English Bulldog Puppies for Sale in Chattanooga, TN

Chattanooga businesses are coming together to offer support for those affected by Hurricane Helene’s path as it’s caused historical destruction across the Southeast. Here are over seven ways for you to help other communities.

Operation Good Neighbor | Bring water, diapers, non-perishable food items, or monetary donations to Food City locations in Ringgold, Hixson + Cleveland by Wednesday, Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. to help Asheville, NC.

YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga | Today, Oct. 2, is the last day to donate bottled water, batteries, portable phone chargers, flashlights, etc. to your local branch, helping Erwin residents.

Asheville Dispensary | Drop off bottled water, hygiene + baby supplies, clothes, etc. by Friday, Oct. 4 to help Asheville, NC.

ChattState | Take bottled water to the athletics parking lot by Thursday, Oct. 3 to help Northeast Tennessee residents.

UTC + New Blue Construction | Give water, non-perishable food, batteries, tools, pet supplies, etc. to locations around campus by Friday, Oct. 4 (with another pick-up opportunity next week) to help East Tennessee + North Caroline communities.

Mad Priest Coffee Roasters | Bring non-perishable food items to the Broad Street location by Saturday, Oct. 5 to help East Tennesseans — bonus: Get a free coffee.

The Meeting House | Donations of hygiene items, cleaning supplies, and checks can be dropped off by Friday, Oct. 4 to help Tennessee + North Carolina residents.

Gearhead Outfitters (formerly Rock/Creek) | Donate fuel, batteries, waters, first aid kits, blankets, etc. to all locations by Saturday, Oct. 5 to help Ashevillians + nearby communities.

The Commons, Collegedale | Bring non-perishable food items, cleaning supplies, hygiene products, and more by Saturday, Oct. 5 to help upper East Tennessee + Asheville.

The Great Backyard Place | Donations of first aid kits, blankets, clothes, pet supplies, food, etc. can be dropped off at three locations around Chattanooga to help North Carolina communities — accepting items through the month of October.

Dallas Bay Fire & Rescue | Take non-perishables, toiletries, diapers, etc. to Station 2 by Monday, Oct. 7.

Play Wash Pint | Drop off dog + cat food, new or gently used linens, and sealed waters by Wednesday, Oct. 9 to help pets in affected communities.

Double Tree at Hamilton Place | Bring propane, tarps, can openers, camp stoves, hygiene + cleaning supplies, and more any time now through Tuesday, Oct. 15 to help Appalachian communities.

Basecamp Bar and Restaurant | Purchase a beer from an Asheville, NC brewery over the next month + proceeds will go towards French Broad River Academy’s Salamander Fund.

Bonus: Find more resources through Appalachian Voices.

It's now been several days since we felt the effects and we’re finally getting through the tail end of Hurricane Helene, but what follows marks the beginning of an even longer road to recovery.

With local organizations and government agencies banding together across the state, Tennessee is doing everything it can to help those impacted. Hurricane Helena has brought catastrophic damage across the southeast, resulting in dozens dead and millions lost in damages within just a few days.

"We're experiencing things that in my 24 years of experience we haven't experienced before,” says Julia Wright, Executive Director of the American Red Cross of Eastern Tennessee.

She says the organization has created hundreds of shelters and housed thousands who lost their homes due to flooding—many of them unsure of what the future holds.

"Families are coming to our shelters at a complete loss,” she says. “Many don't know where to turn or what next steps to take."

Wright says Helene is just one of four hurricane responses that have impacted the nation in 2024 alone. Hurricane Helene follows Hurricane Beryl, Hurricane Debbie and Hurricane Francine.

"Each year, we seem to get larger and larger impacted areas, and each disaster seems to be stronger than the last,” she says.

With the death toll gradually increasing, search and rescue missions are in motion. As of right now, Tri State Mutual Aid Coordinator Eric Mitchell says his team has eight swift water teams deployed across East Tennessee and are conducting door-to-door searches to evacuate people trapped in homes.

"In some of these areas, the flooding happened so quickly, they didn't have time to evacuate,” he says. He says some areas received over 24 inches of rainfall, with rescue teams even airlifting people from the rooftop of a small hospital in East Tennessee.

Mitchell says his team has a structural task force consisting of four engines, a ladder truck and a task force team leader deployed to Cocke County in Newport along with two swift water teams deployed to Green County in Greeneville.

Mitchell also says teams from south, middle and middle east Tennessee are currently operating, and teams from west Tennessee are on standby.

Swift water teams are expected to remain in operation until the water resides, and they plan to send teams into areas where damage prevents access, such as places like collapsed bridges and flooded roads.

Conditions such as these can put rescue teams at risk, and Mitchell says that’s another concern they’re facing.

“It’s just a very unsafe environment for our crews to be working in,” he says.

He says the greatest needs of those impacted are drinking water, ambulance strike teams to evacuate nursing homes, shelter volunteers, food, bathroom facilities and debris removal teams.

As of right now, their focus is on the basics.

“In a situation like this, people have lost everything, so just their basic needs need to be met,” Mitchell says.

Wright says the American Red Cross prepared for the storm by collecting 45,000 snacks and ready-to-eat meals. They also arranged for 26 emergency vehicles. Since the storm, Wright says they’ve sent out over 500 volunteers to assist in disaster relief and expect hundreds more.

In a time of devastation and disaster, people are showing up. While these numbers are promising, the country is still in the early stages of disaster relief and has much to restore. The American Red Cross encourages people to volunteer or make a donation.

“That’s the lifeline of our organization—to have those volunteers on the ground providing that comfort and support to families that have lost everything,” she says.

What to know as storm makes landfall

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The Chattanooga area should prepare for high winds, heavy rain, flooding and felled trees starting early Friday morning, as Hurricane Helene moves north from Florida.

Forecasts Thursday evening showed the storm is expected to hit much of Georgia and parts of Tennessee, bringing wind and flash flood warnings to Chattanooga.

(READ MORE: Helene makes landfall in northwestern Florida as a Category 4 hurricane)

Winds in the area are expected to peak early Friday and reach 45 to 55 mph, Doug Schneider, with the National Weather Service office in Morristown, Tennessee, said by phone.

Chattanooga could see between 3 to 5 inches of rain through Friday morning and another half inch to inch by the end of Friday, Schneider said. Showers should be more scattered over the weekend, he said.

"The heaviest rain in Chattanooga's most likely going to be occurring tonight," Schneider said Thursday. "The creeks and streams will be rising, low-lying areas will be filled with water and there could potentially be flooding of roads that could cause a hazard."

(READ MORE: Hurricane Helene tracking toward Chattanooga region)

Local agencies were briefed by the weather service Thursday afternoon, Amy Maxwell, spokesperson for the Hamilton County Office of Emergency Management, said by phone.

"We are going to have some significant flash flooding," Maxwell said Thursday evening. "We are going to have power outages, and we will have trees that will come down."

People should plan to avoid driving, Maxwell said.

"We are concerned, I will say that," Maxwell said. "We are going to be on high alert."

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First responder agencies are planning to convene at the county's emergency operations center on Amnicola Highway early Friday morning, Maxwell said.

There, they can coordinate responses in real time — sending barrels or crews to flooded streets, monitoring downed trees and outages.

Crews will also be stationed throughout the county, Maxwell said, including trailers full of chainsaws to cut trees and all-terrain vehicles that can help transport people if ambulances can't get to them.

There are some areas in Hamilton County more prone to flooding, Maxwell said, including East Ridge, parts of Middle Valley, the Boy Scout Road area in Hixson and side streets near the Chattanooga Airport.

(READ MORE: Hamilton County schools, other Chattanooga area closures due to Helene)

Residents can report downed lines, trees or flooding at nonemergency numbers for law enforcement agencies, Maxwell said. In Chattanooga, residents can report issues to 311 or EPB, either by phone, online or using the agencies' mobile apps.

Local relief effort

A Signal Mountain woman with a sister from Asheville, North Carolina, is gathering supplies to take to those affected by the storm there on Tuesday. Bottled water is especially needed, and a trailer to haul the supplies. If you can help, go to bit.ly/Asheville-help for more information.

First responders will keep a log of all reported damage, which can be totaled for reimbursement if a state of emergency is declared, she said.

EPB can provide generators for people who rely on oxygen if they lose power, Maxwell said, and can bring gasoline to refill them.

The county's emergency alert system, rolled out in April, had gained around 500 subscribers in the run-up to the storm, Maxwell said. It sent two notifications Thursday — one warning residents to be aware of the weather and another telling people to expect rain, wind gusts and power outages. Nearly 8,600 people receive the alerts countywide, she said.

Power outages will likely come from downed trees, not from overwhelming demand on the grid, EPB spokesperson Sophie Moore said.

(READ MORE: Hamilton, Bledsoe, Sequatchie, Marion counties dealing with extreme drought)

"We all love the trees, but trees are also the biggest cause of power outages," Moore said by phone.

The utility has tapped 45 additional crews to help with the anticipated damage, Moore said.

"Just like in Florida right now, they've called in a lot of crews from other areas," she said. "We've done the same ... if there is any damage, we will be working around the clock until everybody is restored."

Cape Electrical Supply, a supplier that serves utilities like EPB, is also preparing to dispatch trucks throughout Georgia, Rob Jenkins, with the company, said by phone. Customers in South and Middle Georgia have already been asking for materials in preparation, Jenkins said.

"We've cleared our schedule for the next two or three days," Jenkins said. "A lot of times, the utility will have enough in stock, of their own material, to hold them over for the first 12 hours. And then once they're able to get out and assess the damage, then they start calling us."

Jenkins said that moisture softens the ground and can loosen tree roots, which makes trees more likely to fall.

"Unfortunately, more times than not, they fall towards the electric line and not away," Jenkins said.

According to The Associated Press, Georgia Power and dozens of utility cooperatives across the state are already grappling with thousands of power outages before Helene reaches land.

Georgia Power reported more than 5,000 customers without power as of 10:15 a.m. Thursday.

So far, there have been no reports of the football game between the University of Alabama and the University of Georgia on Saturday night in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, being affected.

IRONMAN UPDATE

Officials with the Ironman Chattanooga triathlon announced Thursday evening on social media that the swim portion of Sunday's competition has been canceled due to the expected significant rainfall and increased flow rate in the Tennessee River. The statement said the decision was made, due to safety concerns, in conjunction with city officials.

The event will now begin with a bike time trial starts at 8 a.m. (men's pro), 8:22 a.m. (women's pro) and 8:42 a.m. (age group). The transition area will open at 6:30 a.m.

Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.

Contact Ellen Gerst at egerst@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6319.

Area closures:

Upcoming Events

Chattanooga is in the inland crosshairs as Hurricane Helene spins north across the Gulf of Mexico as a strengthening Category 1 storm with 80 mph sustained winds approaching anticipated landfall along the Florida Panhandle around 7 p.m. Thursday.

The storm was upgraded from a tropical storm to hurricane midday Wednesday and is expected to affect the Chattanooga region Thursday night and Friday, according to the National Weather Service. A rainy system over Tennessee is already causing problems.

"We have a slow-moving boundary that's migrating from west to east across Tennessee, and it's developing a lot of showers and thunderstorms, and due to that, we've got a flood watch already," Derek Eisentrout, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Morristown, Tennessee, said in a phone interview. "That flood watch will continue through midday on Friday, and we will then incorporate the second precipitation event we're having that will be the remnants of Helene."

Rain will increase and winds will intensify Thursday evening through Friday morning, Eisentrout said.

"We expect it to be a Category 3 hurricane before it makes landfall," he said. "When it makes landfall there, that's when we'll start to see the effects here.

National Weather Service / The National Weather Service's National Hurricane Center is tracking Hurricane Helene as it moves across the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida at 1 p.m. Wednesday. This graphic shows an approximate representation of coastal areas under a hurricane warning in red, hurricane watch in pink, tropical storm warning in blue and tropical storm watch in yellow. The orange circle indicates the current position of the center of the tropical cyclone.

"All told, precipitation-wise from now till then, we are looking at 4 to 6 inches of precipitation across the metro Chattanooga area and Greater Hamilton County," he said of rainfall through Friday. "Even with all the rainfall we're getting, it's going to move out of the area fairly quickly."

Although drought-stricken Tennessee needs the rain, the problem is getting too much rainfall too quickly "on ground that's as hard as concrete," Eisentrout said.

"That can lead to flooding and flash flooding," he said.

Whitfield County, Georgia, schools made the early call to cancel classes for Thursday and Friday because of the incoming weather and the county commission next door in Walker County canceled its Thursday night meeting for weather, too, according to statements issued Wednesday. Georgia Northwestern Technical College in Rome, Georgia, will close at 3 p.m. Thursday and remain closed on. Friday.

The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency predicts Helene, whatever form it takes at landfall, will arrive in Tennessee as a tropical depression on Friday with heavy rains, flooding and gusty winds possible across the state.

The weather service forecasts winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts to around 50 mph possible in the lower elevations of the Tennessee Valley, and 30 to 40 mph with gusts up to 70 mph possible in the higher terrain of the East Tennessee mountains and Southwest Virginia.

High winds mean a greater likelihood of downed trees and power lines, and Chattanooga's EPB is preparing, according to Sophie Moore, spokesperson for the utility.

"In addition to the staging we're doing with our own crews, we are bringing in 45 additional crews and that's for utility and vegetation management," Moore said in a phone interview. "We want to be able to respond as quickly as possible should it be necessary. Obviously, we're expecting severe weather so we want to have our crews and more on hand."

Some residents in the EPB service area might benefit from the utility's smart grid technology, which provides quick power restoration, she said. Moore suggested EPB customers download the utility's phone app — MyEPB — to monitor and report outages. Residents can also contact the utility by phone, chat or through its website.

(READ MORE: Hamilton, Bledsoe, Sequatchie, Marion counties dealing with extreme drought)

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency Tuesday afternoon ahead of the storm in anticipation of high winds and flooding, especially in the southern portion of the state.

South Georgia will bear the inland brunt of the storm where impacts are life-threatening, according to forecasters. Georgia residents who own horses or companion animals in the worst of the storm's path are urged to take immediate precautions or plan to evacuate with special rules allowing interstate transport of horses and companion animals to temporary safe locations or shelters, according to the state's department of agriculture.

The storm is also expected to bring heavy rain to East Alabama, where state officials are urging people to shelter livestock, according to a statement from the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries. The agency has joined with its partners to provide temporary sheltering facilities for evacuated livestock, including horses and cattle, officials said. Animals moving in response to the storm will be exempt from a certificate of veterinary inspection.

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HURRICANE CATEGORIES, WIND SPEEDS

The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale is a 1 to 5 rating based on a hurricane's sustained wind speed, and it estimates potential property damage. Hurricanes reaching category 3 and higher are considered major hurricanes because of their potential for significant loss of life and damage. Category 1 and 2 storms are still dangerous and still require preventative measures.

Category 1: 74-95 mph

Category 2: 96-110 mph

Category 3: 111-129 mph

Category 4: 130-156 mph

Category 5: 157-higher

Source: National Weather Service

DROUGHT

The Chattanooga region and most of the state are desperate for rain as East Tennessee and parts of the Cumberland Plateau remain in the grip of severe to extreme drought.

Two significant areas of extreme drought are now found in Southeast and Middle Tennessee, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor issued last week, and a tiny patch of extreme drought is found in Giles County on the Tennessee-Alabama line.

The monitor ranks "exceptional" as the most intense level of drought, followed by "extreme" and then "severe." "Moderate" is the fourth level of drought, according to the monitor.

Last month was the second-driest August since 1885. Annual rainfall totals through August for the Chattanooga region since 1885 show 2024 so far is the driest since 2016, when the total for the year at that point was 23.3 inches.

Although the incoming tropical storm will improve the state's ongoing drought, it won't catch total rainfall up for the year, Eisentrout said.

"As of midnight Tuesday, the rainfall total stood at 29.35 inches of rain for the year, while normal is 40.44," Eisentrout said. "We'll still be below normal for the year."

LANDFALL

Florida residents are being warned to prepare for a major storm to arrive Thursday evening.

(READ MORE: Forecasters call for 'heat wave of the decade' as temps 100 and above cook Chattanooga region)

"Devastating hurricane-force winds are expected across portions of northern Florida and southern Georgia where the core of Helene moves inland," the weather service states in its latest messages on Hurricane Helene. "Considerable and potentially life-threatening flash and urban flooding is expected across portions of Florida, the Southeast, the southern Appalachians and the Tennessee Valley. This includes the risk of landslides across the southern Appalachians. Widespread minor to moderate river flooding is likely, and isolated major river flooding is possible."

Helene is the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1, The Associated Press reported Wednesday. Since 2000, eight major hurricanes have made landfall in Florida, according to Philip Klotzbach, a Colorado State University hurricane researcher.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year because of record-warm ocean temperatures. The agency forecasts 17 to 25 named storms before the season ends Nov. 30, with four to seven major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher.

As the U.S. readies for Helene, another disturbance is lurking in the eastern Atlantic west of the Cabo Verde Islands with a 60% chance of forming a cyclone as it makes its way west, weather service maps show.

Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.

Upcoming Events

ADDISON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Concentra® (NYSE: CON), the nation’s leader in occupational medicine, today announced the opening of a new medical center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The medical center, Concentra Chattanooga Airport, is conveniently located at 6413 Lee Highway, Suite 107, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37421.

“Chattanooga is a new area for us, and we’re excited for the opportunity to serve the city’s employers,” said Janet Cobb, MD, senior vice president of Concentra medical operations. “We look forward to further expanding in the greater Knoxville area later this year.”

Concentra will provide work injury care, physical therapy, drug testing, DOT physical exams, pre-placement exams, and other employer-related health services from its new location in Chattanooga. Telemedicine for minor work injuries will also be available via Concentra Telemed®, Concentra’s proprietary telemedicine platform.

Concentra has long been known as the premier provider of occupational health and urgent care services delivered through an extensive network of nearly 550 locations nationwide. This expansion strengthens Concentra’s growing presence in Tennessee and enables the company to more effectively meet the demand for comprehensive occupational health services in the region. Concentra offers quality, efficient medical care to meet the needs of employers and their employees at convenient times and locations. To explore Concentra’s ever-expanding national footprint and to see a complete list of locations, visit www.Concentra.com.

About Concentra

Concentra is the largest provider of occupational health services in the United States by number of locations, with the mission of improving the health of America's workforce, one patient at a time. Our 11,000 colleagues and affiliated physicians and clinicians support the delivery of an extensive suite of services, including occupational and consumer health services and other direct-to-employer care, to more than 50,000 patients each day on average from 547 occupational health centers in 41 states and 154 onsite health clinics at employer worksites in 37 states as of June 30, 2024. www.Concentra.com

Contacts

Lynn Craig 610-739-8003 lycraig@Concentra.com