Oct 8, 2024 The News & Observer

Areas hardest hit by Helene flooding in NC are the least likely to have flood insurance

Georgina Sanchez, a research associate at NC State’s Center for Geospatial Analytics, faults FEMA’s existing flood maps that show where people are required to buy flood insurance. She said these maps often fail to account for intense rain events and sea level rise. They’re also not quickly updated. “FEMA’s designation of high-risk flood zones can mislead… 

Oct 7, 2024 Asheville Citizen-Times

There’s good news and bad news about yellow jackets in the wake of Tropical Storm Helene

Director of the NCSU Entomology Department Matt Bertone explained to the Citizen Times that yellow jackets are social insects that nest in the ground. If they don’t have a home, they’re going to be agitated and aimlessly flying around. “So, basically, if their nest is destroyed, then they have nowhere to go back to,” Bertone… 

Oct 7, 2024 The New York Times

The Problem With the Hurricane Category Rating

“We’re realizing more than ever how deadly inland flooding is,” said Carl Schreck, a hurricane researcher at North Carolina State University, who was in his home near Asheville, N.C., when Helene struck. 

Oct 7, 2024 ABC News

Voters in North Carolina and Georgia have bigger problems than politics. Helene changed everything

Criticism of aid efforts so soon after a natural disaster is “inappropriate,” especially when factoring in the daunting logistical problems in western North Carolina, said Gavin Smith, a North Carolina State University professor who specializes in disaster recovery. He said the perilous terrain from compromised roads and bridges and the widespread lack of power and… 

Oct 7, 2024 CBS News

Most U.S. homeowners hit by Hurricane Helene don’t have flood insurance

When buying or renting a place to live, most people’s main consideration in deciding whether or not to buy insurance for flooding is whether the property is in a high-risk zone. But that creates a “false sense of security,” according to Georgina Sanchez, a faculty fellow and research scholar at the Center for Geospatial Analytics… 

Oct 7, 2024 NBC News

A week after Helene, recovery efforts struggle to reach parts of southern Appalachia

Robert Handfield, a professor and supply chain expert at North Carolina State University, told NBC News that the hurricane is “unprecedented” for the state. “The storm has subsequently destroyed parts of I-40 and I-26, which are major thoroughfares for freight traffic, north, south, east, west, and you know, this is really impacting a large number… 

Oct 4, 2024 News & Observer

Helene battered NC in a once-in-a-lifetime weather event. How did this happen?

Warm water means more water vapor, Gary Lackmann, the head of N.C. State University’s Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences department, told The News & Observer. And water vapor is one of the key ingredients in severe weather. “Water vapor is weather fuel. It’s like you have this huge reservoir of anomalously large weather fuel and… 

Oct 4, 2024 BBC News

Woman saved as home floods – and brutal Helene destroys family history

Western North Carolina, located more than 300 miles (482km) from the ocean, is no stranger to storms, said Kathie Dello, a climate expert at North Carolina State University. 

Oct 4, 2024 NBC News

Yellow jackets swarm after North Carolina floods, prompting need for Benadryl and EpiPens

The rain and floodwater most likely destroyed the insects’ underground nests, in addition to toppling trees or stumps that held nests, said Chris Hayes, an extension associate in urban entomology at North Carolina State University. “Now they’re out of a home, just like many people are,” Hayes said. 

Oct 4, 2024 WFAE

When organizing aid, avoid ‘convergence’

Gavin Smith leads the graduate certificate program in Disaster Resilient Policy, Engineering and Design at NC State University. He says it’s a fine line of balancing local “nimbleness” and knowledge of the backroads with outside expertise and resources. “They don’t follow the same protocols and rules that can slow down the delivery of assets,” said Smith,… 

Oct 3, 2024 Charlotte Observer

Bananas, beer and coffee could be supply chain casualties from Helene and a port strike

“This is highly unusual,” said Robert Handfield, professor and supply chain expert at North Carolina State University. “Big storms hitting major interstate highways combined with port strikes is unprecedented.” 

Oct 3, 2024

Bananas, beer and coffee could be supply chain casualties from Helene and a port strike

Bananas, beer and coffee could be supply chain casualties from Helene and a port strike “This is highly unusual,” said Robert Handfield, professor and supply chain expert at North Carolina State University. “Big storms hitting major interstate highways combined with port strikes is unprecedented.” 

Oct 3, 2024 Bloomberg News

Helene Turned Asheville From Climate Science Hub Into a Disaster Case Study

The warm Gulf of Mexico water and atmospheric water vapor allowed Kathie Dello, North Carolina’s state climatologist, to realize as the storm formed, “This hurricane has the fingerprints of climate change on it,” she said. Though Dello isn’t in Asheville, it’s been a challenge for her to reconcile her professional and personal identities amidst a… 

Oct 3, 2024 CNN

People moved to Asheville to escape extreme weather. They forgot its tragic history.

“If you live in a place that can rain, you live in a place that can flood,” said Kathie Dello, North Carolina’s state climatologist. The past week has shown that reality starkly. But in a world reshaped by human-caused global warming, no place is truly safe and Helene had the “fingerprints of climate change” all… 

Oct 3, 2024 AP News

Helene and other storms dumped a whopping 40 trillion gallons of rain on the South

Several meteorologists said this was a combination of two, maybe three storm systems. Before Helene struck, rain had fallen heavily for days because a low pressure system had “cut off” from the jet stream — which moves weather systems along west to east — and stalled over the Southeast. That funneled plenty of warm water…