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Contested case where our client struck cargo that was not securely fastened to a flatbed trailer. Suit was filed after legal liability was denied by the legal representatives.....
Tractor trailer driver rear ended our client causing spinal fracture which required a vertebral fusion surgery. Truck driver sought to blame...
We collected $5.1 million for the benefit of our client who suffered Traumatic Brain Injury and other injuries while riding as a guest passenger in a car that was struck by the driver of a pickup....
We secured a settlement of $2.1 million from the driver who crossed the center-line and struck our client head-on and from our client's...
Motorcyclist injured because another driver attempted a left turn directly across his lane of travel. Injury to leg and foot along with multiple bruises and abrasions...
Client's husband called after nearly accepting the at-fault driver's policy limits of $100,000.00, believing ...
Pedestrian struck in the parking lot of a car wash and incident resulted in traumatic brain injury for elderly victim...
Client suffered two broken legs in an intersection collision caused by driver who disregarded a posted stop...
Our boutique injury law firm only handles roadway crash cases, with particular focus on collision cases involving tractor-trailers and commercial trucks. Crashes involving large trucks often result in serious or catastrophic injuries. Carl Nagle is a former insurance adjuster, with experience handling trucking claims for a large, national insurance carrier. He also worked as an insurance defense lawyer in Atlanta before moving to North Carolina. During those years, he was retained by trucking insurance companies to defend careless truck drivers. He knows exactly how truck insurance adjusters and insurance defense lawyers work to avoid or minimize valid injury claims.
We are North Carolina's only pure motor vehicle accident injury law firm. We only handle roadway accident cases, and refuse to handle any other legal matter. This focus and experience helps us maximize the money we collect in every case. We have collected over $700 million for NC crash victims, and we have handled many multi-million dollar truck and commercial vehicle accident cases. We also offer a reduced legal fee of 25% for settlements (and most cases settle), and 33% for litigation and trial. With our firm, you keep a larger share of the money we collect when your case closes. We also make the legal process easy for you – once we are involved, you work with doctors to restore your health and we take care of everything else.
More often than not, commercial truck drivers operate their vehicles with care and concern for other motorists. However, due to the large number of trucks and delivery vehicles that share our roadways, commercial truck accidents are quite common throughout NC.
According to research from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the number of truck and bus crashes in the State of North Carolina has hovered between 7,250 to 7,500. Commercial vehicle and truck accidents cause more than 2,500 injuries in The Tar Heel State every year. With large interstate corridors including Interstate 95 along the Eastern Seaboard, Interstate 85 and Interstate 40 running from Wilmington, NC all the way to Santa Monica, CA, it's no wonder that North Carolina sees thousands of truck accidents on a yearly basis.
If you or a family member has been injured in a collision involving a truck, bus, or another commercial vehicle on a North Carolina road, you might be eligible for substantial compensation. Commercial drivers are typically covered by large insurance policies. However, with large amounts of money involved, these insurers employ the best, highest-paid adjsuters who work to minimize your injury claims and settlement money.The experienced team at Nagle & Associates is prepared to assist you in pursuing justice and securing a generous settlement that provides the necessary funds for your recovery and to support your loved ones.
Trucking accidents in North Carolina are almost never “black and white.” They often involve application of all North Carolina traffic laws alongside a body of complex federal regulations. Victims must be prepared to offer evidence to prove all violations of state laws and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations that govern truck drivers and other commercial vehicle operators. That's why it's so crucial to have legal representation from a lawyer with substantial experience in commercial vehicle accident cases. An aggressive, experienced truck accident lawyer has your best interests at heart and can help you avoid common pitfalls after your truck wreck happens.
And make no mistake, wrecks involving trucks can happen in the blink of an eye. You chose a finer dining option like highest-rated fine dining Tail Up Goat in Washington, NC. Before you can get to your exit, a fatigued tractor-trailer driver crashes into your car and changes your life forever. It sounds hyperbolic, but these traumatic accidents do happen, and usually when you least expect them to.
In the event of a crash caused by a tractor-trailer driver or any other commercial vehicle operator, it's important NOT to collaborate with the driver's legal team or trust insurance adjusters who are working against your interests. Former claims adjuster Carl Nagle warns you to “remember that the insurance adjuster is being paid to oppose your claims, and you should not cooperate with their effort to avoid or minimize your injury claim payments”. Instead, seek representation from a seasoned North Carolina truck accident attorney who has a proven track record of success.
We represent victims, just like you, who have been injured by commercial trucks, including:
Have you been in a recent accident, and you're trying to figure out what to do next? Are you unsure whether you've been hit by a commercial vehicle or some other type of automobile? Contact Nagle & Associates today. During your free consultation, we'll help answer your questions and provide clarity during this admittedly confusing time.
Nagle & Associates is a law firm that focuses exclusively in roadway accident cases. Carl Nagle and our legal team have collected millions of dollars in tax-free compensation for NC truck accident victims. With extensive experience in handling these intricate, high-value cases, we know how to motivate the claims adjuster to offer the highest settlement in every case. And if the adjuster refuses to offer fair compensation, we will take your case to trial before a jury of your neighbors in the Superior Court of county in Washington, NC. Here are just a few ways that our NC truck accident law firm differentiates itself from others and helps you obtain maximum compensation when your case concludes.
Nagle & Associates isn't like other truck accident law firms, and that's by design. We don't advertise on the radio, over the phone, or on billboards. Instead, we focus those resources on benefitting our clients by providing caring yet highly effective legal services for every truck accident victim we represent. We also have a better fee structure than most other law firms focusing on commercial vehicle crashes.
Our lawyers operate on a contingency fee basis, meaning we don't get paid until the case is settled or your trial is complete. We are paid only IF AND WHEN you are paid. Most cases settle without the need for lawsuit filings or court involvement. This fee structure motivates us to push hard to collect the highest possible value for your injury claims. The more we collect for you, the higher the fee. Our goal is to increase the amount we collect for you so that you end up with far more money in hand when the case closes, even after the legal fee is deducted. The contingency fee is win/win for the lawyer and client. We handle everything and work to pay our own fee AND improve what you collect.
Whether your case is settled, or we go to court, you can also rely on a lower fee overall. Most personal injury law firms charge 1/3 of the settlement (33.3%) and 40-44% of any amount collected after a suit is filed. Our firm charges 1/4 of the settlement (25%) and 1/3 (33.3%) of any amount collected after a suit is filed. We only file suit in cases where the insurer refuses fair payment, knowing that litigation will increase the amount of money our client receives.
Carl has extensive experience in the insurance industry, having worked as an insurance adjuster and insurance defense lawyer in Atlanta, Georgia. He worked for several large commercial insurance carriers, and was paid to defend truck drivers, trucking companies, business owners, and their insurance carriers. Carl built on that experience and, for the last 30 years, has been a truck accident attorney in Washington, NC, dedicated to accident victims and their families. He focuses on serious injury cases arising from roadway accidents. As a niche practice with a particular focus on trucking accident cases, Carl and his team know exactly how to gain full control of your legal case and collect the highest possible payment for your truck accident claims.
Trucking companies and businesses employing professional drivers carry high-limit liability insurance, often with a million dollars or more to pay injury claims. Federal law requires high coverage. Many truckers and trucking companies carry large, multi-million dollar excess policies that pay additional money to truck crash victims. They do so because injuries arising from commercial truck crashes are often far more severe than other type of auto injuries. Tractor trailers, dump trucks, cement mixers, and cargo trucks weigh 10-20 times more than typical cars, which increases the risk of severe, permanent injuries. It's not uncommon for truck accident victims to spend days, weeks, or months as they recover in Merrill Gardens at Tukwila in Washington, NC.
Due to the serious nature of injuries in these crashes and the substantial insurance policies involved, commercial insurance companies hire skilled and experienced adjusters to handle truck accident injury claims. These adjusters are highly trained and receive higher compensation than other adjusters in the insurance industry. Their sole objective is to avoid or minimize valid claims. As your local Washington area truck accident lawyer, we take control of the adjuster and all insurance company communications so you don't get duped into admitting partial fault (which ends your case leaving you with zero compensation) or accepting a lowball offer.
However, if you do speak to an adjuster after your truck crash, remember that they'll be amicable and try to gain your trust while making every effort to settle for as little as possible. Never take legal advice from an insurance claims adjuster whose only job is to oppose your claim – no matter how nice and trustworthy they may seem. Diplomacy is their key to earning y our faith, so they can guide you into an unfair, irreversible settlement.
Even though heavy commercial trucks account for less than 5% of all registered vehicles nationwide, the FMCSA reports that over 13% of all fatal crashes on U.S. roads involved at least one large commercial truck or bus. Recent data published by the FMCSA indicates that there were over 273 million registered vehicles in the United States, including more than 13 million large commercial trucks like 18-wheelers. Of the people killed in commercial truck crashes, over 7 in 10 were occupants in other vehicles. While we rely on these multi-ton transporters to keep modern society moving, it's obvious that they can be very dangerous.
Keep reading to learn more about some of the most frequent tractor-trailer accidents we see at Nagle & Associates and why they happen.
The size difference between commercial trucks and regular commuter cars is so massive that standard cars are often crushed in trucking accidents. That holds true for rear-end collisions. Unfortunately, because 18-wheelers take so much more time to slow down and come to a safe stop, truck drivers who are distracted or are speeding are often responsible for horrific injuries.
A truck rollover accident is one of the most devastating and frightening crashes that can occur. Unlike standard passenger cars, tractor-trailers and other large commercial trucks have a much higher center of gravity. That's why experienced truck drivers have to navigate tight turns and sudden swerves with extreme caution. If drivers attempt sudden turns or drive too fast for the conditions around them, the truck and trailer can flip over, causing the entire truck to roll onto its side. This creates a perilous and potentially fatal situation for everyone on the road. For example, an overloaded trailer leaving Smith Tower in Washington, NC, may sway side-to-side as it takes a turn, and roll over onto a driver in the next lane. While this seems unlikely, rollover crashes occur frequently on North Carolina streets and highways.
Jackknife crashes happen when large trucks with hinged connections between the front and rear parts make incorrect turns or braking moves, causing the trailer to swing out widely and resemble a folding jackknife. This type of accident is extremely dangerous due to the unpredictable behavior of a sliding trailer, which can hit nearby vehicles and drag them along as the truck plows through traffic.
When truck operators drive recklessly, negligently, or simply lose control of their vehicles, they may veer out of their lane and into oncoming traffic. Head-on collisions can also occur at intersections, such as red lights or stop signs, when drivers fail to yield the right-of-way properly. There are many reasons why a truck might collide head-on with another vehicle. For instance, the truck driver could become fatigued after long hours of trying to meet demanding quotas and may drift into opposing lanes as they nod off. Regardless of the reason, victims of such accidents should always contact a truck accident attorney in Washington, NC, for guidance as they recover and seek compensation.
T-bone accidents, also known as side-impact or broadside crashes, mostly happen at intersections. Big trucks going through intersections at right angles sometimes run red lights, ignore stop signs, or break the rules and end up crashing into the sides of other cars, making a “T” shape. These accidents can be especially traumatic for passengers who are sitting on the side of the car that the truck hits. Truck drivers who are speeding, not paying attention, tired, or drunk might run through intersections and cause T-bone accidents.
Auto accidents can happen to anyone, from locals commuting to their kid's soccer game to visitors traveling to the tourist attraction with the highest rating Mount Rainier National Park in Washington, NC. When a large commercial truck is involved, the chances of getting injured are higher than they would be in a normal accident. Typical injuries that victims sustain in trucking-related wrecks include:
If you or someone you love is the victim of one or more of the accidents described above, call Nagle & Associates today. You need a reliable, proactive lawyer to fight for your rights when it seems like nobody has your back. Remember, though – time is of the essence. The truck driver's insurance company will begin working immediately to build defenses and minimize your compensation. With no up front cost, you can retain us to begin working on your behalf today. Also, acting quickly ensures that your rights are not forfeited. North Carolina applies a statute of limitations for personal injury suits against truck drivers. If you fail to file suit before the dealine passes, you lose all rights to compensation for your truck accident injury case.
If you're hurt from a truck accident, it makes sense that you'd want a capable, fearless lawyer by your side. But how are you supposed to know which law firms are worth your time?
Similarly, not every truck accident lawyer who graduates from law school is a top attorney. When you're in search of representation for a truck accident case, it's important to find an attorney with a specific combination of skills that are well-suited to effectively handle the intricacies of your case.
Truck accidents are quite different from regular car accidents, primarily because of the substantial size and weight of commercial trucks. These factors often lead to more serious injuries and damages. Moreover, truck accident cases can involve many different parties, such as the truck driver, the trucking company, the shippers who employed the trucking company, cargo handlers who load cargo, insurance companies, and possibly those who repair and maintain the truck or the manufacturers of defective truck parts. An experienced commercial vehicle crash lawyer will know how to identify all responsible parties and all applicable insurance policies. The laws and regulations governing commercial trucks are also more intricate, including complex Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations and all state statutes and traffic laws that govern commercial drivers. Federal regulations govern driver qualification, driver training, truck inspections, equipment and weight limitations, driver conduct, driver fatigue and hours-in-service regulations, and driver crash response requirements. All of these factors should be considered in every commercial vehicle accident case.
As noted above, truck accident cases involve application of a mix of federal and state regulations. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) establishes rules that trucking companies and drivers must adhere to, including limits on driving hours and required rest periods. North Carolina also has its own set of laws concerning commercial trucks. An attorney who is well-versed in both federal and state regulations will be better able to pinpoint any violations that might have contributed to the accident. This can be a critical factor in proving liability and obtaining compensation for your injuries. A legal case arising from a crash caused by a commercial vehicle driver is entirely different than a typical car accident case. The claims adjuster who considers what to pay you will know if your lawyer has the experience necessary to win your case in court.
Overseeing a truck accident case requires accessibility to unique resources. Your lawyer should have connections to a team of experts who can offer valuable insights and testimony, including accident reconstruction experts, doctors/surgeons and other medical professionals, and trucking industry insiders. Having these connections can assist in determining the cause of the accident and the severity of your injuries, which is crucial for constructing a solid case. Great truck accident lawyers – like those from Nagle & Associates – will also be capable of conducting thorough investigations, gathering evidence, and successfully challenging large trucking companies and their insurance carriers.
Truck accident cases are typically resolved through out-of-court settlements by negotiating with insurance companies. That's why it's absolutely crucial to choose an attorney with a proven track record in tough negotiations. A skilled truck accident attorney in Washington, NC, won't have any issue negotiating with stubborn insurance adjusters who want to minimize the compensation you need to recover. And if a fair settlement can't be reached, we stand ready to take your case to court and passionately enforce your rights in front of a judge and jury.
The aftermath of a truck accident can be extremely challenging and distressing. You need an attorney who not only has a strong grasp of the legal aspects of your case but also genuinely cares about your well-being. A dedicated attorney who is genuinely concerned about your recovery and future will work tirelessly to ensure that you receive the full and fair compensation you deserve. This includes compensation for:
When you want a quality meal in a stunning atmosphere, you don't go to your local fast-food joint. You chose a finer dining option like highest-rated fine dining Tail Up Goat in Washington, NC. When you need a fearless advocate to fight for your rights after a trucking accident, you don't settle for a poorly rated law firm. You choose Nagle & Associates.
By identifying the root cause of your tractor-trailer accident, our dedicated attorneys can build a compelling case to hold all responsible parties accountable and get you the compensation you deserve. Whether it involves proving negligence, demonstrating violations of safety regulations, or confronting the adjusters and lawyers who oppose your case, we leverage our extensive experience to advocate on your behalf and help you obtain the compensation you need to move forward with your life. We also charge 25% less than other truck accident lawyers – we co this because we can. We have been very successful handling serious injury cases, and we are able to charge a lower percentage fee for the clients who choose us. Keep more of your money, and know that we will fight for every dollar you deserve. Please contact our law offices today to schedule your free consultation and take the first step toward recovery.
Flooding in North Carolina has imperiled the operations of mines that produce the world’s purest quartz sand — an irreplaceable ingredient for manufacturing components at the heart of smartphones and other electronic devices.The town of Spruce Pine, where these unique mines are located, remains in a dire situation, with power, water and cell service largely disconnected early Tuesday. While the ...
Flooding in North Carolina has imperiled the operations of mines that produce the world’s purest quartz sand — an irreplaceable ingredient for manufacturing components at the heart of smartphones and other electronic devices.
The town of Spruce Pine, where these unique mines are located, remains in a dire situation, with power, water and cell service largely disconnected early Tuesday. While the floodwaters brought on by Helene have receded, local residents said many roads remained impassable. Some people were still trying desperately to confirm loved ones were safe.
The calamity has devastated this small town of about 2,200 along the North Toe River but is also expected to affect people around the world. The high-purity quartz from Spruce Pine’s mines is key for the production of semiconductors — the brains inside computing devices — as well as solar panels, fiber-optic cables and other industrial products.
“I don’t think the nation really realizes how this little, small town is so critical,” said Michael Vance, a local real estate developer who has been informally coordinating some relief efforts for Spruce Pine.
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Both major mine operators in Spruce Pine, Sibelco and the Quartz Corp., said they halted operations Thursday, the day before the center of the storm passed over western North Carolina, and did not yet know when work could resume. The companies said their immediate focus was ensuring employees were safe and contacting those who are still unreachable.
“Many people in the area, including our employees and their families, are facing displacement and significant disruption,” said Sibelco, a Belgian company. “We have confirmed the safety of most employees and are working diligently to contact those still unreachable due to ongoing power outages and communication challenges.”
Neither Sibelco nor the Quartz Corp. confirmed Monday whether their facilities were damaged or what kind of longer-term impact there may be to their output. The Quartz Corp. said that it had “no visibility” on when operations would restart and that some of its employees had joined local task forces to help restore basic services to the area.
“We are in a phase of assessing the situation and it is far too early to comment on the impact to high-purity quartz production,” said May Kristin Haugen, head of communications for the Quartz Corp., which is jointly owned by French and Norwegian companies. “Our priority now is people and the families being affected by this terrible storm.”
Dan Hutcheson, a veteran semiconductor industry analyst, said that while the mines will probably bounce back in time, consumers can expect to see higher prices for electronics in coming months. Manufacturers could temporarily shift to other sources for quartz, but that would introduce extra refining expenses.
Vance said Spruce Pine was still in a state of emergency on Monday. Residents had been told it would take at least three weeks for power to return, and more than a month for water.
“They are in desperate need of food and water,” he said. “They are still trying to find people. We just don’t know where some people are.”
Some mine employees were counted among the missing on Monday. One post in a Facebook group said that two groups of Sibelco workers had set out Friday from Red Hill, a short distance from Spruce Pine, to clear trees and debris from the roadways. The post said that while most of the 26 workers had since been confirmed safe, some remained unaccounted for.
The resiliency of the semiconductor supply chain has become a focus in Washington in recent years amid growing geopolitical tensions with China. In addition to powering consumer devices, chips are also the brains inside smart missiles and any other advanced military weapons.
U.S. officials have warned that the island of Taiwan is a bottleneck in the semiconductor supply chain and have pushed for the reshoring of chip manufacturing in the United States to avoid being overly reliant on East Asia for the critical components.
But the North Carolina floods reflect that natural disasters at home can also disrupt industries crucial for national security.
Hutcheson, the semiconductor analyst, said the chip supply chain has generally been able to absorb the shock of natural disasters, such as the Japan earthquake and tsunami of 2011, without major shortages occurring. Manufacturers have some stockpiles in warehouses that they can draw on, he said, though disruptions can lead to elevated prices.
“It typically works its way out, and if you look at it on a year-over-year basis, you won’t see the impact,” he said of previous major natural disasters affecting the supply chain.
A fire in 2008 in Spruce Pine temporarily disrupted the global quartz supply.
According to Sibelco, the Spruce Pine quartz deposits were formed some 380 million years ago when the land masses that are now Africa and North America collided. A lack of water at the point of collision resulted in the unusual purity of the quartz in the area.
The minerals from Spruce Pine were already being used in electronics back in Thomas Edison’s era. More recently, the high-purity quartz is used to make crucibles, the containers used to melt down silicon to make silicon wafers for semiconductors.
Sharon McIntosh, a Spruce Pine resident, drove to Tennessee on Monday to purchase water and other supplies, and to find a cell signal to contact loved ones. She said that while the impact on the mines remained unclear, more visible infrastructure such as streets and the railroad had been washed out.
“The railroad won’t be coming through there for many months,” she said. “The downtown business district is destroyed. I don’t think it will recover from that.”
Updated October 2, 2024 at 10:09 a.m. EDT|Published October 1, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. EDTHurricane Helene, fueled by converging weather and climate ingredients, hammered the mountains of North Carolina in recent days with staggering amounts of rain and catastrophic flooding. In one of the worst natural disasters the region has ever seen, more than 20 to 30 inches of rain fell in less than three days, washing homes and roads away and virtually destroying entire towns while cutting large areas off from power and communications.Floodin...
Updated October 2, 2024 at 10:09 a.m. EDT|Published October 1, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. EDT
Hurricane Helene, fueled by converging weather and climate ingredients, hammered the mountains of North Carolina in recent days with staggering amounts of rain and catastrophic flooding. In one of the worst natural disasters the region has ever seen, more than 20 to 30 inches of rain fell in less than three days, washing homes and roads away and virtually destroying entire towns while cutting large areas off from power and communications.
Flooding from tropical systems is common in mountainous regions, even those as far inland as western North Carolina. But in this case, the devastating drenching was exacerbated primarily by three factors: 1) heavy rain that fell even before Helene made landfall; 2) the region’s steep terrain, which amplified the flood risk; and 3) record-setting levels of atmospheric moisture boosted by human-caused climate change.
The result was a rainfall event that should happen only once every 200 to 1,000 years and what appears to be the most rain ever recorded in the Appalachians from a tropical system.
The historic deluge began in western North Carolina on Wednesday afternoon into evening, more than 30 hours before the core of Helene came through, because of what’s known as a “predecessor rain event.” That is when moisture streaming hundreds of miles out ahead of the storm interacts with a dip in the jet stream to generate an initial round of heavy rain.
The storm itself doesn’t always pass over the same area as the predecessor event, but when it does, it can be disastrous.
“The really bad scenario is where … the tropical cyclone passes over that same area a day or two later,” said Russ Schumacher, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University. “The most impacts come from situations like this.”
After 8 to 12 inches of predecessor rainfall, the core of Helene plowed through the same region with a second round of torrential rain, on Friday, in areas where soils were already saturated and waterways swollen. That pushed rain totals as high as 20 to 30 inches — as much rain as would typically fall in three to five Septembers.
Some of the most devastating hurricane floods have occurred in the mountains, including flooding in Vermont from Hurricane Irene in 2011 and in Virginia from Hurricane Camille in 1969.
Western North Carolina, and specifically the Asheville area, is no stranger to tropical flooding, either. The remnants of two tropical systems combined for deadly flooding and mass destruction in 1916, while 2004 brought big floods from Hurricanes Frances and Ivan.
Mountains are particularly prone to severe flash flooding because of enhanced rainfall from upslope winds and water flowing down the steep terrain faster than on flatter land. As Helene approached from the south, the counterclockwise flow of wind around the storm’s low-pressure center resulted in persistent and increasingly strong winds from the southeast over western North Carolina.
“The southeast-facing slopes — those facing into the humid, low-level winds of Helene — forced that air to abruptly rise, cool to condensation, causing torrential rainout over the same locations,” said Jeff Halverson, a professor of meteorology at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County.
All of that water then concentrated into rapidly flowing, convergent streams, running off so fast that it could not be absorbed by soils. “What results is a powerfully erosive, overland flow of water, soil, rock, vegetation and man-made structures — the features of flash floods, mudflows and debris flows,” Halverson said.
Some areas witnessed violent landslides and floodwaters that rose many feet in an hour’s time. Vast volumes of water and debris ultimately landed in downstream rivers. Several — such as the French Broad River and Swannanoa River in Asheville — crested at their highest levels on record, surpassing marks that had stood for more than a century.
Rainfall associated with Helene amounted to 20 trillion gallons across North Carolina. The amount of moisture transported by Helene from the Gulf of Mexico into the region was more than 1.5 times the previous record and three times the amount of moisture moved by the most extreme atmospheric rivers — or jets of heavy precipitation — that frequently bombard the West Coast during winter.
My analysis reveals that #Helene's integrated vapor transport (IVT) into western North Carolina (~3000 kg/m/s) was over 1.5 times the previous record (~1883 kg/m/s).IVT assesses the strength of atmospheric rivers.The magnitude is unprecedented for the region based on records. https://t.co/SWO6a49T64 pic.twitter.com/CPS7k1YUM5
— Ben Noll (@BenNollWeather) September 29, 2024
Unusually warm ocean waters linked to human-caused climate change contributed to the extreme moisture levels. Tropical systems gain strength and capacity to transport moisture from warm upper ocean waters. Research has shown that storms occurring later in the season, like Helene, have a better chance of intensifying because, by then, warmer waters penetrate deeper into the ocean.
Helene developed and intensified over Gulf of Mexico waters experiencing a marine heat wave that warmed sea-surface temperatures as much as 3.5 to 4.5 degrees above average, while the upper layer of the ocean ranked as the second-warmest in more than 65 years of tracking.
One analysis published this week found human-caused climate change increased Helene’s rainfall by 50 percent; a second found the increase was around 20 percent.
Jason Samenow, Janice Kai Chen, Tim Meko and Laris Karklis contributed to this report.
correction
A caption in a previous version of this article incorrectly identified Highway 221 as Highway 22. The caption has been corrected.
By The WayWhat to know about donating, volunteering and altering travel plans as Asheville organizes hurricane relief.10 minUpdated October 1, 2024 at 10:14 a.m. EDT|Published September 30, 2024 at 4:19 p.m. EDTThrough the windows of the Market Place Restaurant in downtown Asheville, N.C., chef and owner William Disse...
10 min
Updated October 1, 2024 at 10:14 a.m. EDT|Published September 30, 2024 at 4:19 p.m. EDT
Through the windows of the Market Place Restaurant in downtown Asheville, N.C., chef and owner William Dissen has only a partial view of the disaster left in Hurricane Helene’s wake.
There’s debris everywhere, Dissen said Monday, evidence of the “biblical flooding” that overtook Western North Carolina this weekend. The restaurant on Asheville’s historic Wall Street is without water but miraculously has power and WiFi, two luxuries allowing him to piece together what happened.
Hurricane Helene struck the Big Bend region of Florida as a Category 4 storm, becoming one of the largest storm systems ever to hit the Gulf Coast. Yet most of Helene’s devastation was wrought as the storm moved inland through the Carolinas and into Tennessee.
The latest: More than 100 deaths have been reported across six states, with North Carolina accounting for the most lives lost. The mountainous western portions of the state were hit the hardest, and many roads remain closed as residents struggle to access water and power. See photos of the storm’s destruction across North Carolina.
Helene’s impact: Many regions in Florida saw their worst storm surge ever as Helene made landfall. It’s estimated the storm caused up to $26 billion in property damage, and many homeowners may face major hurdles with insurance and rebuilding.
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Theirs was only one tale of narrow escape, and of an unimaginable loss, that has begun to trickle out from the small communities that line the hills and valleys in and around North Carolina.
4 min
September 29, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. EDT
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — For nearly four decades, Beverly and Baxter Eller lived in the same modest home in Swannanoa, not far from here.
Family pictures hung on the walls. Sea shells collected from decades of trips sat in a glass bowl. Near their front porch on North Avenue, the Swannanoa River lazily wound its way past most days and the rolling ridges of the Blue Ridge rose gently above.
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September 28, 2024 | 3:14 PM PDT
Video filmed on Sept. 28 shows a collapsed road and bridge along Highway 221 in Woodlawn and North Cove, N.C., after flooding from Hurricane Helene.
