PrintHurricane Helene: September 2024
Hurricane Helene arose as a depression in the Caribbean. The storm rapidly intensified over the unusually warm Gulf of Mexico as it moved towards the Big Bend region of Florida where it made landfall on the evening of September 26, 2024, as a category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 140 mph. The hurricane was also very large and had a high storm surge along a long area of the western Florida coastline from about 10 feet in the Big Bend to about 7 feet in the Tampa Bay region, causing extensive flooding along the whole coast.
Since the storm was moving so rapidly it maintained its strength inland and it was still a hurricane when it hit southern Georgia. Wind damage was severe well inland in both states.
Helene was still a tropical storm when it moved across northern Georgia near Atlanta, South Carolina near Greenville, and North Carolina near Asheville. In these regions, some damage was caused by wind, but most of it was done by water. A stalled frontal boundary had dumped up to 9 inches of rain over the mountains of western North Carolina before the storm arrived. The ground was therefore already saturated when the storm arrived, and this led to extensive tree damage from tropical-storm-force winds. Rainfall totals of up to 32 inches in the mountainous terrain caused many landslides and mudslides. The water rushed down the hillslopes causing rivers to rise rapidly, and overflow their banks leading to extensive flash flooding. River levels were at record levels, for example, the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers in Asheville were up to 5 feet above historic levels, breaking a record set in 1916. The results were absolutely catastrophic in Asheville and small mountain towns all over western South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Extensive flash flooding swept away single-family homes and mobile homes, and flooded businesses.
Video: Examining Hurricane Helene's shocking impact in North Carolina (7:51)
Scott Withers, Scripps News Reporter: Joining us now, is Stephen Pruitt. He left Ashville and is now at the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport to give us a view from the ground of what is unfolding. Thank you so much for giving us some time. As we're looking on the screen, you captured some really, really telling, an awful footage of from your time on the ground there in North Carolina. What were you doing there? How bad was it? How do you get out?
Stephen Pruitt: I am from Ashville. So I live in the area and East Nashville specifically want to know area, which is the one in a river valley, got hit about the hardest to community center there a few months ago. But I don't know. The media production company here and downside photographer and videographer drone pilots. I was out documenting of course in the media agency. Yeah, I mean, definitely far the worst thing we've ever had. And we were saying it was the worst one in 100 years. But they're saying the one that was in 1916, that pretty much but actually under water was 10 feet less than this one. So, pretty bad.
Female News Reporter: So what was your expectation when you landed in North Carolina for this assignment, and compare that to just what you saw and what we're looking at here video.
Stephen Pruitt: Well, I'm actually based out of Ashville, so I didn't fly in, I'm from there. But my studio is actually in the River Arts district, which is the low point in Ashville, that was pretty much gone. But I think we were expecting something again for the 2004. I believe it was Hurricane Ivan. We were expecting somewhere around 20 feet of water, wind up getting 31 feet of water going front. And it's usually, you know, usually can handle about 5 feet before flooding. So I mean, it's once in 1000 year flood.
Scott Withers: Every time I see one of these tragedies unfold, my first thought is: People have lost everything, their homes, their business. Where do you begin? What is step one in terms of what's next and where you go from here?
Stephen Pruitt: Well, I mean, most of us hopefully have insurance. You know, still trying to navigate that and whether, you know, whatever all that stuff pays. Fema is supposed to be arriving in the area here. I believe they're supposed to be arriving in here today or they got here late yesterday. People should know that if their homeowners or thier cars are damaged, they can apply for federal aid through FEMA online. I know most people don't have service, we didn't have it. I mean, it was no pocket service anywhere. We're completely cut off from the world, you know, we're already in like the mountain, so like all the interstates and major roads were completely cut off coming in. If anyone needs to get out, I managed to get out through !20 South out the Greenville Airport. I flew out of Greenville, South Carolina. I've got family up in Montana right now that I am going to go stay with for a little bit. That's my plan.
Female News Reporter: We spoke with a professor earlier today, who I think said something really profound. She said that she always tries to imagine, you know, the devastation that others feel during natural disasters. People who deal with hurricanes in Florida and tornadoes. And she said that you will never truly know what that is like until you are standing in knee-deep water in your own home, and you're trying to grab all the important things that you can hold, and you have your neighbors who are doing the same thing. Is that something that you felt as well? When you realize you had to get out, what was that like for you to leave a place that you've called home for so many years?
Stephen Pruitt: Well, I mean, I got out my house and thankfully is ok. Where I'm at is a U shape, but basically on top of a hill with a river wrapped entirely around me. So I was lucky that my house was spared my studio, maybe not so much, but if something's going to happen it is better to be my house make it not, that. But so many of my friends lost that. And the cove adjacent to me, I had reports they're pulling bodies out of and they're still missing 1000 plus, people just in Bucking County. So, you know, I'm kind of, my nerves are completely shot. But I'm feeling pretty thankful that I didn't lose my house and my family's ok, because we're 6 generations from western North Carolina. Got a lot of family that are still completely stranded, that, you know, hopefully FEMA is able to get to. Because we're cut out by rivers and all bridges are washed out.
Scott Withers: And as someone who's from there and like you said, has deep family roots there, a business there, I mean your life is in Ashville, North Carolina. Has it sunk in yet, these images that we're watching and potentially everything and sadly, people who are gone as well. Are you able to process this or you just still kind of running on fumes, man?
Stephen Pruitt: Kind of running on fumes. I wouldn't say that I've really processed it yet. I don't know that anyone really has. I'm not really something, you know, it's like downloading new information, you never really seen it. You don't really know how to process it. I feel like it takes while for that to actually affect you for better or worse.
Female News Reporter: Do you have any idea when you will return?
Stephen Pruitt: I'm going to go back, I am supposed to be flying back on Saturday. I've got friends coming down from all over the country that are hopefully helping right now. The main thing people need is gas for generators and drinking water. You know, I had a reverse osmosis machine that I was able to filter rainwater. It does on the generator. But then I'm getting low on gas. You know, the gas situation is kind of tough. That's that's what people need the most out there.
Scott Withers: And for folks who may not know Ashville through just kind of hearing the name on the news, and seeing these images. What would you like the rest of the country to know about your hometown?
Stephen Pruitt: We're you know, our whole economy based on tourism here. You know, we are one of the biggest destinations in the country, constantly winning best outdoor city from every publication that ever existed. And you know, for better or worse people are going to, you know, want to help. But today, you know, a lot of us are on offer tourism, and so come back visit. Spend your money here. Whenever things are back open, you know, help out any way you can. You know, it's just like, you know, a few years ago, shoot down in Saint John, and in the Virgin Islands quite a bit. You know, whenever all that got decimated by the hurricane, you know, people, you know, we're wary to go back for a while. Like a we need people to come back here and visit, you know our entire economy runs off of that. So, you know, obviously give it some time, but you know, maybe if you've never been check it out. You know, it's one of the best places in the world. That's why I stayed there.
Female News Reporter: You know, everyone who I know who has visited there has said that exact thing that's why they continue to go back. They love the people they love just everything about it on. So I truly hope that that recovery process, we know it's a long road out, but get started and you guys can rebuild because I know it is truly beautiful place. Stephen, thank you so much for joining us and for your amazing work, too that we see here on the screen just really capturing the devastation in that area. For our viewers, weappreciate your time and best of luck to you.
Stephen Pruitt: Thank you, I appreciate it.
The most dire result of Helene was loss of life. The storm was the most deadly since Hurricane Katrina with over 280 dead as of this writing. Over 100 of these deaths occurred in western North Carolina, where many more are still missing at the time of writing. The storm was also the costliest since Katrina with estimates of over $50 billion with billions of dollars of uninsured flood damages.
Video: Surviving after Helene: 'Just living is a challenge' (4:27)
Travis Long, News Journalist: I've covered you know, probably 20 name storms somewhere around in that area. And this is probably by far in a lot of ways the worst that I've experienced Just in the scope of the damage, and how difficult it is and remote some of these communities are. Communication has largely been cut off especially during the first couple of days. Cell service is virally non-existent, and the only way that I've been able to even send some of my pictures out and communicate with my colleagues is through satellite Starlink. This hurricane is different because it was mostly a flooding event. And the power of the water is incredible, it's different than wind. It has the ability to uproot trees, and wash away buildings, buckle roads, pick up tractor trailers, and move them hundreds of feet. Some of the things that I've seen the water do is just unfathonable.
Travis Long: The first couple of days, especially, I think it was just everyone was just in shock. The devastation, the best way to explain it, is in pockets. And those pockets tend to be where there's a valley, and and a river, and a community that's along the river. And then within that those pockets, it's difficult to get to and people just don't have the basic, basic things that they need. Just living is a challenge. Just so many things that you take for granted. I mean even just at night it's striking how dark it was out here with no power. As a journalist I don't want to become part of the problem. So I try to be as self-sufficient as I can, and I try to be as respectful as I can in covering these communities because I don't want to do any more harm that's already been done. Every single thing becomes a challenge when you don't have cell signal, you know you need to be driving, but also looking at maps. When there's no gas, you have to pull over and put gas in your tank from gas that you brought with. There are no restaurants, so you have to eat snacks or make your own food. It's just being out here is a challenge. I see people a lot of times at the best moments in their life, or the worst moments in their life and not a whole lot in between. In this situation it's it is the worst moment for people, but it's something that needs attention and if I can help shed a light on people that need help I think that's what I have the skills and the tools to do.
Travis Long: There was one moment in particular that was something I had never seen or experienced. There was a a tractor trailer that apparently had been on a road in Black Mountain and had been washed up over a railroad track, and then into into some woods. And the residents there had opened the back of the tractor trailer and it was loaded with bottled water. And so we had people from churche,s and just anyone who was passing by and saw what was going on, climbing into the back of the tractor trailer and removing all the water and distributing it to anyone who needed it. And it was just an incredible sight to see. People should be careful about the information that they share and make sure that it's accurate, because it's not helping anyone to share inacurate information about what's going on in here. Things are bad enough without compounding that. So I I encourage people to, you know, look at the work that the Charlotte Observer and the New York Observer are doing. We're here on the ground we're trying to be as accurate as possible and give out good information so that people can get the help that they need and find ways to help people.
The storm left 4 million people without power, but more damaging was the flood damage, along the Florida coast from the storm surge and in the mountainous regions of the Carolinas and Tennessee from flash flooding. Here the water washed out roads causing severe disruptions to transportation and severed water lines including in larger towns like Asheville. Communication was made even more difficult by the loss of cell phone service as towers were knocked down by wind.
As of this writing, recovery over the wide area impacted by Helene was underway with major roles from FEMA and state agencies.
