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Here’s how Hurricane Helene brought “biblical devastation” to western North Carolina in a near “worst-case scenario”
Hurricane Helene has proved to be disastrous for Appalachia, as massive amounts of precipitation from the storm caused rampant flooding that has devastated several towns and killed dozens of people. On Monday, the North Carolina State Climate Office provided a picture of how the “monster storm” was nearly a “worst-case scenario for western North Carolina.”
“Torrential rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Helene capped off three days of extreme, unrelenting precipitation, which left catastrophic flooding and unimaginable damage in our Mountains and southern Foothills,” a post from the office says. “… the full extent of this event will take years to document – not to mention, to recover from.”
Here’s how the climatologists said it happened.
North Carolina was saturated with rain before Helene hit
North Carolina State Climate Office
As Helene became a Category 1 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico — more than 500 miles and 30 hours away from where it would eventually make landfall in Florida — western North Carolina was already seeing rain. The climate office says that Helene’s outskirts were feeding tropical moisture to slow-moving storms that had formed along a stalled cold front.
By midnight on Thursday — roughly an hour after Helene’s landfall 10 miles north of Steinhatchee, Florida — Asheville Airport in North Carolina had already seen more than 4 inches of rain. That downpour continued before Helene’s outerbands even moved in. By Thursday night, Yancey County, which sits just south of Erwin, Tennessee, where floodwaters became so bad that people were trapped on the roof of a hospital, had seen more than 9 inches of rain.
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Water was already beginning to inundate cities, “all while the heaviest rain from Helene was just beginning to fall,” the climate office said. The more than 300 miles of tropical storm-force winds Helene produced only amplified the situation, pushing more moisture up mountains.
“The storm’s impacts were especially long-lasting because of its massive size. It developed in a high-humidity environment over the warm Gulf of Mexico, which let it grow and strengthen unimpeded,” the office said. “…From the start of the precursor frontal showers on Wednesday evening to the heart of Helene moving through on Friday morning, it was one of the most incredible and impactful weather events our state has ever seen.”
Record rain brings reports of “biblical devastation”
From Wednesday to Friday, the office said that there were more than 8 inches of rain across the western North Carolina mountains, with some areas seeing a foot or more. The highest rainfall total was in Busick, with a three-day total of 31.33 inches — more than 2.5 feet.
At least a dozen weather stations recorded their wettest three-day periods on record, the office said. Asheville Regional Airport lost communications on Friday morning after Helene’s landfall, but had already reported just under 14 inches of rain. That amount, the office said, was “nearly three months’ worth of precipitation … in less than three days.”
North Carolina State Climate Office
All of that rain caused rivers to flood, landslides and mudslides, leading to rescues across several counties.
In Buncombe County, home to Asheville, Emergency Services Assistant Director Ryan Cole told the Citizen-Times that “catastrophic devastation” didn’t accurately describe the impact the deluge had.
“It would go a little bit further and say we have biblical devastation through the county,” Cole said. “We’ve had biblical flooding here and it has been extremely significant.”
The newspaper quoted county manager Avril Pinder as saying, “this is looking to be Buncombe County’s own Hurricane Katrina.”
Rare mountain tornado as Helene’s winds move in
North Carolina State Climate Office
“Helene brought the full suite of hurricane impacts to North Carolina,” the climate office said, “and in full force just hours after its landfall at Category-4 strength.”
The winds from Helene were felt across western North Carolina, with the Charlotte Airport recording the strongest wind gusts it’s seen since a thunderstorm microburst in August 2019. The winds, which surpassed hurricane speeds in some places, contributed to widespread power outages. Millions were left without power across several states because of Helene, and as of Tuesday morning, hundreds of thousands remain without electricity in North Carolina alone.
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On Wednesday evening, as the state battled existing storms ahead of Helene, a rare mountain tornado formed in Watauga County, the first it had seen since 1998. The day after Helene made landfall, at least six tornadoes were confirmed, including an EF3 in Rocky Mount that destroyed several buildings.
A historic and deadly storm
CBS News has confirmed that at least 131 people across several states were killed by Helene. Buncombe County alone has reported at least 40 deaths, including a 7-year-old who was swept away by floodwaters with his grandparents.
While hundreds of people were able to be rescued, there have been even more requests for welfare checks. And given the severity of the damage, the climate office said that suggests “the death toll is likely to climb as hard-hit areas are finally accessed in the coming days.”
“Sadly, our state’s long-running benchmark for deaths during a tropical event – approximately 80 during the mountain region’s July 1916 flood – could be in jeopardy from this storm that has already broken plenty of other records,” the climate office said, adding that the 1916 event was the area’s flood of record for more than a century — a title that “now belongs to Helene instead.”
Several rivers surpassed their highest-ever crests by several feet, including the Swannanoa River, which saw “the worst flood along the river since North Carolina became a state,” the office said.
Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images
As unprecedented as Helene’s impact on the region was, there is a chance it won’t be the last.
“The rapid intensification of Helene over the Gulf, the amount of moisture available in its surrounding environment, and its manifestation as locally heavy – and in some cases, historically unheard of – rainfall amounts are all known side effects of a warmer atmosphere,” the office said.
Last year was already the warmest humans had ever recorded and 2024 has seen countless heat records. The continued use of fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases that are trapping heat within the atmosphere, increasing average temperatures that fuel extreme weather events like Helene.
It’s unclear when an event like Helene would downpour on Appalachia again, but the climate office is near-certain about one thing: “We won’t see another Helene in the Atlantic.”
Officials often retire hurricane names when they are particularly devastating, and while such action has yet to be announced, the climatologists suggest it may only be a matter of time.
Getty Images/iStockphoto
When it comes to pursuing financial products and services, the timing needs to be just right. This is especially true for select investment types and savings accounts. If you had opened a savings account at the height of the pandemic in 2020 or 2021, for example, the interest rate you would have earned would have been negligible and any returns would have been barely noticeable. If you opened one in recent years, though, you may have made exponentially more on your deposit, simply due to the rate climate being higher from inflation and interest rate hikes.
But what if you wanted to act now, in October 2024? While the first rate cut in more than four years was issued on September 18 – and additional ones look likely for November and December – there’s a compelling argument to be made for opening a long-term certificate of deposit (CD) account right now. Below, we’ll detail three reasons why it makes sense to do so.
See how much more you could be earning on your money with a top CD here now.
Why you should open a long-term CD this October
Not sure if a CD, particularly a long-term one, is the right move for your money now? Here are three reasons why you should strongly consider this type of account for October:
Interest rates are still high
Sure, interest rates are on the decline across both borrowing and savings products. But that decline is gradual and the immediate results to vehicles like CDs and high-yield savings accounts haven’t been so pronounced to make them worthless.
Right now, for example, you can lock in a rate of 4.75% on an 18-month CD, 4.50% on a 2-year CD and 4.20% on a 3-year CD. While those rates were a bit higher earlier this year and in 2023, they haven’t fallen so dramatically that you still can’t potentially earn hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars with the right deposit. Just don’t wait for them to fall much further.
Get started with a long-term CD online today.
Rates are locked
CD rates are locked. That’s a huge benefit in a rate climate that’s on the decline. By opening a 2-year CD at that 4.50% rate, for example, you’ll be able to precisely determine your exact profit once the account has matured.
And you won’t have to worry about any market changes or Fed rate cuts that would otherwise affect what you could earn if you had a variable rate. With a long-term CD, then, you’ll get long-term protection against this volatility, as select accounts can have terms of five years or even longer, allowing you to earn today’s high rates for years to come.
It’s a safe way to earn more money
The market and rate climate are both changing right now. And no one knows where they’re exactly heading or how that will affect your money. Lower inflation and lower interest rates will have a different effect on your money and retirement savings than the higher inflation and higher rates we’ve seen in recent years.
It makes sense, then, to hedge against this volatility by putting some (but not all) of your money in a safe account that’s immune from these changes. A long-term CD account can be that safe haven. And when it matures, you’ll have a much better sense of where things are heading, economy-wise, than you likely do this October.
The bottom line
A declining rate climate has multiple benefits but some distinct disadvantages, too, like lower returns on savings vehicles. So don’t wait for rates to decline any further. Get started with a long-term CD now. These accounts still have relatively high rates that you can lock in for multiple years, providing a safe way to earn more money while the larger rate climate shakes out. Just be sure to only deposit an amount that you feel comfortable leaving in the account for the full CD term or you could risk having to pay an early withdrawal penalty to regain access to your funds.
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Weezer is back, and they’re taking fans on a nostalgic journey. Recently, the band played a packed show at Madison Square Garden, performing every song from their debut album in order as part of their “Voyage to the Blue Planet” tour.
“It feels pretty incredible,” said drummer Patrick Wilson, who is sharing the stage with lead singer Rivers Cuomo. They are the two remaining original members of the band.
Earlier this year, Cuomo and Wilson revisited Electric Lady Studios in New York, where they recorded “The Blue Album” 30 years ago. Electric Lady Studios has seen its share of legendary artists, from Stevie Wonder to The Rolling Stones to Led Zeppelin.
In the early 1990s, Weezer didn’t fit the mold of the popular rock bands of the time.
“Rock bands were getting more and more outrageous with tattoos and piercings,” Cuomo said. “We came out completely clean-cut, four guys standing in a line, singing songs in major keys, about girls or whatever. It didn’t quite make sense how that was the next step for rock and roll.”
The band’s name itself, “Weezer,” was a pop culture callback to Cuomo’s childhood nickname, given to him by his dad.
“I think he liked that show, “Little Rascals,” and there was a character, Weezer, on there,” Cuomo explained. “Recently, I asked him, why did you name me after him? And he said, ‘Because he was the cool one.'”
But Weezer’s rise to fame wasn’t immediate. The band was playing small clubs in Los Angeles, learning to read the room and adjust their set based on audience reactions.
“Every week, we had a show in the clubs in L.A.,” Cuomo said. “We’re not in a vacuum up there. We’re noticing, oh, that got a reaction or that totally didn’t. You can’t help but gravitate toward what the room is reacting to.”
Weezer’s breakout came with the release of the music video for “Buddy Holly,” directed by Spike Jonze and set in the world of the TV show “Happy Days.” The video, along with others from the debut album, helped catapult the band into the mainstream.
“Coming out of grunge, which was pretty heavy and a little dark, it maybe was kind of refreshing for people at the time,” Wilson said.
Their debut album, released in May 1994, became an alt-rock classic. At the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards, Weezer won four moonmen for the “Buddy Holly” video. Rolling Stone later ranked “The Blue Album” among the 500 greatest albums of all time, calling it “one of the most enduring artifacts of the alt-rock age.”
Reflecting on those early days, Cuomo remembered the uncertainty he felt after finishing the album.
“I think I had two stories in my head,” said Cuomo. “One was we’re gonna sell a hundred copies and that’s it. I’m gonna have to go back and work at Domino’s or whatever. But the other one was like, ‘Man, this album feels so powerful, so moving and special to me. I think we’re gonna find a big audience, and this is gonna be an important record.'”
Thirty years later, “The Blue Album” still resonates with fans, as evident from the packed crowds at Weezer’s tour stops.
“If it’s feeling vital and important to the world now, like, we’re happy to come along,” said Cuomo.
