News

County 'preparing for the worst, praying for the best'

By Bill Moss, Published: September 25, 2024

Emergency management officials will activate Henderson County's emergency operations center at 8 o'clock Thursday morning as a broad corps of first responders prepares for the arrival of Hurricane Helene, which is expected to make landfall in the Florida Panhandle as a category 4 storm and drench the N.C. mountains.

Adding to a cold front that has dumped rain since Tuesday evening, the area could receive a total of 10-15 inches by the time Helene moves out on Friday.

"They're still saying 3-6 inches are possible overnight" from a rainstorm that "has nothing to do with the hurricane," Mike Morgan, the county's communications director, said shortly before 5 p.m. Wednedsday. "You've got all that wet ground and then the possibility of flash flooding before the heavy stuff gets here. It could be pretty significant. That's a lot of rain in a short period of time."

Up and running, the county EOC will coordinate with law enforcement, rural fire and rescue departments, the county rescue squad and swiftwater rescue teams, the NCDOT, Duke Energy and others, Morgan said. The county also will be in communication with the city of Hendersonville, which is opening its own EOC. Hurricane Helene has echoes of Tropical Storm Fred, which came ashore in the Florida Panhandle in August 2021 and followed several days of heavy rain in the southern Appalachian Mountains.

"We're preparing for the worst and praying for the best," Morgan said. "Right now we're just hunkering down and waiting to roll."