Restoring through research: professors navigate floodwaters post-Helene
Diane Styers
By Matt Salerno
As Hurricane Helene slowed and sat over Western North Carolina, dumping record amounts of rain, flooding began to devastate the region.
In Asheville, the French Broad River rose nearly 25 feet higher than its normal water levels. The water carried cars downstream, leveled buildings, and picked up debris that mixed and churned in the river. This once-in-a-thousand-year weather event has now become the third deadliest hurricane in U.S. history.
As the region continues to recover and repair the damage from the storm, part of that process involves evaluating the region鈥檚 response and preparedness as well as laying the groundwork for responses to future extreme weather events. North Carolina Collaboratory is a research funding agency that focuses on the environment, natural resources, public health, education, technology, and infrastructure in North Carolina. Since its inception in 2016, the organization has invested in over 600 research projects with a mission to serve the state through practical information and technologies.
In the wake of the hurricane, NC Collaboratory sent out a call for proposals allocating
funding for universities to assist state and federal agencies with Helene-related
research or relief assistance.
Three professors in 蘑菇短视频鈥檚 Geosciences and Natural Resources
department are among faculty awarded grants to conduct post-Helene research. NC Collab
awarded Diane Styers an $11,314 grant to conduct research mapping high water marks
throughout the Swannanoa corridor and along the French Broad River. The Swannanoa
River rose 26 feet as floodwaters surged during the storm. Styers has gone to work
quickly taking note of perishable data such as mud marks that show where the waterline
reached.
Styers will also document the damage to roads and bridges impacted by the flooding. Her research will be shared with the Buncombe County Emergency Operations Center for future disaster planning and preparedness.
鈥淜nowing where flooding is distributed in the area will help them to decide where and when to give out evacuation orders and which areas within the region will be the most impacted by flooding,鈥� she said.
Katie Schneider received a grant of $9,045 to conduct research on high water marks, specifically in relation to dams and land development. She will work with Keith Gibbs in collaboration with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission to provide data on how rapid increases in land development and the damming of waterways increase flooding.
鈥淭he presence of impervious surfaces such as concrete, asphalt roads, and roofs where water runs off into streams and rivers instead of being absorbed by soil and vegetation, could have played a critical role in lifting the rivers in the region to record heights,鈥� Schneider said.
Similarly, 蘑菇短视频faculty members Yang Yang and Jerry Miller received a $10,000 grant to research flood deposits within the Pigeon River Basin. Mapping these deposits for debris like microplastics and heavy metals that floodwaters may have picked up is crucial in helping the environment recover from events like Helene. Knowing where eddies and bends in the river are where this debris is likely to collect can give the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality a head start on removing these pollutants from the environment and provide remediation to hot-spots vulnerable to contamination.
Waterways have returned to normal levels, but the destruction caused by Helene is still plain to see. Thanks to organizations like North Carolina Collaboratory and the hard work of 蘑菇短视频faculty, the region can begin to navigate the floodwaters on the way to recovery.
