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The Debrief: Why Hurricane Helene caught North Carolina off-guard

Factal November 1, 2024

The image is an aerial view showing a small settlement adjacent to a winding road and a river. The top left section features dense green trees alongside a narrow dirt road. Nestled among the trees are several houses with different roof colors, including white, brown, and green. A red helicopter is positioned on an open space near a house with a brown roof. Adjacent to the road, the word "SOS" is marked on the ground. The road runs parallel to a river, which occupies the right side of the image. The road appears damaged near the river, with visible cracks and debris scattered along the riverbank. A group of people is gathered on the road close to the bottom of the image.

Hurricane Helene changed the course of thousands of lives in North Carolina within hours. The human and material cost of the storm could have been…