Tropical Storm Helene in Charlotte: 2 dead as storm's heaviest rain and winds move into North Carolina
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Map showing flooding potential in Charlotte and western North Carolina, as of 4:48am Friday. Screenshot: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg
The Charlotte area woke up to increasingly heavy rain and wind as Helene, now a tropical storm centered over central Georgia, moved north. A tropical storm warning and a flash flood warning remained in effect for the Charlotte region, meaning conditions for both were expected.
State of play: Heavy bands of rain expected to drop up to 2 inches per hour were moving toward Charlotte around 7am, WBTV meteorologist Al Conklin posted.
- The NWS warned that winds could reach between 39 and 57mph in the Charlotte area, downing trees and causing more power outages.
The latest: One person died after a tree fell on a house on Brookway Drive in west Charlotte near I-85 just after 5am Friday, our news partners at WBTV report.
- Another person due to a crash in Catawba County, WBTV reported.
- More than 105,000 Duke Energy customers were without power in the area as of midday Friday.
- Charlotte-Mecklenburg EMS issued a mandatory evacuation order for some areas along Mountain Island Lake, and added that a shelter is open at Tuckaseegee Recreation Center at 4820 Tuckaseegee Road.
- Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools moved to remote learning Friday, and Mecklenburg County's and services are closed.
In the mountains: Areas around Asheville were preparing for up to 15 inches of rain.
- Such rainfall amounts are likely to cause landslides and unprecedented flooding in the mountains. Places around the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers in the Asheville area were already very high after storms Wednesday and Thursday, before the thrust of Helene arrived. Both rivers were expected to crest Friday afternoon at record levels, WLOS reported.
- "This will be one of the most significant weather events to happen in the western portions of the area in the modern era," the National Weather Service's Greenville-Spartanburg office warned in an urgent message Thursday.
- Go deeper: Hurricane Helene could rewrite storm history in the South
The big picture: Helene made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region as a Category 4 storm just after 11pm Friday night.
- More than a million Florida residents were without power, and many homes flooded, our colleagues at Axios Tampa Bay reported. Go deeper.
- Helene was downgraded to a tropical storm as its sped north into central Georgia overnight. Nearly 900,000 Georgians were out of power, according to poweroutage.us, and Axios Atlanta reported record flooding along some tributaries as conditions worsened ahead of daybreak.
What they're saying: Gov. Roy Cooper, who declared a state of emergency in North Carolina ahead of Helene's landfall, called the hurricane "an unusually dangerous storm."
- "Even areas that don't typically experience it may see flooding," Cooper said, WCNC reported. "Cities like Charlotte and Asheville could see flash flooding despite not being in the storm's direct path."
Zoom out: By the weekend, Helene will have moved out and drier conditions will set in, with highs close to 80° and sunshine, per WBTV.
Editor's note: This breaking story was originally published at noon on Thursday and updated at 12:15pm Friday.