IRIS affiliates call for better disaster preparedness in the wake of Hurricane Helene devastation

“We cannot continue business as usual,” say IRIS researchers

The U.S. Southeast held its breath last week as the region prepared for Hurricane Helene, which threatened excessive rainfall and strong winds hundreds of miles north of its landfall destination on the Gulf Coast. One week later, over 215 casualties have been confirmed and entire cities are still without power.

Hurricane seasons are changing as oceans warm, producing stronger storms that can travel further inland. In a new opinion piece in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, researchers at the Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems (IRIS) are putting out the call more publicly than ever: “We can do better. Through infrastructure and communication changes, we can save lives and reduce substantial social and economic disruption and increase societal resilience to hurricanes.”

The article, coauthored by IRIS Director Brian Bledsoe, and affiliates Marshall Shepherd, Brock Woodson and Rhett Jackson, discusses the imperative of stronger disaster preparedness and some of the methods by which we can prevent this level of devastation.

For example, loss of power could have been reduced or prevented by “undergrounding,” or burying power lines. Stronger warnings about the severity of the weather could have encouraged people in mountain communities to evacuate ahead of the storm, preventing the hundreds of people currently trapped with no road access. Municipal systems that provided access to drinking water or generators could have saved many lives in the wake of the flooding.

ASHEVILE, North Carolina – Members of the North Carolina Army National Guard work alongside volunteers at William W. Estes Elementary School to load meals and water for disaster survivors. (Photo by FEMA)

But the authors make it clear: this is not a question of “would’ve, could’ve, should’ve.” The message made clear by Hurricane Helene is that storms are getting stronger, and we will have an extreme price to pay without major updates to our infrastructure and risk preparedness planning. “The I-26 bridges that washed into the Nolichuky River in Tennessee were 500 miles from Helene’s landfall,” the article concludes. “We cannot continue business as usual.”

Brian Bledsoe is the founding director of IRIS and an experienced civil engineer and hydrologist. Marshall Shepherd is a leading expert in climate, atmospheric sciences and geography, and IRIS’s Associate Director of Climate Science and Outreach. Brock Woodson is a professor of civil engineering and the Associate Director of Engineering and Natural Sciences at IRIS. Rhett Jackson is a John Porter Stevens Distinguished Professor of Water Resources and experienced environmental engineer.

Read the full article here.