What we’re covering here
• At least 115 people have died across six states and officials fear the death toll can rise. Many more remain missing, perhaps unable to leave their location or unable to contact family where communications infrastructure is in shreds.
• Hundreds of roads remain closed, especially in the Carolinas, hampering the delivery of badly-needed supplies. And more than 2 million customers remain without power, according to poweroutage.us.
• There’s a medium chance a new storm develops in the western Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico later this week. It’s too early to know where it’ll go from there, so anyone near the Gulf will need to monitor the forecast.
• President Joe Biden will visit some of the affected communities later this week, “as soon as it will not disrupt emergency response operations,” the White House said. Presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have expressed condolences to those affected by Hurricane Helene and are receiving recovery briefings.
• For ways to help those left in Helene’s aftermath, visit CNN Impact Your World. Bookmark CNN’s lite site for fast connectivity.
Some of Helene’s deadliest, most catastrophic flooding unfolded in western North Carolina. Here’s what meteorologists at the National Weather Service office in Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina, warned last week leading up to Friday’s devastation.
Monday
- 3 a.m. ET: Helene hasn’t formed but the weather service warns the main impacts to the western Carolinas once the system reaches the area will be “heavy rainfall and some gusty winds.”
- 2 p.m. ET: The weather service discusses a possible scenario in which “potentially significant rainfall” could occur.
Tuesday
- 3 a.m. ET: The weather service first mentions the possibility of a heavy rain event on Wednesday, which could set up the area for worse impacts from Helene later in the week. They also note “at least isolated flash flooding (is) becoming likely,” from Helene – which still hasn’t formed – and rainfall totals could approach a foot in the mountains.
- What’s happening: Tropical Storm Helene forms in the northwestern Caribbean Sea in the late morning.
- 6 p.m. ET: “This has the potential to be an extremely rare event,” the weather service warns.
Wednesday
- 3 a.m. ET: Over the next 48 hours, a “major rainfall event for the southern Appalachians and vicinity with potential for widespread flash flooding” will occur, according to the weather service. “Locally severe and life-threatening flooding (is) likely” as up to 15 inches of rain fall into Friday morning, the weather service warns.
- What’s happening: Helene rapidly intensifies into a hurricane in the southern Gulf of Mexico in the late morning.
- 2 p.m. ET: “The system will produce very rare and significant (amounts) of rainfall” with isolated areas in the mountains and nearby areas seeing “catastrophic and damaging flooding,” the weather service said.
- What’s happening: Heavy rain falls ahead of Helene from early Wednesday evening through Wednesday night.
- 6 p.m. ET: The weather service issues a dire warning: “This has the potential to be an extremely rare event with catastrophic flash flooding that hasn’t been seen in the modern era.”
Thursday
- What’s happening: The weather service continues to warn of a historic event throughout the day as Helene rapidly intensifies in the Gulf.
- 5 p.m. ET: The weather service first mentions flooding rainfall may prompt flash flood emergencies in the coming hours. Concern is also noted reservoirs are running high and “there could be breaching problems” if enough water isn’t released before Helene’s worst rain arrives.
- What’s happening: Heavy rain is drenching the Southeast as Helene makes landfall as a Category 4 hurricane before midnight in Florida.
Friday
- What’s happening: The first flash flood emergency is issued for western North Carolina at 5:30 a.m. ET. Life-threatening flooding unfolds throughout the day. More than 30 flash flood emergencies are issued by the end of the event across five states.
Asheville art studio owner whose business was destroyed in Helene says she’s resilient as a creative
Pattiy Torno, owner of Curve Studios and Garden in the River Arts District in Asheville, spoke with CNN’s Pamela Brown about losing her business and her home. She was set to celebrate the 35th anniversary of her studio next month.
“Curve Studios as an entity will not exist anymore … Mother nature said it’s time to move on, so I’m gonna listen,” Torno said.
“Nobody could have prepared for this,” she added, saying when they heard the predictions, they knew it would be bad.
When asked if she thought enough was being done by the government, Torno said the floodwater just cleared Monday morning, so help wasn’t an option until now.
“As a creative, we are resilient. It is part of our DNA … we figure sh*t out.”
Torno said she doesn’t know what the future holds but she is in good shape financially.
“I have my health, I have my life, my kitties and I got out safe. I’ll figure it out.”
Biden tells Helene survivors, “we will be with you as long as it takes”
President Joe Biden vowed the federal government will assist survivors of Hurricane Helene “for as long as it takes” while acknowledging he might need the help of Congress.
“We’ll be there, as I said before and I mean, as long as it takes to finish this job,” Biden said in remarks from the White House Monday morning.
Asked whether he would ask Congress for supplemental funding to help with recovery efforts, Biden responded, “That is something I may have to request but no decisions made yet.”
Biden added he hoped to visit impacted areas by Wednesday or Thursday but only if those areas can handle the logistics that come with a presidential visit as they continue to recover from the storm.
Watching for more tropical trouble in the Caribbean and Gulf
Another storm could develop this week in the western Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico, which isn’t what anyone in the US wants to hear in the wake of Helene.
But unlike Helene, this potential storm could have more obstacles in its path to development.
A large and disorganized area of low pressure with showers and storms over the western Caribbean has been given a medium chance of developing into a tropical system in the next seven days, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Environmental conditions could become conducive for gradual development, and a tropical depression could form later this week or this weekend while the system is over the southern Gulf of Mexico or northwestern Caribbean Sea, according to the NHC. Helene first organized over the northwestern Caribbean about a week ago.
Weather models are hinting at a possible tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico early next week, though it is too early to be certain. Until an area of low pressure forms, any forecast modeling on the potential storm will likely continue to vary widely with its ultimate strength and track.
Given this, anyone near the Gulf is advised to monitor the forecast.
Biden calls Helene “history-making” storm, says he hopes to visit impacted areas later this week
President Joe Biden on Monday called Helene “a history-making storm” that is having reverberations across the entire Southeast.
The president says he will travel to impacted areas “as soon as possible,” later adding he hoped the visit would come later this week.
“My first responsibility is to get all the help needed to those impacted areas,” he said.
Florida urban search teams to end operations by Monday, officials say
Urban search and rescue teams will finish all their operations in the state of Florida by the end of the day Monday, state emergency officials said at a Monday news conference.
Florida’s state emergency response teams have so far completed nearly 1,000 missions and are working on nearly 2,000 more, said Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said multiple state agencies are also focusing on deploying recovery assistance to hard-hit areas in North Carolina and Tennessee, which have been devastated by flooding.
“I think that is where they need to make sure everybody is brought to safety,” DeSantis said Monday. “My fear is just having those areas cut off, it’s a very difficult mission. We’re in the mission, we’re in the fight. We’re gonna be bringing people back to safety.”
According to the governor, the mission is known as “Operation Blue Ridge.”
At least 115 dead in the Southeast following Helene, officials say
