WRAL meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner explains why Helene was such a catastrophic storm for western North Carolina.

Gardner, a WRAL meteorologist since 1998, said, in the many years she has tracked hurricanes, she has never seen anything like this in the mountains of North Carolina, even though the area has been hit with tropical systems dozens of times.

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Rain totals from Helene were catastrophic:

  • Busick, near Mount Mitchell in Yancey County, got 30.78 inches of rain
    • Hendersonville, just south of Asheville, got almost 22 inches of rain
      • Boone got almost 18 inches of rain
        • Blowing Rock got 15.45 inches of rain
          • Asheville got 14.31 inches of rain

            The devastating flooding across western North Carolina is not solely from Helene, Gardner explained. The storm had a predecessor, or a pre-storm.

            "We had a low to the north [and] we had a cold front coming off that low, and that cold front stalled right there in the mountains," Garner said. "That happened on Wednesday, we watched it happen."

            Asheville had already experienced periods of rain on Wednesday, Wednesday night and Thursday before Helene even passed North Carolina.

            "I remember looking at how much rain they'd already gotten in Asheville Thursday morning at 9 a.m." Gardner described. "They already had 7 inches of rain. So we just had all this tropical moisture that was coming up and interacting with that stalled front ... it was thousands of miles ahead of Helene."

            Helene's center of circulation passed North Carolina near the mountains, which also contributed to the devastation.

            "We tend to see the heaviest rain and the strongest winds on the right side of that center of circulation, so [there was] very heavy rain, especially around Asheville," Gardner explained.

            Flooding impacts can be most severe in communities lying near rivers.

            The flooding in Asheville's Biltmore Village was largely from the Swannanoa River, which has since receded, but not before water reached above the hoods of cars and trucks.

            Some residents said the water in Biltmore Village rose as high as 15 feet, covering signs and windows on buildings. Owners laid out sandbags and covered businesses in plastic in preparation for the storm, but the flooding took over.

            The French Broad River in Asheville, which reached a record-breaking level of 24.67 feet, flooded the city's river arts district.

            A mudslide also caused the eastbound side of Interstate 40 to collapse into the Pigeon River at the North Carolina-Tennessee state line, closing the the highway in both directions.

            Crews have conducted hundreds of swift-water rescues.

            WRAL News has a list of how to help residents in western North Carolina.

            By calling 211 or visiting nc211.org, families and individuals can obtain free and confidential information on health and human services and resources in their community. People trying to connect with family members can call NC 211 or 1-888-892-1162 if calling from out-of-state. People can also call those numbers to report missing loved ones.