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Western North Carolina is hit by the heaviest rainfall since Hurricane Helene

Western North Carolina is hit by the heaviest rainfall since Hurricane Helene

ASHEVILLE, N.C — Three months after Hurricane Helene devastated parts of western North Carolina and the Appalachian Mountains, the FOX Forecast Center is now identifying the potential for several inches of rain in the same hard-hit areas over the weekend.

A new low pressure center will develop and push through the Great Lakes on Saturday, with the trailing cold front bringing a line of steady rain to western North Carolina and the Appalachian Mountains.

A stronger system that brings the severe threat of tornadoes to the South on Saturday will sweep across the Ohio Valley and Appalachian Mountains on Sunday with heavier rainfall and a continued severe weather threat.

Rain forecast for the western NC area
(FOX Weather)

Some locations may see their highest two-day rainfall totals since Hurricane Helene. As the rain tapers off, 2 to 3 inches of rainfall is expected across western North Carolina, with 3 to 5 inches expected locally where rainfall will be enhanced by terrain.

Additionally, NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center on Sunday upgraded the Helene Recreation Region to a Level 2 severe weather threat.

Storm forecast for Sunday
(FOX Weather)

Forecast models indicate the risk of both damaging winds and an isolated threat of tornadoes with strong to severe thunderstorms.

“You are not forgotten”

Samaritan’s Purse – one of the many humanitarian aid organizations that rushed to the area after the devastating storm – said Friday that its volunteers still had nearly 1,000 work orders to help the region rebuild.

“We’re cutting down trees and clearing out houses,” Edward Graham, COO of Samaritan’s Purse, told FOX Weather. “But now we’re starting conversions where we’re building new homes for those who are underinsured or uninsured.”

Graham said almost none of the victims in North Carolina had flood insurance.

“And we are working to get these people, who are hardworking Americans, back into their homes quickly,” Graham said. “And unfortunately it just takes time.”

In the meantime, people are battling not only the elements but also the overwhelming upswing that is about to happen.

“I don’t know if they will ever be rebuilt the way they were before. It’s unbelievable, the destruction,” Graham said. “But there’s, ‘Where do you start?’ And you just start by loving your neighbor and telling him that he will not be abandoned. There is a kind of loss of hope in some places and in some communities, and we don’t want people to lose hope. We want (them) to know they are loved.”

It is expected to become drier on Monday and temperatures will persist.

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