Major Hurricane Helene

[eyewall]

22 minutes ago, andyhb said:

WRAL reporting 35 dead in Buncombe Co. alone.

and 1000 missing.

[Normandy]

The story is still being written and the dust hasn’t settled, but I’m going to wager when all is said and done hurricane Helene will be the most severe/devestating hurricane strike in United States history.  The amount of people this storm has affected is unimaginable.  

if we were to go back in time when this was a naked swirl In the Carribbean and I were to tell you that this was the outcome:

938 mbs, 140 mph winds with the strongest wind passing over marshland, and Tallahassee unaffected.  The result:  1,000 dead (TBD) and 120 billion in damage.  I’d be laughed off the board.  What this storm did is wild man.

[dseagull]

On 9/29/2024 at 12:57 AM, Jebman said:

There are sure a lot of people crying for help. Helene cut off many a community from help.

You guys are perfectly free to wish for Category 5 hurricanes.

But me, I am DONE with this stuff. I'm 60. I am getting seriously challenged from obsessing over walking most of my life. Walking is fine, but to idolize this like I did for 50 years, there are consequences. Serious consequences. My mom yells at me for being too slow. I see now my Dad was right, all those years. I always learn, THE HARD WAY, every time, in everything.

My heart BREAKS with deep sorrow as so many people are cut off. Many will be, for MONTHS to come, well into 2025!!!!!!!!

There may even be ANOTHER storm. We are going to be lucky just to survive to early December. There are probably going to be so many severe hurricanes that the entire Gulf Coast will have to be evacuated. Buda, Texas can't take another bad windstorm, we'd lose everything.

 

Huh? Lucky to survive until December?  Entire Gulf Coast evacuation?

 

Drama...  

[dan11295]

18 minutes ago, Normandy said:

The story is still being written and the dust hasn’t settled, but I’m going to wager when all is said and done hurricane Helene will be the most severe/devestating hurricane strike in United States history.  The amount of people this storm has affected is unimaginable.  

if we were to go back in time when this was a naked swirl In the Carribbean and I were to tell you that this was the outcome:

938 mbs, 140 mph winds with the strongest wind passing over marshland, and Tallahassee unaffected.  The result:  1,000 dead and 120 billion in damage.  I’d be laughed off the board.  What this storm did is wild man.

I doubt the actual death toll is anywhere close to that high. I am sure the vast major of missing just haven't been able to contact loved ones due to lack of communication. This is a common occurrence following major storms. That said, I do expect the toll to rise some due to the difficulty associated with conducting searches over a broad area when accessibility is hampered by damaged infrastructure, plus having to locate and notify next of kin. 

[GaWx]

34 minutes ago, Normandy said:

The story is still being written and the dust hasn’t settled, but I’m going to wager when all is said and done hurricane Helene will be the most severe/devestating hurricane strike in United States history.  The amount of people this storm has affected is unimaginable.  

if we were to go back in time when this was a naked swirl In the Carribbean and I were to tell you that this was the outcome:

938 mbs, 140 mph winds with the strongest wind passing over marshland, and Tallahassee unaffected.  The result:  1,000 dead (TBD) and 120 billion in damage.  I’d be laughed off the board.  What this storm did is wild man.

Hopefully nowhere near 1,000 dead!! Of course one dead is too many and already far too many have been confirmed dead.

Deadliest include Galveston 1900 (~6,000-12,000), GA/SC 1893 (2,000++ mainly African Americans), and Katrina (1,400).

[Normandy]

19 minutes ago, GaWx said:

Hopefully nowhere near 1,000 dead!! Of course one dead is too many and already far too many have been confirmed dead.

Deadliest include Galveston 1900 (~6,000-12,000), GA/SC 1893 (2,000++ mainly African Americans), and Katrina (1,400).

This is the modern era though.  Losing more than 100 in a cane is rare.  Losing hundreds or even a thousand back then not so much.  Tech now saves lives and that same tech didn’t help this time which to me makes Helene more severe.  If Helene came in under the same conditions we had in the 1800s the death tolls would be in the ten of thousands

[RamblinRed]

This is currently the 3rd worst hurricane in terms of deaths to hit the US mainland in the last 50 years.

#1 is Katrina - 1,822

#2 Ian - 150

#3 Helene - 115 confirmed so far.

[gallopinggertie]

1 minute ago, RamblinRed said:

This is currently the 3rd worst hurricane in terms of deaths to hit the US mainland in the last 50 years.

#1 is Katrina - 1,822

#2 Ian - 150

#3 Helene - 115 confirmed so far.

Though if Sandy counts, that would be second place and Helene would be fourth. 

[WxWatcher007]

 

[bdgwx]

AccuWeather increased their damage and economic loss estimate to $145-160 billion.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/hurricane/helene-aftermath-dozens-dead-historic-flooding-millions-without-power-amid-catastrophic-destruction/1697545

[nycwinter]

59 minutes ago, gallopinggertie said:

Though if Sandy counts, that would be second place and Helene would be fourth. 

sandy did not kill as many in the us as helene will. helene death toll will rise by a lot more..

[nycwinter]

looks like helene will be the most expensive hurricane damage of all time...

[gallopinggertie]

4 minutes ago, nycwinter said:

sandy did not kill as many in the us as helene will. helene death toll will rise by a lot more..

That’s probably true, but I meant as the numbers stand at this moment. 

[nycwinter]

28 minutes ago, gallopinggertie said:

That’s probably true, but I meant as the numbers stand at this moment. 

a lot of sandy deaths are indirect deaths.. not directly caused by the storm itself..

[jburns]

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/ten-most-damaging-hurricanes-us-history/

[wthrmn654]

In these times sometimes a little laughter is best.  Here's a video that is sure to make anyone smile/ chuckle a little.  Hippo floating down a river flooded by Helene!

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/WjphK9BPAP3mof89/

[tunafish]

Posting a long list of resources in case it's helpful to anyone affected - either reading this thread or passing onto someone you know that's affected in WNC.

 

LIST OF IMMEDIATE RESOURCES FOR WATER, GAS, WIFI, FOOD
Here's resources as of 9/29:
WATER
• Lowe’s on Smoky Park has water 95 Smokey Park Hwy, Asheville, NC 28806 - 1 case, 1 gallon person
• Pisgah brewing is filling jugs - 2948 US-70, Black Mountain, NC 28711
• Greg Eagle was filling water 185 Clingman Ave, Asheville, NC 28801
• Harris Teeter giving away water (unsure if location specific)
• Sam's Club is giving out free water but other reports say they’re closed
◦ None as of Sat night, but were going to restock
• Publix on Hendersonville rd they said they may have a new shipment of water in today(9/29) 1830 Hendersonville Rd, Asheville, NC 28803
• Ingles on airport rd was handing out free water and ice yesterday (9/28) 352 Airport Rd, Arden, NC 28704
• Mission Hospital is providing free potable water 509 Biltmore Ave
• Dissolve Brewery
• Home Depot at fairview
• 382 South French Broad River - water available
• Jupiter Fire Department in Barnardsville - potable water
• Asheville mall 3 S Tunnel Rd, Asheville, NC 28805 - water and other supplies - out as of 3pm 9/29 — restocked as of 7pm 9/29
• Home Depot - Enka area- Sunday Sept 29
• Publix Weaverville - 165 Weaver Boulevard Open. Have purified water for sale if you bring your own container
• FREE bottled water Sunday 9/29 944 Merrimon Ave
• Fresh spring water 16 Runyon Drive, Leicester - 808-729-4683 Nica
• ⁠Spring at 231 N Carolina Terrace in Black Mountain
• Stream water at Double Crown in wavl , 100 gallons, byo container while supplies last
•
WIFI
• Citizen Vinyl 14 O'Henry Avenue 28801
• Moxy Hotel 61 Biltmore Ave, Asheville, NC 28801
• The Plug Shop -not sure which location or if all: 34 S Lexington Ave, 1356 Patton Ave
• Center for Craft 67 Broadway St, Asheville, NC 28801
• Patton Ave Pet Co - not sure which location: 109 Patton Ave,1388 Patton Ave- 109 has it
• Mosaic Cafe in Biltmore Park 1 Town Square Blvd Suite 150, Asheville, NC 28803 - password protected. Add the password here if you know
• Waynesville Lowe's 100 Liner Cove Rd, Waynesville, NC 28786
• North Asheville Library 1030 Merrimon Ave
• Downtown library 67 Haywood St, Asheville, NC 28801
• 90 Southside Ave 28801
• Register of Deeds 205 College St, Asheville, NC 28801
• West Asheville Fire Station 970 Haywood Rd, Asheville, NC 28806
• Kmart parking lots
• Lowes
• Asheville Science Museum 3 Patton Ave, Asheville, NC 28801
• Chamber of Commerce 36 Montford Ave, Asheville, NC 28801
• REI in Biltmore Park 31 Schenck Pkwy, Asheville, NC 28803 (
• Wicked Weed 91 Biltmore Ave, Asheville, NC 28801
• Pac Memorial Library 67 Haywood St, Asheville, NC 28801
• Buncombe County Health Services
• Ken Wilson Ford in Canton has Wifi.
• How to text via satelite

SERVICE
TTN Western NC: providers have enabled “disaster roaming.” Regardless of what service a person has, if they are in an area with any functional network, they will be able to make calls or send text messages. Go to settings, Then connections, under mobile network settings make sure roaming is enabled.(For iPhone users: Go to settings, Cellular, Cellular Data Options, and toggle on Data Roaming.)
• River Arts District
• Ingles in Reynolds
• 12 Bones SAVL - CELL SERVICE
• Full Verizon service in the 12 bones parking lot.
• DoubleTree off Haywood and Carter
• Louisian and Patton Firehouse
• cell phone service station across across from Asheville ymca 35 Woodfin
STARLINK STATIONS FOR PUBLIC USE
SPOT 1: DoubleTree Hilton Downtown 199 Haywood
SSID: SORTOR STARLINK
Pass: ncstrong
SPOT 2: Asheville Shelter Ferguson Building 340 Victoria Rd
SSID: HALL STARLINK
Pass: ncstrong
Starlink in Black Mountain on Lower Flat Creek Rd
Network ends in Mesh-Guest
Password: TRFlatcreek1!
 

FOOD
• Burial South Slope doing a free cookout today 9/29 40 Collier Ave
• Curate free paella 13 Biltmore Ave
• Bear’s BBQ in South Slope providing free food 135 Coxe Ave -12pm Monday first come first serve
• Itto was giving out free Ramen in West Asheville and the Odditorium was also giving out free food
• 12 Baskets on Haywood open for lunch, need paper plates and water, has charging station
• Landing Depot on Patton open - cash only
GAS (ASSUME CASH ONLY, MAY BE OUT OF GAS)
• City by McCormick Stadium is open intermittently with gas 45 McCormick Pl, Asheville, NC 28801
• Shell and Enmarket on Merrimon (reports as of am 9/29 they’re out of gas) 40 Merrimon Ave and 203 Merrimon Ave
• The hot spot, Ingle's, and exxon on Brevard Rd have been open for several days now. They may be out of gas. Ingles 863 Brevard Rd, Exxon 875 Brevard Rd, 28806
◦ More reports of Brevard Rd stations having gas
• The shell on Charlotte St is open with a very long line - Shell 45 Charlotte St, Asheville, NC 28801 - OUT OF GAS as of 9/29/24 @8:08pm
• There were a few gas stations on Long Shoals Road open as of last night. Ingles gas 301 Long Shoals Rd, Arden, NC 28704
• sheetz in fletcher does have gas and takes card. lot of people but i saw on FB they just got more gas delivered last night at like 5 am 5440 Asheville Hwy, Hendersonville, NC 28791
• Ingles on Sand Hill in Candler is open 1572 Sand Hill Rd, Candler, NC 28715
• Citgo and Marathon in fletcher had gas last night. I’m not sure how much (if any) they’d have left today but it’s worth a shot. Citgo was cash only. Not sure about marathon.
• Citgo 4091 Hendersonville Rd, Fletcher, NC 28732
• Marathon 95 Terminal Dr, Fletcher, NC 28732
• Gas stations in canton have fuel -confirmed 9/29 6 pm
• 16 Smith Mill Road
• GAS - Sheetz on Asheville Hwy near Naples Rd - CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED - as of 11am 9/29
• 2273 Hendersonville Road, Arden NC Convenience store open, accepting cash and cards Gas available - unleaded, mid, premium, and diesel
• 443 Airport Rd, Arden, NC 28704 - gas available as of 5:15pm 9/29. Credit and cash, no debit
• Fletcher sheets is having gas trucks come in very frequently. Had 2 show up during my wait to get gas. took two and a half hours, but finally got it.
GROCERIES
• French Broad River Coop
• Publix on Henderson is taking cash and card, restocking at all times 1830 Hendersonville Rd Asheville, NC 28803. They have wifi, food, water
• Trader Joe’s is open and taking credit/debit
• Harris Teeter on Merrimon is open and taking debit/credit
• Weaverville Publix is taking cash + card, has wine, candy, frozen food
• Fresh market 944 Merrimon Ave - free bottled water
• Ingles on Brevard Rd - CASH ONLY - FOOD/WATER
PROPANE
Ace on Haywood normally does refills from large canister outside
GENERAL SUPPLIES
3 S Tunnel Rd - Asheville Mall Barnes & Noble. Global Empowerment Mission Basecamp #2 on site 9/29 giving out water, food and hygiene supplies. @globalempowermentmission on instagram posted details .
SHELTERS
• AB Tech, FEMA 16 Fernihurst Dr, Asheville, NC 28801 (no pets allowed)
• AG Center (pets allowed) The shelter has no running water or power but does have a porta-trailer with bathrooms. They have roughly 300 cots available. 765 Boylston Hwy Fletcher, NC 28732
• Emergency medical center, including for those with medical equipment requiring power 10 Genevieve Circle
• Code Purple shelter for single men: Veteran’s Restoration Quarters, 1329 Tunnel Road, Asheville 28805 - 828-259-5333
• Code Purple shelter for single women and women with children: Transformation Village, 30 Olin Haven Way, Asheville 28806 - 828-259-5365
•
Search and Rescue: 2-1-1
Candler residents: Montmorenci United Methodist Church food box distribution today 12/29 at 4:00pm
In parking lot of laundry mat
1523 smokey park hwy
(Limit per car, only until gone)
 

 

HIGHWAYS
I-26 south past 40 is supposed to be clear all the way to SC. Reports of gas available past the mountain. Gas available in Gastonia. Other reports of no gas until Shelby. Report of multiple people making it to Charlotte
Reddit comments:
We left this morning on 26 towards shelby/gastonia. We had 1/4 tank of gas and just made it to Gastonia where we were able to fill up. Most stations before then were either not open or had pretty long lines. Unsure if the situation has changed since this morning.
I have friends who left by that route this afternoon. They had a nearly full tank and 100 miles into SC there were still very long lines at stations that had gas. I would tell him not to try it until he can fill his tank up in Asheville. Maybe wait another day or two. Would be terrible to get stranded.
As of ~3PM you can take 40W to 74S to Franklin where there is gas available. From there cell service is consistent across the GA line near Clayton.
PHARMACY
• Waynesville Walmart 135 Town Center Loop, Waynesville, NC 28786, accepting credit cards, have food and water available
• BBB Pharmacy should be open on Mon 9/30
WHERE TO GET INFO
• Firestorm Bookstore has a mutual aid meeting everyday at 2pm - helpful for resource sharing
Alerts and signups
• AVL Alert signup for SMS updates
• Buncombe County Code Red alert signup
• Duke Energy power outage alerts
• Weather alerts and advisories
• MANDATORY EVACUATION FOR SWANNANOA RIVER VALLEY
Updates
• City of Asheville Hurricane Helene information and updates
• Hendersonville flooding alerts
• WLOS live updates (Buncombe, Henderson, Transylvania, McDowell, Mitchell, Yancey)
• Asheville Fire dept. Twitter, Facebook
• City of Asheville Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
•
ATMS
Wells Fargo downtown
Hendersonville Road Publix
Skyla credit union at 148 Charlotte Street has a drive thru ATM - offline as of noon 9/29
Cashback
• Waynesville Lowe’s
• Quality Plus Arden
OTHER
• Jai Fai - cuts down trees but needs help: 476-422-1292
• Ace Hardware by Hopey on Fairview Rd. They are helping one person at a time. 800 Fairview Rd, Asheville, NC 28803

[NoCORH4L]

People saying it's cutoff, it's not cutoff.....a major interstate is operational out of Ashville 

[wthrmn654]

2 minutes ago, NoCORH4L said:

People saying it's cutoff, it's not cutoff.....a major interstate is operational out of Ashville 

Did you watch the video? I forgot to mention flooded river from Helene

[Hotair]

Interesting fact about Asheville NC. Asheville is over 2,000 feet above sea level, and ~300 miles away from the nearest coastline.  A reminder that storm flooding can be a huge problem for many areas of the country, not just coastline communities. 

[MJO812]

https://nypost.com/2024/09/30/us-news/death-toll-triples-in-asheville-area-after-hurricane-helene-guts-north-carolina/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1-KGLRQNorxpvYRTTYxfRaszdI0fDXENb7-jjE_CxUd1gfdabcdAVy8-0_aem_uTRfdxITdF9_KbPbxJSpww

[MANDA]

14 minutes ago, MJO812 said:

https://nypost.com/2024/09/30/us-news/death-toll-triples-in-asheville-area-after-hurricane-helene-guts-north-carolina/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1-KGLRQNorxpvYRTTYxfRaszdI0fDXENb7-jjE_CxUd1gfdabcdAVy8-0_aem_uTRfdxITdF9_KbPbxJSpww

This is just so sad.  Fear it will get worse as they get into the more rural areas of western NC.   I don't think anyone thought it would be this bad.  Flooding was expected for sure but I don't think anyone envisioned locally 30" of rainfall over 3 days.  Anomalous blocking patterns and land falling tropical systems usually are not good outcomes but this is really bad.

[andyhb]

5 hours ago, Normandy said:

This is the modern era though.  Losing more than 100 in a cane is rare.  Losing hundreds or even a thousand back then not so much.  Tech now saves lives and that same tech didn’t help this time which to me makes Helene more severe.  If Helene came in under the same conditions we had in the 1800s the death tolls would be in the ten of thousands

Perhaps the best benchmark for specifically W NC here is comparing to the Great Flood of 1916, which was the previous flood of record for the area and was caused by back-to-back hurricanes and their inland rainfall. The death toll from that was approximately 80 via most sources I can find. Chatter I've seen from local news outlets echoing first responders indicate this may significantly exceed that.

I don't see 1000 deaths, but I could easily see 200-300 overall, which would make it the deadliest tropical cyclone in the United States aside from Katrina in decades. It already is deadlier in SC than Hugo and is the deadliest in NC likely since the mid-1800s. There are not enough superlatives to describe this event.

[nycwinter]

has the us military been mobilized to go into these states to help ? i feel a lot more could be done..

[cheese007]

18 minutes ago, andyhb said:

I don't see 1000 deaths, but I could easily see 200-300 overall, which would make it the deadliest tropical cyclone in the United States aside from Katrina in decades. It already is deadlier in SC than Hugo and is the deadliest in NC likely since the mid-1800s. There are not enough superlatives to describe this event.

And then there's the non-zero possibility of a second storm taking a similar path not too long from now...

[Prospero]

Here is a clip from 7:00 pm in Gulfport, Florida which was still over 5 hours and a few feet to high tide. This was the beginning for us.

 

[andyhb]

1 hour ago, nycwinter said:

has the us military been mobilized to go into these states to help ? i feel a lot more could be done..

Yes, but you're probably reading too much nonsense on Twitter.

[franklin NCwx]

7 hours ago, andyhb said:

Yes, but you're probably reading too much nonsense on Twitter.

I have not seen any.

 

Thankfully cell service came back online last night!

[RamblinRed]

This analysis from 2023 suggests that the Federal Rainfall Analysis is significantly underestimating how often 1 in a 100 yr events are likely to occur. This is due to the data being updated only infrequently and not keeping up with changes due to climate change.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/26/us/extreme-flood-risk-first-street-federal-data-climate/index.html

"The report found half the American population lives in a county where a 1-in-100-year flood is at least twice as likely now as past years, coming once every 50 years, on average, rather than 100.

First Street found parts of Western North Carolina hit by Helene could get a 1-in-100 year flood every 11 to 25 years. Stronger storms could impact all areas of the country. In much of the Northeast, the Ohio River Basin, Northwestern California, the Texas Gulf Coast and the Mountain West, the rainfall depths for a 1-in-100-year event could happen at least every 5 to 10 years."

[Hotair]

Last image of a wife and husband in Asheville, NC sheltering from the flood on a roof. The roof would soon collapse, causing them and their 6 year old grandchild to drown.Their daughter and mother of the child took the photograph. When the roof collapsed, she got wedged between debris and was able to be rescued an hour later.