In the News

Members of Congress said they're actively working to better protect our country from landslides.

The promise is timely as North Carolina approaches two years since Hurricane Helene. The historic storm caused thousands of landslides in the mountains that killed at least 31 people.

After WCNC Charlotte's "Lost Ground: America's Landslide Crisis" investigation exposed a national problem, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said they're doing all they can to prevent the next disaster.

"A lot of folks have no idea that they are in an area that is prone to landslides," Congressman Tim Moore (R), NC-14, said. "Hurricane Helene made that very clear."

Scientists have said what people experienced in the mountains is a warning for the rest of America. Almost half the country is at risk of landslides and not enough people know it.

Up to 50 people a year die from them, yet a national landslide preparedness program ran out of its core funding in 2024, just days after Helene. Two years later, Congress still hasn't revived it. Rep. Moore is hopeful that will change in the coming months.

"We've got to get it done," the congressman told WCNC Charlotte. "It needs to get funded."

Rep. Moore is a co-sponsor of a bipartisan bill that would reauthorize the National Landslide Preparedness Act. Currently unfunded, the federal program has helped map risks across the country, but scientists have only scratched the surface.

The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee has already advanced the legislation.

"I would suspect that we'll get this done, probably in November," Congressman Moore said. "That really will help save lives and save property."

Committee members held a hearing earlier this week focused on better disaster prevention. During that congressional hearing, they and their panel of expert witnesses discussed landslides and the lack of "adequate understanding" of risk.

Rep. Moore previously was a longtime lawmaker in the North Carolina General Assembly. He served there when legislators cut funding for the state's landslide mapping program in 2011 in the face of resistance by builders and realtors. In 2018, then having ascended to Speaker of the House, he helped restore the stalled program, which maps past landslides and posts the information online. Scientists call mapping a reliable indicator of future danger, but they and others say all of those years of delays cost people valuable information.

"The end result was most of the mountain counties were not mapped before Helene. A lot of people have said that was a failure by the state. What lesson have you taken away from that?" WCNC Charlotte asked the congressman.

"We need to make sure that we do more of it very simply. Don't make excuses. Acknowledge that more resources need to be put in," he responded. "I think you're going to see the state legislature continue to do more. I can assure you that the federal government's going to do more."

Congress first created the National Landslide Preparedness Act following a 2014 landslide in Oso, Washington, that killed 43 people. Washington Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (D) helped launch the program and is now among those trying to make sure it lives on.

"Communities across the country are vulnerable," she warned. "This is about all of us coming together and making sure we're doing everything possible to prevent a national tragedy."

Ten years after Oso, Helene devastated western North Carolina, serving as yet another reminder scientists and lawmakers say America can't afford to ignore.

"It's a lesson that we need to do even more," Congressman Moore said.

They're not the only ones working on it. Congresswoman Deborah Ross (D), NC-2, is an original co-sponsor of the legislation that, if passed, would reauthorize the program. She said she will "continue urging" her colleagues to bring the bill to the floor for a vote before the end of this hurricane season.

"I'm proud to support the National Landslide Preparedness Act as part of the Weather Act Reauthorization Act," she told WCNC Charlotte. "North Carolina knows all too well the devastating consequences of landslides, and Hurricane Helene demonstrated the urgent need to better prepare for future disasters. We cannot wait until another tragedy strikes and hope our communities have the information and tools they need to stay safe."

Fellow Congressman Pat Harrigan (R), NC-10, said he supports reauthorizing the program as long as it focuses on gaps that still exist.

"Helene exposed a serious gap in our landslide preparedness, but it also led to a tremendous amount of work to close it," Congressman Harrigan said. "Extensive lidar mapping after the storm has already given Western North Carolina the detailed 3D data needed to identify landslide risk. That was a major objective of the National Landslide Preparedness Act. As Congress considers reauthorization, we should build on what has already been accomplished, not spend federal dollars duplicating it. I want the best possible outcome from this legislation, with resources focused on the gaps that still exist and on putting the data we already have to use."

A spokesperson for House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chair Brian Babin said committee members "continue to work with the Senate on a path forward."

Read the full article.