New lidar imagery shows the full extent of Helene’s impacts
by Philip S. Prince Over the last year, numerous collections of aerial imagery have shown Helene’s effects on western North Carolina mountainsides. This imagery has been useful in understanding the extent of the storm’s impacts on the landscape, but remaining tree cover and the natural irregularity of the landscape make it difficult to fully appreciate…
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The undeniable value of landslide risk assessment
Landslides (and particularly debris flows) aren’t a daily occurrence in western North Carolina, so knowledge of the landslide risk of a specific property may not always seem important. A few years ago, ALC advised a client against purchase of a high-risk property located in an area that, at the time, seemed quite safe and desirable…
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The 1847 debris flow event in Clay County, North Carolina shows crazy storms aren’t a new thing for the region
Seeing the results of past extreme storms in a region is an important part of understanding potential landscape behavior. Thomas L. Clingman (yes, that Clingman) provides an invaluable record of a couple of past storm events in his extensive writings about western North Carolina. His discussion of the results of a storm of July 7th,…
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What happened to mountain slopes during Helene? Geologists are gathering information to prepare for the next storm
In the nine months since Helene’s arrival in western North Carolina, geologists have worked steadily to better understand how to reduce future landslide-related impacts on life and property. While landslide themselves cannot be prevented from happening under extreme precipitation conditions, decision making during, and particularly before, a storm can save lives and reduce damage to…
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