High Wind — Mercer, West Virginia

2024-09-27 · Mercer, West Virginia

Event narrative

Thousands of trees were downed across the county from high winds associated with the remnants of Hurricane Helene. The trees caused numerous road closures and many fell on homes. Seven homes were destroyed, and 22 homes sustained major damage. By noon on Friday, near 24,500 customers were reported without power. One man was injured while removing large limbs. Nearly $1 million was reported in food loss, likely related to power outages caused by downed trees.

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida as a powerful Category 4 hurricane late Thursday, September 26, and moved quickly northward into the southeastern states, and then turned slightly northwestward towards the southern Appalachian Mountains overnight into Friday morning, weakening as it moved over land. Helene's intensity and fast forward motion led to impacts being felt well inland, from the Florida Big Bend area into the Appalachians, and there was extensive damage in parts of southeast West Virginia. Widespread power outages occurred as high winds downed hundreds of trees across the region. Winds gusted as high as 55 mph to 60 mph in southeast West Virginia.

Flooding impacts from Hurricane Helene were extensive across the area, and were exacerbated by a predecessor rainfall event that occurred a few days before Helene reached the region, which brought six to eight inches of rain to the mountains prior to the arrival of the remnants of Helene. The three day rainfall totals associated with the remnants of Hurricane Helene across southeast West Virginia were between three and six inches.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1215652. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.