Atlanta — When Hurricane Helene struck the Southeast about two weeks ago, devastating parts of North Carolina , it also triggered hundreds of landslides according to federal geologists who have been flying over the Appalachians to find all the places where swaths of the Earth moved under heavy rainfall.
Dr. Ben Mirus and Dr. Francis Rengers with the U.S. Geological Survey have been using laser scans and GPS cameras, accurate down to one inch, to map out landslides caused by Helene. They hope mapping out Helene’s destruction will help predict future disasters.
“This seems historic,” Rengers said. “It’s unclear that there’s ever been a storm this widespread that caused this much damage in this area.”
So far, they have mapped more than 600 landslides caused by Helene.
“Once we get up into the air and once we get satellite imagery, we expect to find hundreds, if not thousands of landslides,” Mirus said. “…If this event is consistent with previous events where this much rain fell, then yes, we expect there might be thousands of landslides.”