07/21/2025

A New Era of Floods has Arrived

America isn’t prepared

Natalie Newman believed she had done everything she could to get ready for Helene.

Before the hurricane carved a path of destruction across the Southeast in late September, she assumed it would be like other storms she’d experienced in five years of living in Asheville, North Carolina. So Newman took her usual precautions: packing a go-bag, stocking up on food, moving her car uphill from her apartment on the banks of the Swannanoa River.

When Newman's phone buzzed with a flash-flood warning the night before the storm hit, she skimmed the text: "This is a dangerous and life-threatening situation. Do not attempt to travel unless you are fleeing an area subject to flooding or under an evacuation order." Then the artist returned to the painting on which she was working.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.