-40), the damage has been widespread in mountain communities.  

I am not trying to leave out the North Carolina crew.  They have a very informative thread in the SE forum.  This is a historic event for both sides of the Apps.  

Thanks for the links, Carver....lots great info there. 

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Looks like Damascus, Virginia, has had water rescues today as well.   

The dam at Waterville did not fail.  There was some confusion between reporting parties in conjunction with a crap ton of water coming down the Pigeon River gorge.  The river did wash out a good portion of I-40.  However, Waterville opened the gates, and that might be where the confusion lies.  It serves as a good reminder that there can be a lot of confusion when widespread weather events like this occur.  

Again, I doubt we have heard all of the stories which occurred today.  I have worked both Hurricane Andrew and Hugo relief.  Both of those hurricanes caused extensive damage.  When communications and transportation are knocked out simultaneously, sometimes it takes a while to find out which communities have been hit hardest.  Plus, a lot of stuff is happening at the same time.  

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3 minutes ago, Carvers Gap said:

Looks like Damascus, Virginia, has had water rescues today as well.   

The dam at Waterville did not fail.  There was some confusion between reporting parties, and a crap ton of water coming down the Pigeon River gorge.  It did wash out a good portion of I-40.  However, Waterville opened the gates, and that might be where the confusion lies. 

I wondered if maybe it overtopped for a while.

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1 minute ago, dwagner88 said:

I wondered if maybe it overtopped for a while.

I have no idea.  They basically said the dam is working correctly.  My guess is they opened the gates when they thought the dam was in trouble.  I can only imagine how that information would have been received downstream in the form of lots of water!  Interstate 40 is pretty beat up.  Gonna take a while to fix that.  

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Common denominator with the severe flooding in NE TN is the watershed. The Pigeon, the French Broad, and the Nolichucky all drain Western NC. Newport, for example, didn't even get very much rain. The 4 day rainfall total is around 4-5" per radar, but they are having record flooding because of the magnitude of the event that took place in western NC this week.

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Roan Mountain is a TN watershed and WhiteTop in Damascus is Virginia.  When Helene came through this morning it dropped a lot of rain right on the west slopes.  Those rivers were already slammed and there was very little downsloping this morning.  It was the straw that broke the camels back.  Those 4-6” of rain here (on very dry ground) caused a lot of problems on their own before the NC waters got here.  For example, we already had flooding in Kingsport on Wednesday and Thursday.  When Helen came through today it set up shop NE of I-26z.  With rivers already full in TN...the NC waters of the Watauga, Nolichucky, and French Broad were hitting greased skids.  The Holston watershed is out of its banks due to the North Fork and South Forks originating in Virginia.  These were loaded NC rivers hitting streams which already were flooding due to the PRE, and then they got hit again this morning with more rain.  So, really three events (Weds/Thurs TN PRE rains, NC torrential rains, and TS rains in TN today) along with high winds hampering water rescues...created the tempest today. 

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4 hours ago, Carvers Gap said:

Very surreal to see the images coming to of the communities in the foothills and mountains.  Helene will be remembered a long time.  For many, this story is still unfolding.   Thanks to @tnweathernutfor those photos.  @fountainguy97, how is your crew doing?

We are all good here. Well away from any water thankfully. I-26 has just confirmed to be collapsed at exit 40... and I think it'll be much more washed out than it is now. 
 

kind of shocked... can't believe this is happening here. We are a small community. This type of event is something that alters the course of our entire economy and way of life..

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3 minutes ago, fountainguy97 said:

We are all good here. Well away from any water thankfully. I-26 has just confirmed to be collapsed at exit 40... and I think it'll be much more washed out than it is now. 
 

kind of shocked... can't believe this is happening here. We are a small community. This type of event is something that alters the course of our entire economy and way of life..

Thanks for the update.  So I-26 is not just flooded but indeed collapsed?  Whoa.  That means 40 and 26 are down for a bit.  
 

Glad u are ok.  I know we have a couple of posters, including you, who were over their today.   We knew something had happened at a ballad hospital and just thought maybe it was rain and ankle deep water due to initial photos.  We were crazy shocked by the ensuing updates.  

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As a personal anecdote I know my family in Honaker doesn't have any power. Those outage maps you posted earlier would likely indicate it's just as bad down in Scott co. Hope he's alright.

16 minutes ago, Carvers Gap said:

Seeing reports of up to 100k people without power in NE TN and SW VA.  @1234snow, you all have power?

 

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