In the park, Cataloochee saw Helene’s worst
As Hurricane Helene fomented in the Caribbean, it seemed likely that Great Smoky Mountains National Park would take a direct hit. The storm reached Category 4 before slamming Florida’s Gulf Coast, then headed north toward the Smokies. But as it traveled, its course shifted east. Helene and its predecessor storm dropped unfathomable amounts of rain across Southern Appalachia—many places received well over a dozen inches