2026年2月9日 / 美国东部时间凌晨5:00 / KFF健康新闻
田纳西州一家小型医院在飓风海伦期间被汹涌的河水摧毁，据KFF健康新闻分析，该医院将很快在地势低洼的农田上重建。这片农田在规模小得多的风暴中可能面临数英尺深的洪水侵袭，如果新设施不具备抵御极端天气的能力，可能会再次引发灾难。
Ballad Health于今年1月宣布，将斥资约4400万美元在田纳西州Unicoi的沃尔玛超市后方的一块土地上重建这家10床位的Unicoi县医院，距离因灾难性洪水和大胆直升机救援事件而关闭的旧医院约7英里。2024年9月27日，旧医院发生了洪水，患者和工作人员被迫撤离至屋顶。
在飓风海伦期间，洪水涌入Unicoi县医院并切断电源，迫使患者和工作人员撤离至屋顶。Ballad Health
但根据KFF健康新闻对Fathom和First Street两家气候数据公司的信息审查，新址也面临重大洪水风险。这两家公司的洪水模型被认为比美国联邦应急管理局(FEMA)发布的过时洪水地图更为先进。Fathom和First Street均估计，百年一遇的洪水（比海伦飓风更常见但强度较低的天气事件）可能会淹没医院大部分区域，水深超过2英尺。
Fathom首席科学官奥利弗·温（Oliver Wing）表示：”从地貌学角度看，拟选场地明显处于洪泛区。”他说：”无需模型就能看出这一点。”
温指出，新医院选址实际上比旧址更容易发生洪水，且由于附近有一条小溪以及西部山区可能的风暴径流，该地块用于开发”风险极高”。不过，他补充说，新址的洪水强度将比旧址小，通过抬高医院或修建土堤可以减轻影响。
Ballad Health确认了新医院选址，但未回应有关洪水风险或该场地防御措施的提问。发言人莫莉·卢顿（Molly Luton）在简短声明中表示，Ballad正在与岩土工程专家、苏黎世保险集团以及纳什维尔知名建筑公司Earl Swensson Associates合作，”为Unicoi县社区规划和建造安全的医院”。卢顿还表示，Ballad正在与FEMA合作，后者将提供约740万美元用于重建。
半个世纪以来，FEMA一直是美国事实上的洪水风险评估权威机构，其洪水地图通常决定哪些建筑物必须设计成能抵御洪水。但这些地图往往不完整，未考虑气候变化的影响。FEMA对Unicoi县的洪水地图最后更新于2008年，并未将新医院选址识别为洪水危险区。
在全国范围内，FEMA地图未能涵盖Fathom和First Street所识别的大部分洪水风险。这两家公司使用先进的计算机模型和详细地形数据创建洪水模拟，其数据被主要开发商、保险公司和政府机构所依赖。First Street在网上发布了大部分模型数据，而Fathom则通过数据使用协议与KFF健康新闻共享数据。
州洪水泛滥区管理者协会执行董事查德·伯格尼斯（Chad Berginnis）表示，尽管田纳西州东北部的丘陵地形可能限制Ballad的重建选择，但不应忽视Fathom和First Street的数据，也不应单纯依赖FEMA地图——这些地图暗示医院只需采取最低限度的防洪保护措施即可。
伯格尼斯指出，如果Ballad在沃尔玛后方建造医院，应遵循美国土木工程师协会的最新标准，该标准建议将医院抬高至足以抵御百年一遇洪水（类似海伦飓风引发的洪水）的高度。
根据这些标准和谷歌地球的海拔数据，在施工前可能需要土方工程将Unicoi县新址地面抬高至少8英尺，最多18英尺。
伯格尼斯说：”这需要一定的抬高工程，也会产生一些成本。但天呐，你们刚刚失去了医院。”
2024年Unicoi县医院被毁事件促使KFF健康新闻展开调查，以识别全美面临重大或危险洪水风险的医院。调查发现，至少有39家医院面临类似Unicoi的情况：附近河流或小溪预计会漫过河岸并淹没设施。
Ballad Health在田纳西州和弗吉尼亚州拥有Unicoi医院及其他19家医院，是美国最大的州立医院垄断机构，也是阿巴拉契亚地区29个县大多数居民的唯一医疗选择。
位于田纳西州Erwin的10床位Unicoi县医院在2024年9月飓风海伦期间被强烈洪水摧毁。患者和工作人员撤离至屋顶并被直升机救援。Maddy Alewine/KFF健康新闻
在宣布Unicoi重建计划的新闻稿中，Ballad表示正在完成新医院场地的土地购买，预计春季开始施工，工期两年。Ballad健康首席运营官埃里克·迪顿（Eric Deaton）称，重建公告是”期待已久的康复一步”。
迪顿在新闻稿中说：”重建Unicoi县医院不仅仅是关于砖石建筑，更是为了让人们在家附近就能获得医疗服务，帮助他们从创伤中恢复。”
田纳西州共和党众议员雷内亚·琼斯（Renea Jones）的选区包括新旧医院址，她在Ballad的新闻稿中称赞了重建计划。新闻稿未提及Ballad将从琼斯家族购买约15英亩土地作为新医院址——这一信息最初由当地电视台WJHL报道，后经田纳西州公共记录证实。
琼斯拒绝就此次房产出售或其洪水风险接受采访。
耗资3000万美元的Unicoi县医院尽管FEMA几十年来一直将该区域标记为洪水区，仍建在诺利查基河（Nolichucky River）弯道处。Mountain States Health Alliance于2017年开始建设，后更名为Ballad Health，并于2018年开放该医院。
Unicoi县医院前厅在2024年飓风海伦期间被毁灭性洪水破坏。Maddy Alewine/KFF健康新闻
曾任Mountain States首席执行官、现领导Ballad的艾伦·莱文（Alan Levine）在2024年接受KFF健康新闻采访时表示，Mountain States在建造Unicoi医院时已知悉洪水风险，但认为堤坝可以保护设施。
莱文说：”我觉得我们建造时做的每件事都是正确的。”
但海伦飓风证明，这超出了承受范围。随着飓风在南部各州肆虐并进入阿巴拉契亚地区，强降雨导致诺利查基河漫过河岸，医院被12英尺深的洪水淹没。
洪水涌入医院并切断电源，迫使患者和工作人员撤离至屋顶等待救援。最终，直升机从屋顶和洪水中救出70人，险些造成人员死亡。
Unicoi幸存者安杰尔·米切尔（Angel Mitchell）与病重的母亲一同被空运至安全地带，她对医院将在易受另一场洪水侵袭的地区重建感到震惊。
但米切尔表示，最糟糕的是，由于Ballad的垄断地位，当地人别无选择只能忍受这种风险。
“这太荒谬了，”米切尔说，”我们想去一个能康复的地方，而不是一个需要担心的地方。”
KFF健康新闻数据编辑霍莉·K·哈克（Holly K. Hacker）和南卡罗来纳州记者劳伦·索瑟（Lauren Sausser）对本文有贡献。
Hospital flooded by Hurricane Helene to be rebuilt in another flood plain
February 9, 2026 / 5:00 AM EST / KFF Health News
A small Tennessee hospital that was destroyed by a surging river during Hurricane Helene will soon be rebuilt on low-lying farmland that could face several feet of flooding in a much smaller storm, risking another disaster if the new facility is not built to withstand extreme weather, according to a KFF Health News analysis.
Ballad Health announced in January that it would spend about $44 million to rebuild the 10-bed Unicoi County Hospital in a field behind a Walmart in Unicoi, Tennessee, about 7 miles from the shuttered hospital that was the site of catastrophic flooding and a daring helicopter rescue on Sept. 27, 2024.
During Hurricane Helene, floodwater pushed inside Unicoi County Hospital and cut the power, forcing patients and staff to evacuate to the roof. Ballad Health
But the new location also faces significant flood risk, according to a KFF Health News review of information from Fathom and First Street, two climate data companies whose flood modeling is considered more sophisticated than outdated flood maps published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Both Fathom and First Street estimate that a 100-year flood — a weather event more common and less intense than Helene — could cover much of the hospital site with more than 2 feet of water.
“The proposed site is so obviously a flood plain geomorphologically,” said Oliver Wing, chief scientific officer at Fathom. “You don’t need a model to see that.”
Wing said the new hospital site was actually more likely to flood than the old site and “very risky” for development due to a nearby creek and potential storm runoff from mountains to the west. But the flooding would be less powerful than at the old site, Wing said, and its impact could be lessened by elevating the hospital or building earthen embankments.
Ballad Health confirmed the new hospital location but did not respond to questions about flood risk or defenses planned for the site. In a brief written statement, spokesperson Molly Luton said Ballad was working with geotechnical professionals, Zurich Insurance Group, and a high-profile architecture firm in Nashville, Earl Swensson Associates, to “plan and build a safe hospital for the Unicoi County community.” Luton said Ballad is also working with FEMA, which is providing about $7.4 million for the rebuild.
FEMA has served as the nation’s de facto authority for estimating flood risk for half a century and its flood maps generally determine which buildings must be designed to withstand a flood. But those maps are often incomplete and do not account for the impacts of climate change. FEMA’s flood maps of Unicoi, last updated in 2008, do not identify the new hospital site as a flood hazard zone.
Nationwide, FEMA maps don’t capture much of the flood risk identified by Fathom and First Street, which use sophisticated computer models and detailed terrain data to create flood simulations that are relied on by major developers, insurance companies, and government agencies. First Street publishes much of its modeling online, while Fathom shared data with KFF Health News through a data-use agreement.
Chad Berginnis, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers, said that while the hilly terrain of northeastern Tennessee may limit Ballad’s options to rebuild, it should not ignore the data from Fathom and First Street or rely purely on FEMA’s maps, which suggest the hospital could be built with minimal flood protections.
If Ballad builds behind the Walmart, Berginnis said, it should follow the latest standards from the American Society of Civil Engineers, which recommend elevating hospitals enough to withstand a 1,000-year flood — like the one caused by Helene.
According to those standards and Google Earth elevation data, that could require earthwork to raise the ground of the Unicoi site by at least 8 feet and as much as 18 feet before construction.
“It’s going to require some elevation, and there is going to be some cost,” Berginnis said. “But, my God, you just lost your dang hospital.”
The destruction of Unicoi County Hospital in 2024 prompted a KFF Health News investigation into hospital flood risk, which used Fathom data to identify more than 170 hospitals across the nation that face the greatest risk of significant or dangerous flooding. Of those hospitals, at least 39 faced circumstances similar to Unicoi’s: Nearby rivers or creeks were predicted to swell beyond their banks and engulf the facility.
Ballad Health, which owns Unicoi and 19 other hospitals in Tennessee and Virginia, is the nation’s largest state-sanctioned hospital monopoly and the only option for hospital care for most residents in a 29-county region of Appalachia.
Unicoi County Hospital, a 10-bed facility in Erwin, Tennessee, was destroyed by a powerful flood during Hurricane Helene in September 2024. Patients and staff fled to the roof and were rescued by helicopters. Maddy Alewine for KFF Health News
In a news release announcing the Unicoi reconstruction, Ballad said it was finalizing a land purchase for the new hospital site and expected construction to begin in the spring and last two years. Ballad Health Chief Operating Officer Eric Deaton said the reconstruction announcement was “a long-awaited step toward healing.”
“Rebuilding Unicoi County Hospital is about more than bricks and mortar,” Deaton said in the release. “It’s about keeping care close to home for people who have been through so much.”
Tennessee state Rep. Renea Jones, a Republican whose district includes both the old and new Unicoi hospital sites, praised the reconstruction plan in Ballad’s news release. The release did not mention that Ballad would buy about 15 acres of land for the new hospital from Jones’ family, which was first reported by local television station WJHL and later confirmed by Tennessee public records.
Jones did not agree to be interviewed about the sale of the property or its flood risk.
The destroyed Unicoi County Hospital, which cost $30 million, was built along a bend of the Nolichucky River even though FEMA had labeled that area a flood zone for decades. Mountain States Health Alliance began construction in 2017, then later became Ballad Health, which opened the hospital in 2018.
The front lobby of Unicoi County Hospital was wrecked by devastating flooding during Hurricane Helene in 2024. Maddy Alewine for KFF Health News
Alan Levine, who was the CEO of Mountain States and now leads Ballad, told KFF Health News in a 2024 interview that Mountain States was aware of the flood risk when Unicoi was built but believed levees could protect the facility.
“I feel like everything we did when we built it was done the right way,” Levine said.
Helene proved too much to handle. As the hurricane carved a deadly path across Southern states and into Appalachia, heavy rainfall caused the Nolichucky to overspill its banks and engulf the hospital in as much as 12 feet of water.
Floodwater pushed inside the hospital and cut the power, forcing patients and staff to evacuate to the roof in hopes of rescue. Ultimately, helicopters plucked 70 people from the roof and the rushing water, narrowly avoiding fatalities.
Angel Mitchell, a Unicoi survivor who was airlifted to safety with her ailing mother, said she was appalled that the hospital would be rebuilt in an area that was vulnerable to another flood.
But the worst part, Mitchell said, was that locals would have little choice but to tolerate the risk because of Ballad’s monopoly.
“It’s ridiculous,” Mitchell said. “We want to go somewhere to heal, not somewhere to worry.”
KFF Health News data editor Holly K. Hacker and South Carolina correspondent Lauren Sausser contributed to this report.