PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – Fast-moving Hurricane Helene was large and powerful. Its widespread storm surge devastated some coastal areas in Florida, and its far-reaching heavy rains affected Georgia, South Carolina, and mountainous regions in North Carolina and Tennessee.
Michael Lowry, Local 10 News Weather Authority’s hurricane specialist and storm surge expert, said the nature of the hurricane is possible because of the sea and atmospheric temperatures. At the beginning of the hurricane season, there were warmer temperatures.
“What happens as you get into the fall months, is the atmosphere cools faster than the ocean does, and that has made for a less stable atmosphere,” Lowry said on Sunday during This Week In South Florida.
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The eye of the storm hit the Big Bend area where hurricanes Idalia and Debby hit in the last 13 months. The storm moved up to 30 mph inland. Atlanta experienced a record 48 hours of rainfall. The flooding was catastrophic there and in the Asheville area.
“This is the most extensive flooding that I have seen in the mountains,” Lowry said.
There were tornadoes in South Carolina. A hospital had to evacuate in Tennessee.
“We are seeing kind of the peak of the hurricane season, right now — much later in the season than we typically would,” Lowry said.
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The National Hurricane Center on Helene: It moved up to 24 mph offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. Its 120 mph winds created storm surges as high as 15 feet. When it made landfall, on Thursday, as a Category 4 hurricane, Helene was about 350 miles wide and its winds reached 140 mph.
Lowry said a hurricane-hunting drone went into the eye of Helene and found it was moving at 160 mph. The death toll related to Helene had increased to at least 64 on Sunday afternoon.
Adapting to the powerful storms will prove challenging in South Florida. On the future of construction, Lowry said barriers like the AquaFence that protected a hospital in Tampa, would not work in the Miami area because of the bedrock.
“We have porous limestone, so the water is not just a problem laterally,” Lowry said adding that building higher is the solution.
The hurricane season is from June to Nov. 30.
INTERACTIVE SLIDERS
Satellite images by Google Maps and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show areas before and after Hurricane Helene in Florida’s Taylor and Levy counties. Move the middle bar from side to side to see the changes.
DEKLE BEACH
DARK ISLAND
KEATON BEACH
CEDAR KEY
STEINHATCHEE
FISH CREEK
BIRD ISLAND
EZELL BEACH
Sources: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite images on Maptiler with OpenStreetMap, Google Earth and Google Map views, and Knightlab JuxtaposeX (Opensource code)