Asheville was touted as a climate haven, a place to escape the worst ravages of extreme weather. But Hurricane Helene’s deadly path of destruction reveals this North Carolina city, like any in America, was never safe — it’s just that memories are short and the reach of the climate crisis is consistently underestimated.
If you live in a place that can rain, you live in a place that can flood,” said Kathie Dello, North Carolina’s state climatologist. The past week has shown that reality starkly.
After Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane on Thursday, it raged northward and inflicted widespread devastation across six states, killing more than 160 people.
It pummeled western North Carolina as a tropical storm Friday. In Buncombe County, where Asheville is the county seat, more than 50 people have died and many more remain missing.
Asheville, home to about 95,000 people, lies decimated. Highways are torn up and power lines strewn like spaghetti. People are struggling to access food, water and electricity.
Residents have likened Helene’s aftermath to a war zone;” officials have described it as post-apocalyptic.”
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