Western North Carolina was hit hard by floods on Friday because of Tropical Storm Helene.
As of Friday morning, Gov. Roy Cooper said that the floods in places like Boone, North Carolina, home of Appalachian State University, would likely last into the weekend.
Cooper said, “This is one of the worst storms in modern history for parts of western North Carolina.” He added that the area had already been getting a lot of rain lately. In the last 48 hours, it has rained about 20 inches in some places in the greater Asheville area.
WAVY Meteorologist Ricky Matthews said, “It’s just been a lot of flooding.”
Cooper says Helene is causing floods that could kill people, “numerous” landslides, downed trees, and 879K power cuts in the western part of the state as of Friday morning.
Because of this, App State’s football game against Liberty, which was supposed to happen on Saturday, has been canceled. The game hasn’t been moved to another time.
Cooper is telling people in North Carolina to be careful and not drive unless they have to.
“The threat is still there even though it’s stopped raining.” “This big storm will be gone from our state in 24 hours, but the danger will still be there,” Cooper said. “…people in western North Carolina should think that all roads are closed unless they are looking for higher ground.”
Helene hit land overnight as a category 4 storm in the Big Bend area of Florida. As of Friday morning, at least 22 people had died in the Southeast because of the hurricane. There is still a chance of heavy rain and flash floods in most of the Southeast. It will likely move west as a post-tropical low toward Kentucky and Tennessee Friday night and Saturday morning.