Hurricane Helene was America’s deadliest storm in nearly two decades
It wiped out North Carolina’s mountain towns
它摧毁了北卡罗来纳州的山区城镇
2024年10月03日 09:36 上午 |亚特兰大
WHEN HURRICANE HELENE hit Florida’s Big Bend on September 26th it was hard to imagine that it would wreak the most devastation over 400 miles north in the Appalachian mountains. Officials report that flooding across the Southeast has killed about 200 people, more than any mainland tropical storm since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In North Carolina’s Buncombe County alone, home to the city of Asheville, at least 35 residents have died and 600 are missing. One woman who climbed to the roof of her house as the waters rose watched her seven-year-old son get swept away. Mules are delivering food to stranded survivors since roads were ravaged.
当飓风海伦于 9 月 26 日袭击佛罗里达州大本德时，很难想象它会对阿 巴拉契亚山脉以北 400 英里以外的地区造成最严重的破坏。官员报告 称，东南部地区的洪水已造成约 200 人死亡，这一数字比 2005 年卡特 里娜飓风以来的任何大陆热带风暴造成的死亡人数还要多。仅在阿什 维尔市所在的北卡罗来纳州本科姆县，就有至少 35 名居民死亡、600 人失踪。洪水上涨时，一名妇女爬上屋顶，眼睁睁地看着她七岁的儿 子被冲走。由于道路遭到破坏，骡子正在为受困的幸存者运送食物。
Warming temperatures, which let the air hold more moisture, made Helene wetter than hurricanes past. Experts estimate that 40trn gallons of water fell on the six-state region, enough to fill 60m Olympic-sized swimming pools.Soil made soggy from days of rain before the hurricane probably helped recharge the storm as it made its way inland. Some people in the razed North Carolina towns are “climate expats” who moved from Florida to escape extreme weather. Helene shows that even those far from rising seas are no longer immune. ■
气温升高使空气中含有更多水分，使海伦比过去的飓风更加潮湿。专 家估计，这六个州地区的降雨量为 40trn 加仑，足以填满 60m 的奥林 匹克规模的游泳池。飓风前几天的降雨使土壤变得潮湿，这可能在风 暴向内陆移动时为风暴补充了水分。被夷为平地的北卡罗来纳州城镇 中的一些人是“气候移民”，他们从佛罗里达州搬来躲避极端天气。海 伦表明，即使是那些远离海平面上升的国家也无法幸免。 ■
