Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 7 hours ago
Debris flow landslides are incredibly destructive, but they also play a role in literally changing the landscape they affect. In the slowly eroding Appalachian Mountains, a single debris flow can carry away feet of soil that may have taken 20,000 years to accumulate on a mountainside. When this effect is considered over a huge area, like the region affected by Hurricane Helene, a single storm event can do quite a lot in a place like Appalachia. You can now see these effects in large parts of the Helene impact area with Google Earth, which has recently uploaded new imagery.
Debris flow landslides are incredibly destructive, but they also play a role in literally changing the landscape they affect. In the slowly eroding Appalachian Mountains, a single debris flow can carry away feet of soil that may have taken 20,000 years to accumulate on a mountainside. When this effect is considered over a huge area, like the region affected by Hurricane Helene, a single storm event can do quite a lot in a place like Appalachia. You can now see these effects in large parts of the Helene impact area with Google Earth, which has recently uploaded new imagery.
