Very glad you all are doing okay. I’ve been watching the Weather Channel’s coverage and the havoc, destruction, and ongoing flooding dangers in various locations are horrifying. Last news report I saw said there were “at least” 25 deaths.
Boss has a house on the water in Clearwater. It was flooded.
Good for you. Drove around Tallahassee this morning putting eyes on friend’s houses (the ones who left town). Disappointingly few people were treating power out lights as 4-way stops (required by Florida law). I will admit to being an asshole after almost getting smacked. Got ahead of her and at the next light blocked both lanes to come to a full stop, then let EVERYBODY else go before I went. Fuck her.
Googled and foung there was a different Hurricane Helene in late Sept. Of 1958!
They’ll be retiring the name now. Heard that on the Weather Channel.
Tropical storms and hurricanes in the North Atlantic and Eastern Pacific (i.e., those which may affect the U.S.) are named by the U.S. National Hurricane Center, in collaboration with the World Meteorological Organization. The NHC has six sets of annual lists (one set for the Atlantic, and one set for the Pacific), which they rotate through; each list has 21 names (skipping the letters Q, U, X, Y, and Z), and alternates between male and female names.
Some specifics around those names have changed over time: only female names were used until ~1979, and in more recent years, they began mixing in non-English names, in recognition that the storms often affect nations in the Caribbean and Latin American where English isn’t the primary language.
As noted by @EddyTeddyFreddy, when a named storm becomes significant/notorious (property damage, loss of life, other major impacts), the name is permanently retired from the list, and a new name of the same letter is added. One can likely expect that this will occur with Helene.
There’s an article in the New York Times (gift link below) in which a Tampa resident is quoted as saying, “In all the years I’ve lived in Florida, this has never happened.”
Another resident who reportedly lives in low-lying Davis Island, near downtown Tampa said, “I feel like it’s just gotten worse every year.”
Yet another resident said “I’m getting ready to turn 65,” said Ms. Castor, a lifelong Tampa resident, “but I haven’t seen storm surge like this.”
Well, no shit. The climate is changing. That’s why climate scientists have been harping about climate change and rising sea levels for decades now. But nonetheless Florida voters keep voting for climate-change denying politicians.
It’s really, really hard not to feel schadenfreude for residents of Florida, at least the ones who deny the reality of climate change or vote for politicians with the same view. Of course a lot of others are going to suffer as well. And the rest of us get to pay for disaster relief for those who keep getting flooded out and for those who move right back in to low-lying flood-prone areas by the water.
The Weather Channel will probably start inventing its own names for hurricanes, as it does for various kinds of storms, and the news media will fall in line.
Saw a mildly amusing video showing TWC’s Jim Cantore casually showing up at various Florida locations including beaches, during good weather. Everyone gives him the stink-eye and/or starts fleeing.
I just got back to check on our home. Somehow no trees are on the house. The shed, however, is under a large fallen oak. Many area roads are washed out. Part of the road I drove to get back here is covered in mud. I don’t expect power for a very long time. We have a new gully along our driveway that was not there before. Basement has some water.
We kept the grocery store where I work open until dark yesterday on a generator. Nowhere else was open in this heavy populated area of downtown Asheville. We had to regulate the number of people we had in the store, so the line outside snaked for two or three blocks. 40 customers inside at a time. When someone left we let another person inside. Most people were very understanding.
Why does it take a crisis for everyone to pull together and be nice to each other?
I am glad my wife and sister evacuated because I could not have reached them by phone or internet. Texts were not working. No water but I have a tub full to flush toilets. I am feeling so lucky as many neighbors were not so fortunate. Most of the area got two feet of rain over the past few days-- and adding the heavy wind in these mountains that means disaster. I am sure everyone has seen the news pictures.
My poor cat Smudge rode the storm out alone in the house. She is sitting in my lap now and I feel bad leaving her alone but I have to go and help again at the store.
So glad to hear you and Smudge are ok and that your family wisely chose to evacuate.
I’ll be holding all of you in the light as you go through the long haul of getting power back and recovering from the storm. You are such a good person for working at the store in spite of it so people can get necessities-soak up all the Smudge snuggles when you can.
The situation over land in GA NC is crazy, I feel so lucky we weren’t driving home from Florida this week. Where they hd unusual amounts of rain saturating the land already. Got home last Sunday drove through pounding rains in Ky and OH unrelated to Helene. Now land slides and flash floods along the highway corridors. It’s bad!
The in-laws were going to be driving back to Florida today. They decided to stay an extra day. By the time they leisurely make it back everything should be fine.
I take it this is the video?
I’m glad you and Smudge made it through okay. I was just watching one reporter on scene, I think in Florida, who spoke about smelling the unmistakable odor of death, presumably from animals that didn’t survive. Pets, livestock, wildlife – the number of dead humans (over 50 and counting right now) is bad enough, but we’ll likely never know the full death toll from this storm.
My storm night was a lot easier for many, especially in NC and Florida, but still wasn’t fun. I actually attempted to sleep that night but didn’t really manage it. During the night two large trees fell around my house and I kept expecting more to fall. The power finally went out at around 7 AM, when the wind and rain had actually got past their very worst. There was finally enough sunlight to dimly see by so (still worried about falling trees) I went outside and climbed over and ducked under limbs of the huge old oak that had fallen against my porch and walkway and went to sit the rest of the storm out in the passenger seat of my cousin’s minivan a few hundred feet away and clear of trees. Even though the rain was less I was still soaked when I got there. I sat there occasionally watching the doppler radar as the eye of the storm came overhead. Luckily the hurricane structure of it had broken down by then and there was nothing left behind the eye to give a second round.
Also, I have a very nice neighbor who has already been tackling the tree with his chainsaws. But the trunk is huge and probably will be a new yard decoration for now. Electricity is still out and might be for days.
I hope @Left_Hand_of_Dorkness and his family is OK - I know they live out in Western NC. In my local area (central NC) there were a few tornadoes but no major damage.
I take it they live where the hurricane didn’t do much? Because I’m seeing on TV incredible devastation in the Big Bend and adjacent areas, destruction that’s not going to be set straight in a couple of days.
Weird how I can get internet service on my phone here in devastated Black Mountain, but no one in Asheville can get cell service.
I worked long hours at the Asheville store today. People waited in lines for 2 or 3 hours just to get inside to buy some food. No other grocer is open so we are the only place in the surrounding downtown area for people to go. Most everyone has no power or water— but the lack of cell phone and internet is also causing a lot of consternation. People cannot reach their families to say they are ok or to find out how their loved ones in the area are doing. People cannot get news except by radio.
I heard so many stories today of houses damaged by trees or cars demolished or homes flooded and streets washed away.
No idea if trash service is ever coming to Black Mountain. I think FEMA (according to rumor) will be setting up Sunday in an unflooded parking lot a half mile away. I hope someone will be distributing water.
I had prescriptions ready for pick-up at a Walgreens nearby. But that pharmacy is now closed and I do not know when they will re-open. I think my regular doctor’s office in Swannanoa is flooded and there is no way to reach anyone to figure out how to get meds. My last zolpidem tablet is tonight so I may not get any sleep starting tomorrow.
But my house survived. My wife and sister are ok. So count blessings and deal with tomorrow when it comes.
Best of luck to all of you in dealing with the aftermath of this devastating storm.
I’m in Hendersonville NC. I’s mess out here. Fortunately my neighborhood is on top of a hill so we didn’t get flood damage but a lot of trees came down. Missed all our cars and houses thank goodness. The development across the street flooded bad. 24 people had to be rescued by boat. The water’s going down quickly but…
Once we cleared the driveway my housemates and I drove around town looking for anywhere that’s open. Sheets was but not much else. Even the Waffle Houses are closed. The devastation is terrible. Propane taks scattered everywhere, tractor-trailer trailers tossed around, downed lines and trees all over the place, railroad tracks washed out. It’s bad y’all