The North Carolina Department of Transportation received two awards that highlight the department’s use of technology to keep the public informed during and after the storm. NCDOT Communications Officer Andrew Barksdale points to their flood warning system as one example. He says that before Helene’s arrival in North Carolina, it predicted a one-mile section of Interstate 40 near the French Broad River in Buncombe County would flood by two feet.
"And we told the emergency management, we told the highway division staff in that area, and they were shocked. They were like, well, it's never flooded. We don't ever have a history of I-40 topping with water over the French Broad River, but our modeling said it was going to," he said.
State Highway Patrol responded to the warning and used their vehicles to shut down I-40, which was eventually overcome by eight feet of flood water. Officials say the decision to mobilize likely saved lives.