It’s hard to believe it’s already been one year since Hurricane Helene tore across Georgia and South Carolina. For many across the CSRA, the memories of that night are still vivid: howling winds, pounding rain, and falling trees.

But Helene’s story in our region actually began before the storm ever made landfall.

In the day leading up to Helene, a “predecessor rain event” drenched the CSRA. Think of it as a firehose of tropical moisture, funneled northward by Helene and colliding with a stalled front. The result: relentless downpours that left our clay soil completely saturated.

That mattered. Pine and oak trees that define our landscape were left rooted in soft, unstable ground. When Helene’s powerful winds arrived, the stage was set for widespread uprooting and destruction.

Now, in t

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