By: Lead Forecaster Daniel Crawley
We continue a multi-part series looking back at Hurricane Helene, its evolution and how it turned into the largest natural disaster in the history of Western North Carolina replacing major weather events such as the floods of 1916 and 1940.
The final chapter of this series focuses on the events of September 27, 2024…a day that will be remembered for generations to come. Our region dealt with two days of heavy rainfall with considerable flooding having already occurred. There was a brief reduction in water levels across our region but once the remnants of Hurricane Helene moved through Western North Carolina, what was a significant weather event turned historic.
By the time it was all over, a total of 108 North Carolina residents perished due to the three-day weather event and communities were changed forever.
Timeline
Helene made landfall as a 140 mph Cat 4 Hurricane in the Big Bend Region of Florida around 11:20 pm on September 26, moving NNE at between 25-30 mph. The intensity of the storm plus the fast movement resulted in the combination of torrential rainfall and damaging winds, especially along and west of US 321.
Foothills Weather Network was monitoring the events through the entire overnight period leading in to September 27. At about 3:48 a.m. that morning Helene, still a Cat 1 hurricane was located near Dublin Georgia. Rainfall rates increased again across our nine-county area to rates in excess of 1 inch per hour
We were posting near-hourly position estimates based off radar. Around 5 a.m., the center of the Helene leftovers were not far from the Augusta Georgia area with winds of 75 mph. The rainfall rates here in Western North Carolina were near 1.5 – 2 inches per hour at that point, plus were began seeing numerous wind gusts in the 35-40 mph range across the Blue Ridge and 25-30 mph in the Western Piedmont.
At just prior to 7 a.m., the leftovers of Helene was northwest of the Augusta Georgia area about to cross into the Upstate of South Carolina. The first of numerous Flash Flood Emergencies were issued by the National Weather Service in Greer, first focusing on the Catawba River Basin and then into the Broad River Basin. Winds were increasing into the 40-45 mph gust range for nearly the entire coverage area and power outages were increasing rapidly.
Our last transmission done by a forecast member came at just after 8 a.m. with the remnant center of now Tropical Storm Helene near Clemson South Carolina, Wind gusts were reaching near 50 mph by that point away from the mountains and for our residents in Polk, Rutherford, McDowell and Burke Counties, wind gusts were exceeding 60 mph at times.
The combination of flood, wind and landslides were resulting in a massive loss of electrical services and the beginning of compromising of the telecommunication infrastructure across Western North Carolina. Our live reporting at FWN came to an end at that point but thanks to a third-party provider, we could still transmit warnings as they were issued.
The worst of the rain and wind impacts lasted until roughly midday across the nine counties. Conditions improved in the afternoon, starting first in areas of Catawba and Lincoln Counties but rain and wind continued along the Blue Ridge until late afternoon when finally some rays of sunshine appeared.
We learned (slowly, word-of-mouth) by afternoon about the catastrophic flooding issues that impacted places like Chimney Rock and Lake Lure, Marion, Old Fort and Morganton. It wasn’t that the first visuals came out Saturday morning that the true horror set in.
Rainfall, Wind Statistics…
Flood levels peaked across the Foothills early evening on the 27th and slowly began to fall that night and into the 28th. The graphics below are National Weather Service rainfall and wind statistics from the three-day weather event.
Storm gallery
We conclude a look back at Helene with videos and a photo gallery from various sections of the coverage. These images were compiled from various online sources and our weather team.
(Morganton NC)
(Morganton NC)
(Morganton NC)
(Rutherford Co)
