This weekend, I checked on a friend to make sure he was safe. He told me that he had evacuated to his in-law’s house in Atlanta, GA but that his hometown of Asheville, “was apocalyptic.” This isn’t the only time Hurricane Helene’s devastation has been described this way. For nearly 48 hours, Helene traveled from Florida to Tennessee, leaving behind turmoil and destruction. Here’s what you need to know as far as what happened and what’s is planned.
On Thursday, September 26, Hurricane Helene started on the Florida Gulf Coast and headed toward Big Bend before touching land in Perry. In that area, people saw a 15-foot surge and up to to 6 feet in Tampa Bay. In Steinhatchee, locals saw entire homes float away.
Early Friday morning, the storm turned into a Category 2 and traveled through Georgia to the Carolinas. After two days of unrelated heavy rain, the ground in areas of Georgia was too saturated to absorb any more water, making the heavy storm rains turn into floods. Atlanta saw the highest 48-hour rainfall totals it had ever seen. Several areas surrounding Athens have been damaged due to strong winds, fallen trees, downed power lines, and flooding. The storm then headed across the Blue Ridge Mountains.
South Carolina saw 12-14 inches of rainfall and strong winds, causing falling trees and downed power lines. Two firefighters passed away in their firetruck due to a falling tree. Western North Carolina suffered catastrophic loss, with Asheville and Chimney Rock reduced to “sludge and floating debris.” In Tennessee, the storm waters washed away Kinser Bridge on Highway 107, which normally sits 60 feet above the Nolichucky River. An entire side of I-40 has been washed away. In the Virginias, there are many without power due to storm related fallen trees and buildings.
The storm was over by Saturday. There are two million people without power — exact numbers can be found here. Florida was able to get most of their roads back except for a 16-mile stretch on State Route 789. Some areas in Sarasota and Manatee counties are inaccessible due to extreme damage. Georgia is temporarily suspending mail delivery while recovery happens. Roads are closed due to fallen power lines and trees and there are communication issues and power outages across the state, as well as in the Virginias, Carolinas, and some of Tennessee.
In Western North Carolina, the Asheville and Chimney Rock areas have completely lost their low-lying roads and bridges. All people are told to not travel in or out from the western side and all roads are considered closed and nonemergency travel is prohibited. Interstate 40 is impassable in several locations and I-26 is closed at the Tennessee line. In Tennessee, I-40 and I-26 are closed, as well as smaller connecting roads surrounding Gatlinburg, Sevierville, and Newport. There are 27 closed roadway sections, 14 closed bridges, and 5 bridges have completely washed away.
On Monday morning, Biden approved emergency declarations for Florida, Georgia, NC, SC, and Alabama, meaning these states can now receive federal funding for debris removal and other storm assistance. There are 50k people from 31 states, DC, and Canada responding to assist. However, several of these cities and towns have requested people to not come to their city if possible. Without water, food, or shelter, there is not a way for a lot of these locations to accommodate visitors and provide for the locals. Without communication towers, there isn’t a way for there to be an organized clean up or to be sure that everyone has even been saved. The death toll continues to rise as people are being found or are suffering from the loss of power and damage.
Currently, the main priority is life. Yes, the roadways being fixed will speed up recovery, but there isn’t enough people to be able to focus on the roadways before ensuring people have been found. Unfortunately, this means that right now, there isn’t a timeline in place for when the interstates, highways, bridges, and smaller roadways can be replaced or repaired.
We hope there will be more definitive news in the future and we at Interstate Signways are keeping everyone struggling from the turmoil of Hurricane Helene in our thoughts.
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