Displaying items by tag: hurricane helene western north carolina

Damage to Cataloochee Road with the Caldwell Barn in the background in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Repairs following Tropical Storm Helene continue and will be supported by a grant from the Colquitt Foundation.  Friends of the Smokies

$750K donation to Friends of the Smokies part of a larger $2 million commitment to assist Hurricane Helene recovery 

Jim Matheny is Friends of the Smokies communications director.

KODAK — Reflecting a longtime devotion to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, The Colquitt Foundation has given $750,000 to the nonprofit Friends of the Smokies to save historic structures and help the national park’s Cataloochee Valley recover from damage caused by Hurricane Helene.

“Hurricane Helene left its mark on Cataloochee Valley. Cataloochee Ranch was founded in that valley, and we feel a responsibility to help. We are honored to partner with Friends of the Smokies to contribute towards its revival and restoration,” David Colquitt said.

The Colquitt Foundation made the gift on behalf of The Swag as well as Cataloochee Ranch, two historic mountain retreats operated by the Colquitts on the boundary of Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Haywood County, North Carolina.

“Cataloochee Valley is a jewel for our entire region. Its cultural, historical, environmental and recreational value is something that cannot be replaced. On behalf of our 150+ Haywood County team members, we are honored to make this contribution,” Annie Colquitt said.

The $750,000 gift to Friends of the Smokies will fund restoration of historic structures damaged by Hurricane Helene in September 2024, including cabins and barns from Cataloochee to Cosby. Through the Forever Places program, these critically needed funds will provide materials, supplies and support for a skilled staff of historic preservation experts to make the needed repairs. 

NCEI’s Physical Archive in Asheville, N.C. contains historical environmental data on paper and film. The Physical Archive remains safe and secure following Hurricane Helene and catastrophic flooding in the Southern Appalachians.  NOAA

Staff and data holdings safe; webpages, products and services in the process of coming back online

John Bateman is a public affairs officer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

ASHEVILLE — NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), headquartered in Asheville, is recovering from the impacts of Hurricane Helene. NCEI has confirmed that all of its employees and staff are safe, and is continuing to support them through the storm recovery. NCEI data holdings — including its paper and film records — are safe. 

NCEI’s broadband internet provider is now fully operational. In addition to the recently reestablished connectivity, NCEI is leveraging facilities and staff in Colorado, Mississippi and Maryland to bring some system and data “ingest” capabilities back into operation. NCEI has resumed the majority of its data ingest streams and can confirm that data are being securely archived. We expect all ingest data pathways to be fully operational in the next two weeks.

NCEI continues to work with data providers to recoup data that were not ingested while systems were down. This work will take up to three months to be completed. NCEI will recover as much data as possible, however, some observations might eventually be unrecoverable.