「经济学人」Washed away

It wiped out North Carolina’s mountain towns

When Hurricane HELENE hit Florida’s Big Bend on September 26th it was hard to imagine that it would wreak the most devastation over 400 miles north in the Appalachian mountains. Officials report that flooding across the Southeast has killed about 200 people, more than any mainland tropical storm since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In North Carolina’s Buncombe County alone, home to the city of Asheville, at least 35 residents have died and 600 are missing. One woman who climbed to the roof of her house as the waters rose watched her seven-year-old son get swept away. Mules are delivering food to stranded survivors since roads were ravaged.

Warming temperatures, which let the air hold more moisture, made Helene wetter than hurricanes past. Experts estimate that 40trn gallons of water fell on the six-state region, enough to fill 60m Olympic-sized swimming pools. Soil made soggy from days of rain before the hurricane probably helped recharge the storm as it made its way inland. Some people in the razed North Carolina towns are “climate expats” who moved from Florida to escape extreme weather. Helene shows that even those far from rising seas are no longer immune.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “The toll” (Oct 3rd 2024)

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