Hurricane-ravaged city reaches crucial milestone on road to recovery — here's what's happening
Hurricane Helene caused devastating damage in several states, especially the Carolinas, in September 2024. Several months later, Asheville, North Carolina — one of the storm's most severely impacted cities — is reopening its public transportation system, reported WYFF4.
As communities like Asheville struggle to recover, experts warn that storms like Helene are becoming more intense and destructive, a trend closely linked to the climate crisis.
After months of storm recovery, Asheville is finally restoring the last stops of its public bus service to neighborhoods struck by Hurricane Helene. These final stops run along the Swannanoa River Road, which was fully repaired in April. While bus routes are now resuming in Asheville, some bus shelters won't be built until later, according to WYFF4.
Hurricane Helene was the deadliest mainland hurricane in the U.S. since Hurricane Katrina. Although just a single storm, it's part of a growing pattern of devastating extreme weather events.
Hurricanes have always existed, but scientists believe that the changing climate caused by human activities, like burning dirty fuels and deforestation, are making these storms stronger and more destructive. These acts cause temperatures to rise in the atmosphere and oceans. Hurricanes draw in warm water as fuel, so the warmer the water or moisture in the air, the more fuel they have to grow larger and cause more destruction.
"Basically, global warming is turning the atmosphere into a bigger sponge so it can soak up more moisture. When the conditions are right for rainfall, it's like squeezing that sponge," Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist at the University of Michigan, told AP News. "You get more moisture coming out faster."
Supercharged storms put lives at risk. Hurricane Helene was responsible for at least 250 deaths alone, according to the National Hurricane Center. Stronger storms can also cause damage that takes communities months to years to rebuild, as evidenced by Asheville. Homes and businesses can be wiped away, and insurance premiums often skyrocket as a result.
Extreme weather events will happen, but reducing the contributors that make them more intense can help. For example, transitioning to clean energy and protecting natural carbon sinks like forests can slow down the planet's overheating.
Technology is also helping people prepare for major storms. One engineering team developed software that can predict natural disasters and give locals suggestions to protect themselves. Scientists are also training AI to measure the potential impact of storms on geographic regions.
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an hour ago
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Virginia vulnerable to Trump's proposed cuts in emergency management and disaster relief
The Route 725 bridge in Taylors Valley over Laurel Creek damaged by Hurricane Helene. Virginia has received more than $46 million in federal money to aid in the recovery from the storm. (Courtesy of Virginia Department of Transportation). CHESTERFIELD, Va.—Virginia was one of several states in the Appalachian region slammed by Hurricane Helene's rainfall last September. The storm caused the New River to crest at 31 feet a day after it battered the region. In one area of Damascus, homes were lifted up and washed away. A separate storm besieged southwest Virginia in February, knocking out power to 203,000 homes and closing 270 roads. Last month, a 1.5-mile stretch of U.S. Route 58, a major thoroughfare in the road-constrained mountainous region, reopened after getting washed out. Now, at the beginning of a 2025 hurricane season forecast to be 'above average,' Virginia is in preparation mode for the season that typically picks up steam throughout summer and does its damage in the fall, like Helene did last year. Scientists have continuously pointed to human-created emissions leading to atmospheric warming and rising oceans that contribute to hurricanes' more intense rainfall. Jeff Orrock, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service's Wakefield office, said research indicates there have been more major hurricanes in the last 13 years than there had been in the half-century before that. 'What we consider normal is a higher number of storms than what we considered normal, say, 20 years ago,' Orrock said in an interview. Against this backdrop of worsening disasters, the Trump administration is suggesting that states should shoulder significantly more of the burden of response and recovery. Layoffs and buyouts have cut a big swath through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and President Donald Trump has said he might want to eliminate FEMAentirely. His proposed budget for the fiscal year starting in October would cut $646 million from the agency. In January, Trump ordered a newly established council to 'assess' FEMA. Later, the administration fired the acting administrator of FEMA a day after he told a congressional subcommittee that he didn't think eliminating the agency was 'in the best interest of the American people.' His replacement reportedly said during a recent staff meeting that he didn't know there was a hurricane season. Virginia's Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, is one of two sitting governors, alongside Texas' Greg Abbott, on Trump's council conducting the FEMA review. At a June 1 media event marking the start of hurricane season, Youngkin told Inside Climate News that 'we'll be doing the transformation design work' over a 180-day span. That, he said, will make 'FEMA more effective and more efficient and more responsive to state needs.' 'Meanwhile, FEMA's ready to go to support anybody during hurricane season that needs it,' said Youngkin, a Trump ally. On the other side of the political aisle, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said he's worried about the implications for his state if federal involvement in disaster response and recovery shrivels. When the losses communities suffer are too big to handle on their own, states need federal help, he said. 'Think about western North Carolina that got devastated,' he said. 'I believe the costs were in the roughly $60 to $80 billion [range]. That would bankrupt the state if you had to do it all on your own. … All you're doing is passing the buck.' He added: 'Frankly, for states like ours that can get hit both by hurricanes with our shoreline as well as this increasing number of storms that come up, for example into Southwest Virginia, we would bear a disproportionate burden. It wouldn't be fair, it wouldn't be right.' What disaster recovery might look like in a post-FEMA world isn't clear. Among the Republican proposals is to instead send federal block grants to states based in part on historical disaster frequency. But FEMA does a lot that states would find challenging or impossible to replicate, from flood insurance to training and multi-agency coordination. Youngkin acknowledged at his media event that such coordination happens on a 'deep' level with local, state and federal agencies. The changes Warner would like to see from FEMA include faster resource deployment and more equitable assistance to help climate-vulnerable states like Virginia. Warner pointed to the agency's individual assistance program, which provides disaster relief funding to people whose property has been damaged in a storm. But in the case of some Southwest Virginia communities, the program has provided no assistance. In a region where nearly 18 percent of people live below the federal poverty level, he said, 'you can have a hundred houses destroyed in Hurley and Buchanan County that wouldn't have the same property value as 20 houses in Fairfax County.' Because of the lower property values in those southwestern communities, the damage costs didn't meet FEMA thresholds, which Warner said should be adjusted. 'That's unfair,' Warner said. Neither the White House nor FEMA responded to requests for comment about concerns over the federal government's role in disaster response. FEMA isn't the only agency important to disaster response that's sustaining cuts. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has faced major workforce reductions in recent months, and Trump has proposed cutting $1.5 billion from its budget starting in October, about a quarter of its current spending. Within NOAA, the National Weather Service is down about 600 employees—the agency is looking to hire again after warnings that the cuts could endanger lives. Many of its 122 local forecasting offices are operating with reduced personnel. When Inside Climate News asked the five offices in Virginia for their current staffing levels, each referred questions to a spokesperson for the National Weather Service, who did not answer the question. Instead, the agency sent a statement that it 'continues to conduct short-term Temporary Duty assignments (TDYs), and is in the process of conducting a series of Reassignment Opportunity Notices (RONs) to fill roles at NWS field locations with the greatest operational need. 'Additionally, a targeted number of permanent, mission-critical field positions will soon be advertised under an exception to the Department-wide hiring freeze to further stabilize frontline operations,' the statement read. Orrock said his Wakefield office was able to maintain its forecasters and technicians to monitor storms and communicate with other offices, including sending out weather warnings. It's important to watch for a 'swinging door' weather pattern, he said. Winds from across the mid-Atlantic shut that figurative door, pushing storms into the Chesapeake Bay. But with 'a nice southerly flow' the 'door swings open,' causing a weather pattern to stay for weeks or months, Orrock said. 'If you get a hurricane anywhere from the Bahamas and East, and that door's open, she's coming up here,' Orrock said. 'It's just a matter of if it's going to re-curve or is it going to come on in.' A key to mitigating flood damage, environmental advocates say, is ensuring flood protections through planning and nature-based solutions to absorb water accumulations and storm surges. Virginia provides funds to its Community Flood Preparedness Fund for that planning. But Youngkin in December 2023 withdrew the state from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the main source of those funds via payments made by power plant owners. Of the $830 million Virginia received, state law directed 45 percent toward the flood fund, 50 percent for energy efficiency efforts and the rest for administrative costs. Lawmakers have clashed over how to sustain continued funding for flood mitigation without RGGI revenues while also providing disaster relief. Youngkin in December 2023 put $100 million in general funds toward the flood fund and this year added $50 million in non-general funds, said Peter Finocchio, press secretary, who did not clarify if the second funding stream came from the final RGGI revenue that hadn't yet been divvied up. Another $100 million in general funds went to a Resilient Virginia Revolving Loan Fund, a separate flood mitigation program. For disaster relief, lawmakers this year ultimately put $50 million from the general fund toward what became the Virginia Disaster Assistance Fund for Helene and February storm victims, with half for relief and half for making communities more resilient. Trump, meanwhile, made cuts to FEMA's Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grant program, which helped communities bolster their ability to deal with flooding. The Environmental Defense Fund, in an email to Inside Climate News, said Trump's cuts result in a loss of about $69 million for 39 projects that 'may weaken Virginia's safety, preparedness and economy.' The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also canceled a $20 million grant intended to provide flood mitigation for Aberdeen Gardens, a historically Black neighborhood in the Hampton Roads region. The funding came through the Inflation Reduction Act's Community Change Grants Program. Several groups are challenging Trump's cancellation of IRA grants that were appropriated through Congress. Norfolk-based Wetlands Watch, the beneficiary of this grant alongside the city of Hampton, said in a news release that the two 'are exploring all options to appeal the surprise termination.' 'This is not just about one grant,' said Mary-Carson Stiff, executive director of Wetlands Watch. 'It's about the principle that public commitments made to protect vulnerable communities cannot be violated according to political caprice. We intend to fight—and we are calling on our supporters and the public to stand with us.' This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
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Sullivan County revisits hazard mitigation plan
SULLIVAN COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Sullivan County officials, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) and community members met on Wednesday to discuss the county's updated five-year mitigation plan. Every county in Tennessee has a hazard mitigation plan to prepare for natural disasters. This is the first revision to the plan since Hurricane Helene. Michael Lamphere, TEMA's East Regional Planner, said it is essential to anticipate all the possibilities of the future. 'Hazard mitigation is basically how I looked at what to look at,' he said. 'It is think of the worst case scenario, the worst disaster that you could think of is going to happen to your community or your jurisdiction. How would you prevent that from actually causing damage and saving lives and property? What would you do to mitigate that today?' Lamphere said a hazard mitigation plan helps create less financial strain on the community. 'Basically, for every dollar that is spent on mitigation, it saves between 6 and $8 on future damage,' Lamphere said. 'So if something happened today, if you actually spent that money ahead of time to prepare for that, it would save a lot of money in the future if a disaster were to hit because you helped prepare it, mitigate that disaster before it actually happened.' Sullivan County Emergency Management Agency Director Jim Bean said that reviewing the plan at least every five years ensures that the most critical projects remain a priority in disaster recovery efforts. 'The biggest reason to update, at least every five years, is, number one, not to go stale with your project,' Bean said. 'When I first came into the job, a little over ten years ago, we were repeating projects that hadn't been completed in the past five years. So we wanted to make sure, you know, this wasn't something that fell to the wayside. And, so we would create a list of projects, and we worked toward them in those five years.' The hazard mitigation plan only protects against natural disasters, not human-caused issues. 'Floods, landslides,' Bean said. 'Earthquakes, strong winds, tornadoes, all those, all the other natural disasters, and other than manmade, and nothing, specifically public health related like we went through two years ago.' Once the plan is submitted, FEMA has 60 days to review and accept it. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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2 days ago
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Nolichucky Blooms complete projects at Helene impacted homes
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) — The David Crockett High School Future Farmers of America's (FFA) Nolichucky Blooms first on-site project took place on Wednesday. Through Nolichucky Blooms, students and volunteers help with planting and mulching needs around homes impacted by Hurricane Helene. 'We're getting together all these plants, we've got donations, we've got sponsors, we have a lot of sponsors, and the community has come together,' Journey Higgins, with Nolichucky Blooms, said. 'We're taking these plants that have been donated and planting them at houses that were affected by the flood.' On Wednesday, the group started at the home of Gary Cloyd, Steven Cloyd's brother. 'This is one of our things we wanted to focus on was helping the emotional aspect,' Higgins said. 'These people have been through so much, but most importantly, we want to see their spirits uplifted. It's more also just about a spiritual and emotional connection with these people as well.' For more information on Nolichucky Blooms, or to stay updated on donation needs and more, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
