Severe flooding from Helene hits western NC; App State/Liberty game canceled

BOONE, N.C. (WAVY) — Severe flooding due to now Tropical Storm Helene has rocked western North Carolina on Friday.

The flooding in places like Boone, North Carolina, the home of Appalachian State University, is expected to continue into the weekend, Gov. Roy Cooper said in an update on Friday morning .

“This is one of the worst storms in modern history for parts of western North Carolina,” said Cooper, who pointed out that the region had already been experiencing lots of rain recently. In that past 48 hours, some places in the greater Asheville region have seen around 20 inches of rainfall.

“It’s just been a ton of flooding,” said WAVY Meteorologist Ricky Matthews.

Cooper says Helene is causing life-threatening flash flooding, “numerous” landslides, downed tree and power outages (879K as of Friday morning) for the western part of the state.

That’s led to the cancellation of App State’s football game against Liberty, originally scheduled for Saturday. The game has not been rescheduled.

Cooper is asking North Carolinians to stay vigilant, and not travel unless absolutely necessary.

“The end of the rain is not the end of the threat. This fierce storm will move out of our state in the next 24 hours, but the danger will not be over,” Cooper said. “… people in western North Carolina should consider all roads closed unless you are seeking higher ground.”

Helene made landfall overnight as a category 4 hurricane in the Big Bend area of Florida and has been linked to the deaths of at least 22 people in the Southeast as of Friday morning. Heavy rain and flash flooding continues to remain a threat for most of the Southeast. It’s expected to turn west toward Kentucky and Tennessee Friday night into Saturday as a post-tropical low.

Read more about the storm on WAVY’s weather page .

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