Hurricane Helene: Severe floods and winds threaten Southeast

AccuWeather

AccuWeather's Jon Porter warns of Hurricane Helene's severe winds, storm surge and catastrophic flooding in the southeastern U.S., urging residents to prepare.

Transcript

00:00For the latest on Hurricane Helene, let's go to Accuweather Chief Meteorologist John Porter.

00:05You know, John, you and I have actually sounded the alarm on this storm on September 13th

00:10that we would have to take a look or watch that area in the northwest Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.

00:15We saw the pattern. Then the following Monday, so we're talking last Monday,

00:20before the storm even formed, we said high risk of development.

00:25And then we were looking for a possible landfall as a hurricane,

00:28while other sources were going with a low risk for development between Louisiana and Florida.

00:36Fast forward, and let's take a look at major hurricane Helene.

00:42Yeah, that's right, Bernie. We do that so that we can provide the most advanced notice

00:46and the best information so all of our viewers can stay safer and make the best decisions for their families.

00:52That's why we're so passionate about doing that here at Accuweather.

00:56This is an intensifying hurricane, Bernie, as it nears just hours away from making landfall

01:01in the Big Bend region of Florida, as you described, with maximum sustained winds right now of 120 mph.

01:07It is going to provide multiple risks, damaging winds, a catastrophic storm surge,

01:13and also very concerning catastrophic flooding inland.

01:17You know, you're looking live right now at Fort Myers Beach, and because of the size,

01:22when you look at this, you know, I'm going to measure this out, John.

01:25So I'm just going to measure it. Fort Myers Beach is well to the east of where we have the center of circulation.

01:32I'm just going to measure it out. So it's about 170 miles, 180 miles.

01:36But see, it's the size. Size does matter when it comes to hurricanes.

01:41I want to show you, and let's compare it, contrast it, with Beryl, the strongest hurricane in the Atlantic season.

01:49It made landfalls of Category 1 along the upper Texas coast in early July.

01:52But note the difference. To me, it looks like Helene's doubled the size, John.

01:57Yeah, it does look that way, and that's what we've been talking about all along.

02:00It's always been, Helene, a broad storm.

02:03But now that it's interacting with this other storm in the Mississippi Valley,

02:07that is going to broaden out the impacts even more.

02:10So that's why we're talking about so much of the southeastern U.S. at risk for life-threatening impacts in the coming days.

02:17We've made an adjustment, John. It's very minor, but minor changes do matter

02:22when we're talking about where we're going to get that devastating landfall.

02:25So we're looking for landfall now in Appalachia Bay, just east of Apalachicola.

02:31And, in fact, we have a point for you, St. Mark's here, that's going to be the actual landfall location.

02:38Yes, and this matters probably a bit more than typical because of the fact that

02:44if it were to make landfall a little bit further to the east, that might reduce the impacts in Tallahassee.

02:50But the way it looks right now is that with a landfall near St. Mark's,

02:54that's going to be close enough to spread the core of the storm up into the Tallahassee area,

02:59which, of course, is a populated place in north Florida with wind gusts of 100 to 120 miles per hour.

03:06That's enough to take down all kinds of power lines and create significant structural damage,

03:11as well as a risk for 8 to 12 inches of rain.

03:14So the flash flooding risk and conditions are going to be going downhill fast here

03:18as we head through the next couple of hours.

03:20And an important point, these impacts are bad enough if they were happening during the day,

03:24but at night you can't see what's happening around you as well.

03:28You have less situational awareness.

03:30It is going to be a scary night.

03:32You're going to want to be in an interior part of your home away from windows in the Tallahassee area

03:37in a well-built structure.

03:39John, we have another problem.

03:41This is our rainfall the last 48 hours.

03:43I've already seen rain amounts here, by the way, in the North Carolina mountains over a foot.

03:48So preceding Hellene, we've already seen in that yellow and red 5, 6, 7, 8 inches of rain, John.

03:57And what we are forecasting here in the mountains of North Carolina

04:02cannot be underestimated when we use the word catastrophic.

04:06It cannot.

04:07We do not use that word often here at AccuWeather.

04:09This is a historic flooding disaster on the way from Bluefield, West Virginia,

04:16through the mountains of North Carolina, Boone, Asheville,

04:20all the way down to Jasper and Clayton across northeastern Georgia.

04:25And also parts of far eastern Tennessee like Gatlinburg in the terrain.

04:30Steep terrain, that runoff from the excessive rainfall is going to be amplified.

04:35We're talking about bridges and roads washed away.

04:38We're talking about the risk for catastrophic damage in these areas.

04:42And even if you've lived in these communities for decades,

04:45people may be surprised at just how much water is flowing and where it is occurring.

04:51So don't think just because if you live away from a river, a creek, or a stream

04:55and you haven't experienced flooding before that you're safe from this storm.

04:59Please move to higher ground and have a plan to get there if flash flood warnings are issued.

05:04This may be a very, very dangerous event.

05:08You know, words are important, but also visuals are important as well.

05:12You and I looked at this forecast, and this is located south, just south of Asheville, North Carolina.

05:19I want to show you the water levels here. In fact, we can't even keep it on the graph here.

05:23The record is 20.3. Record, John, level at the French Broad River.

05:29This may be a recent gauge, but still, we're looking at over 10 feet above record.

05:35That's what's being projected.

05:37And that puts it 10 feet above the record. Put that into context for a minute.

05:41That is why we are so concerned about the flash flooding that can occur in these communities

05:46and why water can rise so quickly, and you can go from a situation that's dangerous

05:51to one that's truly a life-threatening emergency in a matter of minutes.

05:56So, very dangerous.

05:58AccuWeather chief meteorologist Jonathan Porter.

06:00John, thanks for breaking it down with us here on AccuWeather Ahead.

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