Hurricane Helene And The Overlooked Georgia Story

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA – OCTOBER 05: In this aerial view, a tree lays on top of a house as the area recovers from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on October 05, 2024 in Augusta, Georgia. The Hurricane has left over 200 people dead across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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Hurricane Helene made landfall near Perry, Florida on September 27, 2024 as a Category 4 storm. According to NOAA, it was the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida since reliable record—keeping began in 1900. Much of the southeastern and eastern U.S. was impacted by the storm. The looming impact at landfall in Florida was a major focus, and subsequently, the horrific tragedy that unfolded in southern Appalachia became a long—term story. The state of Georgia was also significantly impacted from an economic, infrastructure and human perspective, but I have often felt that it was relatively overlooked nationally. As we approach the one—year anniversary of Helene, this native Georgia son wanted to tell its story.

Helene Weather Impacts In Georgia

To be clear, this focus on Georgia is not intended to argue that focus on the Carolinas or Florida was misplaced. Helene was a compound disaster that disrupted many lives and communities. There’s no trophy for despair. Everyone suffered. For a deeper dive on the southern Appalachia story, check out a recent storymap released by NOAA.

Georgia experienced Helene’s longest consecutive track footprint, and the state took a beating because of it. In the immediate aftermath Helene’s passage, the words of my colleague Tom Mote still haunt me. The renowned University of Georgia climatologist and Augusta resident told me, “It’s probably inappropriate to say it is apocalyptic here, but it’s pretty darn close.” Mote and I have been colleagues in UGA’s Department of Geography and Atmospheric Sciences Program for almost twenty years. Mote, who was recently elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advanceent of Science, is one of the most objective and measured scholars I know, so it really got my attention when he said those words.

According to the official NOAA report on Helene, at least 250 deaths have been attributed to the storm. In Georgia, most of the fatalities were related to the wind hazard, but the storm also caused heart attacks, car accidents, and other indirect consequences. The NOAA report noted, “Some of the highest wind reports in Georgia include a WeatherStem site in Lowndes County, Georgia, located 5 to 10 n mi south-southeast of Valdosta that measured winds of 53 kt with a gust of 83 kt.” By the way, 83 kt is roughly 95.5 mph. A University of Georgia WeatherNet station in Coffee County also measured a 90 mph wind gust.

While hurricane winds were observed in Georgia, the NOAA report went on to say, “Outside of the sustained hurricane-force wind area, sustained winds over 50 kt with
hurricane—force gusts impacted large swaths of eastern Georgia…. These winds were particularly damaging due to the large gust factor (1.5 to 2.0) that was observed with Helene, meaning that the ratio of the strength of the wind gusts to sustained winds was much larger than is typical.”

Augusta, Georgia, where Professor Mote resides, took a significant beating in Helene. A roughly 82 mph wind gust was recorded at Augusta, Georgia, Regional Airport, according to NOAA, and similar winds were detected by weather stations in Echols, Chatham, and Towns counties, respectively. Two people also killed by an EF—1 tornado in Wheeler County, Georgia. As expected, most of the wind and tornado damage in Georgia was on the “dirty side” of the storm center. What’s that?

The right side of the center has the additive effect of storm motion and the counter—clockwise rotation of the storm. By contrast, much of the rainfall was to the left of the storm due to a predecessor rainfall event ahead of the hurricane and other larger—scale meteorological processes interacting with the storm. However, significant rainfall also fell to the east of the track, and that is a bad recipe with strong winds and wet soils. Such conditions led to a major disruption for residents of Georgia, farmers, emergency managers, first responders, and businesses.

Societal And Economic Impacts in Georgia.

According to collaborative assessments by the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, UGA Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, the Office of Gov. Brian P. Kemp, the Georgia Department of Agriculture and the Georgia Forestry Commission, Hurricane Helene was responsible for at least $5.5 billion in timber and agricultural losses in Georgia. That state report identified losses in crops and commodities including cotton (32.6% of the crop), tobacco (45% of the crop and infrastructure damage), pecans, peanuts, vegetables (25 to 30% of the crop), citrus, blueberries, soybeans, and nursery crops. Major livestock commodities like poultry, beef cattle, and dairy were also significantly impacted.

The state of Georgia lost a lot of trees and power infrastructure as well. According to the state assessment report, “The TreeS-DIP map showed that 8,931,000 acres of forestland were located in Hurricane Helene’s path, with 1,470,000 acres receiving the majority of timber damage from the storm.” Total timber resource impact was $1.28 billion in Georgia.

A Southern Company website pointed out that over 20,000 personnel were deployed during and after Hurricane Helene. The website stated that Southern Company and Georgia Power repaired or replaced over 8,300 power poles, removed more than 3,200 trees from power lines, fixed or replaced over 4,500 transformers, and repaired or replaced greater than 1,000 miles of wires.

In addition to power outages and transportation disruptions, another dangerous challenge loomed for emergency managers and first responders. Media sources reported that Helene caused over 400 gas leaks in affected regions. Roughly 80% of those were reported to be in Augusta, Georgia.

Though much of the damage was in the eastern and southern parts of the state. The Atlanta area also experienced flooding. NOAA wrote, “Media sources and reports from emergency managers indicate that floodwaters entered at least 200 homes/buildings in the greater Atlanta area along with numerous vehicles.” There were no fatalities in the Atlanta area, but several people were rescued from floodwaters.

Interestingly, some track forecasts initially hinted at a more westward track for Helene. In the final hours before landfall, the storm shifted eastward. On a more westward trajectory, cities like Atlanta, Athens, and Macon would have experienced many of the challenges faced by Augusta and southeastern Georgia. Either way, it was a lose—lose proposition. Though the impacts would have varied widely, we value rural and urban communities equally in Georgia. They both are critical to the vitality, culture, and economy of our great state.

In the wake of Helene, my colleagues and I penned an editorial to the Atlanta Journal—Constitution. The main idea was that our risk communication, resiliency, and planning must evolve. If you are like me, you grew up in Georgia with the understanding that hurricanes were coastal hazards. Hurricane Michael (2018), Hurricane Idalia (2023), and Hurricane Helene (2024) have proven otherwise, and they will not be the last ones either. We’ll need a different playbook going forward.