Early Lessons From Helene Show Catastrophes Are Here to Stay, Flood Insurance Vital
Article 0 Comments Hurricane Helene made landfall late Thursday, Sept. 26, in the Florida Big Bend, a sparsely-populated 150-mile coastal stretch from Apalachee Bay, south of Tallahassee, to Waccasassa Bay in the south. All told, the population of the area amounts to less than one percent of Florida’s population. But instead of attenuating after landfall, like most storms do, Helene barreled 100 miles across the panhandle and into Georgia and North Carolina, pelting the more populous Valdosta, Atlanta and Asheville. Across the destruction path, reports are that millions are without power and 64 people are dead. In North and South Carolina, more than a million Duke Energy customers were without power Friday afternoon. Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina in particular are devastated. Governor Bill Lee in Tennessee, who surveyed initial damage with state and federal officials, said damage assessments will take time. In Florida, if Helene bore to the west before making landfall, the destruction to Tallahassee (the population, including the metropolitan area, is approximately 400,000) would have been in the tens of billions of dollars. If Helene had turned east prior to landfall, it could have caused incalculable damage to Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota. After all, the...
