Hurricane Helene Devastates North Carolina

Global Heating Causes Stronger Storms

Hurricane Helene has left an apocalyptic path in its wake and North Carolina has been one of the hardest hit regions. The Appalachian regions are already some of the most vulnerable regions to landslides and flooding in the U.S., and the impacts of global heating compound these dangers. Prior to Helene, much of the southeast was in moderate to severe drought conditions. Then repeated storms over the past weeks have soaked the ground in some regions. Helene hit at a time when the ground was already saturated and couldn’t absorb any more. Spruce Pine, NC (where the world’s biggest quartz mine resides), was hammered with over two feet of water from Tuesday to Saturday. Mountain regions that had never flooded before have been destroyed.

But even major cities experienced completely new, unnatural, disasters. For the first time in history, Atlanta got flash flood warnings under record-breaking rains of 11 inches in just 48-hours, and in some neighborhoods, residents paddled their streets in kayaks!

The Aftermath of Helene

As of Wednesday, over 183 are reported dead nationwide. The region impacted is massive. In western North Carolina, an area the size of two Connecticuts, spread over 24 counties, there are still hundreds unaccounted for. The flood waters washed away mountain sides, roads, bridges, homes, and cars. Entire towns are cut off from land access, and people are going on five days with little to no water, food, power, gas, or internet and cell reception.

While evacuation orders were issued, it was too little too late to save people. Workers on their way home from shifts were caught in flood waters. Residents were killed in their homes by falling trees. Rapidly rising waters washed away homes and people sheltering on their rooftops.

Power and water infrastructure has been wiped out. As of Monday, more than two million people were still without power. At one point, nearly 40% of South Carolina was in the dark!

Residents downstream of the Nolichucky Dam in Tennessee and Lake Lure Dam in NC, were sent immediate evacuation orders due to the possible imminent failure of these dams. Neither failed under the waters of Helene, but there’s a tremendous amount of debris in the water that is dangerous in dams.

Appalachia’s Katrina

In the midst of apocalypse, people come through for each other. Heroic rescues were conducted, like at a hospital in Tennessee which was evacuated by helicopter.

With no immediate help from state and local authorities, residents walked miles, going door to door to check on each other and share and deliver necessities. A crew of volunteers dubbed the “Chainsaw Gang” have formed to help clear roads of trees. It was the regular folks of the southeast that showed up to rescue each other. Private helicopter pilots have flown in supplies from other regions in NC: “think hurricane Katrina, except in the mountains, and with helicopters, not boats.” People are distributing toilet paper and sorting canned goods.

But the problem is that there is not enough. Residents have stood in lines outside grocery stores for hours for water. While some towns have gotten airdrops of water, others are left without. It’s taken all weekend for the federal government to increase support from the army and National Guard. Air drops only significantly increased on Monday. People on the ground are left imploring others: “don’t forget about us.” They’re asking others to call and pressure “the state and the federal government to get that aid here as soon as possible because we just really need food and water distributions happening right now.”

No Relief After the Storm

Recovering from the storm’s damage is still distant for residents who are still without power, water, and food, and who have not heard from loved ones to know if they are safe. For millions across the southeast, people are picking up shovels and starting to clear out the mud, trees, and debris from the storm.

Cleaning up and repairing the damage caused will take time, capital, and an incredible amount of work. It’s expected to be the costliest storm in U.S. history. Damage estimates could reach more than $160 billion. Rebuilding the regional infrastructure will take months and years. How many businesses and hospitals will decide to rebuild, or will they determine it’s too costly and not profitable enough?

In North Carolina, after Hurricane Florence in 2018, insurers tried to increase their home insurance rates by 42 percent (and even up to 99 percent on the coast)! After residents pushed back, the state tabled the attempt. But insurance companies will probably try to do the same again.

Crises Without Solutions

Storms like Hurricane Helene will be increasingly common as we live with the impacts of global heating. The response by the people in power is utterly inadequate to this crisis, both in the immediate aftermath, and in the long term.

Evacuation orders are one thing to give, but another thing entirely to make possible for poor, rural communities in the mountains. You need money to evacuate, and a job that lets you. In a world of worsening storms, with the majority of people barely scraping by, how many will be left to face the storms because they are simply too poor and don’t have the money and savings to leave?

In a nation with the largest military in the world, how did it take three days to airdrop supplies into Asheville? How many countless people are left with no help in sight, without access to water? Will the rebuilding efforts get the funding and resources that they need?

The politicians from both parties (and on both campaign trails) send their condolences and promise help, without ever acknowledging that they are the ones that have caused this storm. The policies of both parties has been to expand oil and gas drilling. Despite Biden’s campaign promises, he has been true to his Democratic Party backers and helped to expand fossil fuel infrastructure.

Meanwhile, these same politicians and the courts that they staff are a mechanism for the fossil fuel companies to impose their economic interests on the majority. Even as most people recognize their guilt in causing this crisis, laws penalizing protests against fossil fuel companies and their practices are increasing.

We have the responsibility today to help people impacted by Hurricane Helene. But help does not only mean donating goods. It also means organizing to stop a fossil fuel-based economy. That is the task that must be taken up by all of us.

Ways to help:

HIT US UP ON SOCIAL MEDIA