After Hurricane Helene, Nowhere is Safe
Climate resiliency is just a band-aid
I listened to the news as Hurricane Helene tore through Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina. I contacted a college friend in northern Georgia to see if he was okay. He was, but he said something chilling: “Up north, they’re not okay.”
I then turned to YouTube and Reels to find eyewitness accounts of the flooding and devastation, and what I saw rivaled my experience with Hurricane Sandy. Appalachian towns washed away, bridges were impassable, and Interstate 40 had collapsed in several places.
I saw the last photos of people perched on their rooftops in Asheville, NC before they were swept away and presumed dead. I watched videos of families digging through the mud, desperately searching for any valuables left from their ruined homes.
The destruction in North Carolina was hundreds of miles from where Hurricane Helene first landed in Florida. There were no waves or strong winds here — just rain. Torrential, relentless rain.
Preliminary rain gauge data showed that by 4:30 PM on September 27, 12.35 inches of rain had fallen in the Asheville area along the French Broad River.
While 12.35 inches might not sound like a lot, it’s a staggering amount for Asheville in just 48 hours. According to NOAA’s precipitation data, that much rain represents a storm greater than a 1,000-year frequency event.
In other words, there was less than a 0.1% chance of a storm, per year, of this magnitude hitting that part of North Carolina. Yet, the residents of Appalachia found themselves in a lottery no one wanted to win.
The scariest part? These storm probabilities were calculated for an era when our climate was relatively stable. No one anticipated that man-made climate change would push the limits of our models, undermining our ability to design and build resilient infrastructure, cities, and communities.
We’re watching scientists’ predictions come true before our eyes — in real time and on an unprecedented scale.
Nowhere is safe from climate change
I watched interviews with survivors from various Appalachian towns. All of them shared the same disbelief that a hurricane landing hundreds of miles away could destroy their communities. They thought they were safe on “high ground” — and were shocked by how unprepared they were.
I completely understand their shock. My family and community were just as unprepared for Hurricane Sandy. Everything went from “we’re okay” to “everything is collapsing around us” in minutes. How could we have been prepared? How can we be ready for the next Helene, the next Harvey, or Sandy?
The answer is climate resiliency, but even that is just a band-aid.
The fight for our lives is everywhere
The fight to save our planet from the consequences of our actions is everywhere. There’s only so much one person can do, so we must each choose where to focus our energy. My skills are in Civil Engineering and writing. Some protest and help draft legislation, others spread the word.
Some states are taking this threat more seriously than others. In July 2023, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) released updated stormwater regulations, the first in a long time, designed to help prepare the state for the ravages of climate change.
For instance, buildings in floodplains used to have their finished floors elevated one foot above the base 100-year flood level. Now, that requirement has increased to two feet.
There are also new rules for calculating stormwater runoff. The outdated Rational Method has been replaced with the more stringent TR-55 method.
Good.
Additionally, there’s a renewed focus on improving stormwater storage (attenuation) and water quality for groundwater recharge.
Double good.
New Jersey is putting the pieces in place to protect the Garden State, and I applaud them. Yet, they’re just one state in a nation where too many others are falling behind.
Too many elected officials and their power bases either don’t believe in climate change or actively oppose common-sense legislation that would protect their communities.
I remember these jackasses voting against Hurricane Sandy relief as Congressional representatives. Both Rubio and DeSantis have accepted billions of dollars in aid from the federal government for hurricanes in their state of Florida. But for the blue states up north? Forget it.
This us vs. them mindset, combined with conspiracy theories, will lead to the destruction of the USA.
What we need now are smart, responsible adults making tough decisions that protect people and communities. We need to elect leaders who are driven by data and science — adults who will write and enact climate change legislation that protects not just New Jersey, but every state in our Union.
Yes, we need to rebuild our towns and cities with climate resilience in mind, but we must also tackle the root cause of climate change.
We need to act now, or we’ll see more inland flooding, more levee failures, more droughts, food shortages, and social unrest.
Business as usual isn’t an option anymore. If we keep going down this path, we’re heading for extinction — and we’re taking the world with us.
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