AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Tropical Depression Helene continues causing widespread damage even as it travels inland. It first made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Florida's Big Bend region around 11 p.m. last night. The Associated Press says at least 35 people have died. Georgia Public Broadcasting's Grant Blankenship is on the line to tell us about the storm impact there, and Laura Hackett with Blue Ridge Public Radio joins us from Asheville, N.C. Hello to both of you.
LAURA HACKETT, BYLINE: Hi, Juana - Ailsa. Thank you for having me.
GRANT BLANKENSHIP, BYLINE: Yeah. Afternoon.
CHANG: Laura, I'm going to start with you. We're hearing about widespread flooding in western North Carolina and that there's a dam outside Asheville that's in danger of collapsing. What's the latest on that?
HACKETT: Yeah. So that dam is Lake Lure, which is about an hour southeast of Asheville, also where the movie "Dirty Dancing" was filmed. But earlier today, the National Weather Service was saying that it was in imminent danger of collapse. So emergency responders were going door to door in this small town which is right below the dam. About 1,200 people live there. But on a phone call later this afternoon, Mayor Carol Pritchett characterized the dam situation this way. She said that the evacuation is cautionary, and she says the town could be in grave danger, but she wants people to take the situation seriously while not panicking.
CHANG: Right.
HACKETT: The dam is a hundred years old, and structural supports are compromised. So it's holding steady for now, but water is spilling over a bit.
CHANG: Well, let's hope it keeps holding. It sounds like floodwaters in North Carolina are not expected to peak until tonight. Is that right?
HACKETT: Yeah. Whole parts of the region are already underwater, and we're expecting historic flooding this evening all throughout western North Carolina. We haven't seen water levels like this since the 1916 Great Flood that wiped out a power plant and most of our railroad system. So there are mandatory evacuations in low-lying areas. There's shelters open throughout the region. This morning people already woke up to major flash floods. So, unfortunately, it is going to be a long night for everyone. Some city officials have warned of a hundred-year flood, but others are even calling it a 500-year flood.
CHANG: Wow. OK, so Grant, it's now been - what? - about 12 hours since Helene passed through Georgia. What are the biggest things you're seeing in your state?
BLANKENSHIP: Well, so, you know, Helene was still a Category 2 hurricane when the eyewall passed over the state line from Florida into Georgia. Valdosta sustained the most damage, together with surrounding Lowndes County - that's a community of about 120,000 people - on I-75, about 90 miles north of where the storm came ashore. The mayor, Scott Matheson, says the destruction from Helene doesn't even compare to last year's Hurricane Idalia or from Debby earlier this year.
SCOTT MATHESON: We are devastated. We are total, utter devastation - full penetration on homes, cars, vehicles, roadways blocked. We got Idalia and Debby to compare it to, but last night a hundred-mile-an-hour-plus winds - it's a whole different animal.
BLANKENSHIP: Yeah. And the sheer size and power of Helene meant its force carried even farther inland. So, you know, there was flash flooding in Atlanta and power outages, which meant a state of emergency declaration from Mayor Andre Dickens. But the damage to some of the smaller towns, running 220 miles from Valdosta northeast to Augusta, was really, really profound. Over half of the 11 confirmed Helene-related deaths in Georgia were in that region.
CHANG: Do people in Georgia feel like the worst of the storm is over, though?
BLANKENSHIP: Yeah, I mean, in terms of the weather, probably. I think so. But the recovery, and I mean just getting trees and water out of homes...
CHANG: Yeah.
BLANKENSHIP: That's going to take weeks, maybe months.
CHANG: Absolutely. Back to you, Laura, in North Carolina, what are public safety officials telling people to expect in the hours ahead?
HACKETT: Yeah, similar to Georgia, the worst is still kind of happening. So the soil and the waterways across the state are very saturated. So that's risk of landslides, more major flooding, downed trees, broken power systems across the state, especially in western North Carolina. And...
CHANG: OK.
HACKETT: Communication will also continue to be a big challenge. Cell service has been really tough, especially in the rural areas.
CHANG: All right. That was Laura Hackett from Blue Ridge Public Radio and Grant Blankenship with Georgia Public Broadcasting. Thank you to both of you.
HACKETT: Thanks for having us.
BLANKENSHIP: Thanks for the time. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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