A hurricane is a ferocious storm with incredibly high winds and strong rains. A category 4 hurricane, like Helene, is known to cause incredible detriment to cities, urban areas, and residential neighborhoods. These tropical storms start way out in the ocean as large tropical waves. This tropical depression is a mixture of small rain showers and thunderstorms. These small storms start to circle around an area of low pressure, and if the water is at least seventy-nine degrees Fahrenheit a hurricane could form.
Helene became such a detrimental hurricane because it spent a long period of time building over the water. If Helene had hit land just as it formed, then it would not have caused nearly as much damage. Hingham High School Junior Henry Sellers shared his thoughts, “[He] cannot begin to think about how these families feel experiencing all of the destruction that is taking place to their valuables.”
Currently, the death toll from Helene has sadly reached over two hundred people. As the number continued to rise in the Southeast, authorities rushed to start deploying supplies, restoring power, and unblocking streets. The hurricane left around six hundred people unaccounted for without power or shelter in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Biden’s homeland security officer, Liz Sherwood-Randell, informed many reporters that around 3,500 federal response personnel were deployed in the urban North Carolina area. Arianna Sood, another Hingham High School Junior, said this in response to the death toll, “[She] was totally unaware that this hurricane had caused so many innocent deaths.” Vice President Kamala Harris plans to visit the North Carolina area when it no longer disrupts the response effort.
The response and restoration of the hurricane have been quite successful so far. Ron Desantis, a Florida governor, informed the press on September 30th that around 99% of Floridians have regained their electricity. However, the effort to completely restore the damage that has been done is going to cost a pretty penny. CBS News estimates that the property damage is around fifteen to twenty-six billion dollars, and the cost to repair everything will be around a whopping one-hundred and ten billion dollars. Hurricane Helene has been detrimental to many, and the whole Harborlight Staff sends their grievances to all impacted.
