"Our hearts are heavy": Read the NWS letter to the Carolinas and Georgia

By Axios | Created at 2024-09-29 18:36:48 | Updated at 2024-09-30 05:31:21 12 hours ago

Helene's brutal rout of western North and South Carolina left everybody here physically and emotionally drained, including the forecasters who spent the week trying to warn people of its imminent destruction.

What they're saying: "Our hearts are heavy this weekend, knowing that our neighbors, friends, and families are dealing with so much," the National Weather Service's Greenville-Spartanburg office posted in a letter "to the residents of the western Carolinas and Georgia" Saturday night, a rare show of emotion from data-driven forecasters.

"We live here, too."

Why it matters: NWS forecasts for Helene were remarkably accurate all week, but many people in this region — some 500-plus miles from where the storm made landfall in Florida — may have found them hard to believe.

Even the forecasters.
"As meteorologists, we always want to get the forecast right," NWS GSP wrote in its letter. "This is one we wanted to get wrong. This is the worst event in our office's history."

State of play: The storm has been blamed for at least 64 deaths in the Southeast, according to AP. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Sunday that 11 deaths had been confirmed in that state, but added, "we know there will be more" as rescuers try to reach areas cut off by road closures and cellphone outages.

More than 300 roads remained closed in western North Carolina as of Sunday morning, NC DOT said. More than 50 of those were on major roads, including Interstate 40. "We cannot say this enough: DO NOT TRAVEL IN OR TO WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA," DOT posted.
Nearly 1.5 million people remained without power in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina on Sunday, according to poweroutage.us.
"Biblical devastation," is one phrase local authorities described the storm's impacts on Saturday." "Buncombe County's own Hurricane Katrina," is another.

Flashback: Immediately after the National Hurricane Center said Tropical Storm Helene had formed in the northwest Caribbean Tuesday, the local office warned on X about "VERY heavy rainfall" from the storm.

On Wednesday, they began to use the word "catastrophic."
Then on Thursday, as heavy rains began ahead of the storm, the office issued an ominous special forecast update: "This will be one of the most significant weather events to happen in the western portions of the area in the modern era."
"We cannot stress the significance of this event enough," the NWS office said, specifically referring to the danger of landslides in addition to flooding.

The bottom line: The scientific accuracy of the models and forecasts was no match for the emotional reality of people being trapped on islands after roads washed away, of homes floating away, and of desperate pleas for help from inside and outside the region.

In Buncombe County, officials asked people who'd like wellness checks on loved ones to submit their names through a Register of Deeds page that reads, "Please complete this form for each missing person."
Such notes left even the steadiest of meteorologists shaken. "There are no words to express our sorrow at the loss of life and incredible impacts to property," NWS GSP wrote Sunday, later adding, "We will be here with you all every step of the way through the response efforts and recovery process."

Read the full letter

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