Helene Triggers Flooding in 8 States, Millions Without Power

9/27/24 – Hurricane Helene roared ashore last night and by noon today had triggered flooding in at least eight states, according to the National Weather Service.

Helene Floods Eight States

The states include: Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky. See orange, red and purple areas below.

Helene Flooding — *From NWS Water Prediction Center. Gage data from noon 9/26/24 to noon 9/27/24. Purple = Major Flooding, Red = Moderate, Brown = Minor. Yellow = Action.*

Many of those same areas could still see additional rainfall. Through 7 AM CDT, NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center gives 15 states a chance for additional excessive rainfall. See below.

Power Outages and Deaths

Meanwhile, more than 3 million people in affected areas remain without power, according to PowerOutages.US.

The Hill reports that at least 35 people died as a result of the Category 4 storm.

At this hour, NBC puts the death toll at 42 and says more than 4 million people are without power.

USA Today reported within the hour that 4.5 million people have no electricity.

The death toll will likely increase in coming days as rescuers race to free more people trapped in flooded areas.

It could take weeks to restore all the power given the breadth of the devastation. An Associated Press report said that in Georgia, “…an electrical utility group warned of ‘catastrophic’ damage to the state’s utility infrastructure, with more than 100 high voltage transmission lines damaged.”

AP also reported that in South Carolina, “more than 40% of homes and businesses were without power.” They said crews needed to cut their way through debris just to determine what was still standing in some places.

Helene Now a Tropical Depression

At 4 PM, the National Hurricane Center has downgraded Helene to a tropical depression with sustained winds of 35 MPH and forward motion of 17 MPH.

Summary of Weather Stats

For a list of reported rainfall totals to date and peak wind gusts associated with Helene, see this list from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction as of 11 AM EDT 9/27/24. Busick, North Carolina recorded the highest rainfall total to date: 29.58 inches.

All in all, the forecasters predicted Helene’s impacts pretty accurately.

Helene is the latest reminder of why we need to continue fighting for flood mitigation. It could have happened here.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 9/27/24

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