How did Helene change western North Carolina’s rivers?

By Madison Smith

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    ASHEVILLE, North Caroline (WLOS) — A lot of physical damage occurred in Western North Carolina during Helene, but how much of it was permanent? Speaking with a member of the French Broad Riverkeepers Program, News 13 has learned that not only are area rivers, specifically the French Broad River, wider after Helene, but they are deeper, too.

With coastal hurricanes, those areas have more space for the water to move around, so the water will rise and then fall. However, in the mountains of western North Carolina, the water funnels into smaller places, which creates quicker water transport through the rivers, which causes more destruction to waterways and surrounding areas. “It can bring trees that were along the river, vegetation and things like that, too, and when those fall in,” watershed science and policy manager with Mountain True Ana Alsobrook said. “The entire riverbank can become less stable, so the river can actually widen in some areas, and we have seen that.”

Because of this, the river also became deeper in some areas as the water digs into the channel. On top of that, the rushing waters of Helene also washed away a majority of sediment below the surface which also leads to deeper areas.

There are years of work ahead of us to restore area rivers, and volunteers are encouraged to help.

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