NC Emergency Management’s Post

Transcript

Hey, everybody. Good afternoon. I am Meteorologist Katie Webster with North Carolina Emergency Management coming to you this afternoon with the latest on Hurricane Helene. The tropical storm became a hurricane earlier today and is still on its track to move northward once it hits the Florida Panhandle into our state. And what this is setting up to be is a significant and rare flash flooding event for Western North Carolina especially. So what we're looking at is we've already got rainfall ongoing across the border counties near Tennessee. And that will continue to increase throughout the day. That rainfall will continue to fall through this evening and contribute to some really life threatening flash floodings even as early as tonight. That will build through tomorrow as we see more rainfall from the outer rain bands of Helene as Helene moves northward. And we are going to continue to see the threat for catastrophic and life threatening flash flooding, especially across the mid and southern mountains of North Carolina, really where you see this area highlighted. In the pink and purple here on the screen. And so for these areas, what we are expecting is anywhere from 9 to 15 inches of rain, potentially up to 20 inches of rain. This is going to flood areas that don't typically flood. This may create flash flood emergencies. This will make for dangerous and nearly impossible travel. So please be aware of these watches and warnings as they continue to unfold later today through Friday. Now this rain is expected to end throughout the day Friday. But that does not mean that the flood threat immediately goes away. We'll be seeing the flash flooding and the flooding potential continue at least through Friday, with river flooding continuing at least into Saturday. And we're talking about rivers such as the Pigeon River, the French Broad River, the Broad River, and even the Saluda River as well, any river that has headwaters near the Blue Ridge, Those are the areas that we're going to see potentially flood along those river main ways. And so as this rainfall unfolds, what can you do? Well, please remain weather aware of the situation. As we go into flooding events, information can change very quickly. Flash floods happen in a flash. That's why they're called flash floods. So please remain weather aware as we go through this event. Also, if you get a flash flood emergency or a flash flood warning on your phone that that drives you to take action, please do that. The National Weather Service and local emergency managers make these calls and make these decisions in order to keep you and your family safe. So please heed those warnings. We do have out of flash flood watch as well as a tropical storm watch. The Western North Carolina, we will see winds increase as well, and they will be especially high in those outer rain bands. We could see gusts 30 to 45 mph, maybe even up to 65 mph. And so that compounded with the heavy rain is really going to set the stage for downed trees and power lines. So All in all, a significant event is setting up for North Carolina, especially across the mountains and the Blue Ridge Escarpment. It's time to pay attention. It's time to remain weather aware and to remain aware as Helene moves through this area and. Creates such an impactful event for these areas. Please visit readyandc.gov if you do not have your emergency kit. If you do, go ahead and take that out. Get it ready. Get it ready for what you may need for this storm. But please remain weather aware. Visit us on social media as well as radiancy.gov and remain aware through trusted sources of information as well. Thank you.