October 4, 2024 at 3:44 PM Debris covers Lake Lure in North Carolina on Wednesday in the wake of Hurricane Helene. (Mike Stewart / Associated Press) Last week, as I boarded a plane from the Gulf Coast to NYC Climate Week, I checked the weather for updates on the disturbance that would become Hurricane Helene and called my partner to go over our evacuation plan. When I got off the phone, the man next to me, an evangelical pastor from Alabama, asked if I knew anything about the storm.