In hopes of predicting future disasters, geologists are mapping hundreds of landslides caused by Helene

Atlanta – When Hurricane Helene hit the southeast about two weeks ago, destroying parts of it North CarolinaIt also caused hundreds of landslides, according to federal geologists who flew over the Appalachian Mountains to find all the places where parts of the Earth moved under heavy rainfall.

Dr. Ben Mirus and Dr. Francis Rengers of the US Geological Survey used laser scans and GPS cameras, accurate to within an inch, to map landslides caused by Helene. They hope to map it out Helene’s destruction will help predict future disasters.

“This seems historic,” Rengers said. “It is unclear that there has ever been such a widespread storm that caused so much damage in this area.”

So far they have mapped more than 600 landslides caused by Helene.

“Once we get airborne and once we have satellite images, we expect to find hundreds, if not thousands, of landslides,” Mirus said. “…If this event is consistent with previous events where this much rain fell, then we would indeed expect thousands of landslides to occur.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Dalia Kirschbaum at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center outside Washington DC looking down from space.

“What we’re seeing is that the precipitation events are becoming more extreme,” said Kirschbaum, director of the Division of Earth Sciences.

NASA has more than 20 satellites and instruments in orbit, Kirschbaum explains. On a large map mounted on a wall in Goddard, these satellites show in real time where rain is falling, and where landslides have occurred around the world.

“What we’re trying to do at NASA is understand the different conditions under which landslides can occur,” Kirschbaum said.

Data collected from NASA, the USGS and other scientists, using artificial intelligence, could soon help predict landslides. And those better predictions and preparations can help save lives.

The death toll from Helene, which made landfall in Florida on September 26, had risen to at least 241 by Saturday, according to figures compiled by CBS News, including at least 122 deaths in North Carolina.

“My hope is that a community can adopt this model and effectively apply it and use it in their community to better understand and even anticipate where we are most at risk of landslides,” Kirschbaum said.