2026年2月9日 / 美国东部时间上午5:00 / KFF健康新闻
根据KFF健康新闻的分析，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，不久将在地势低洼的农田上重建，而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。如果新设施不能承受极端天气，可能再次引发灾难。
Ballad Health公司于1月份宣布，将斥资约4400万美元在田纳西州Unicoi的沃尔玛（Walmart）后方的一块场地重建这家10床位的Unicoi县医院，该场地距离2024年9月27日发生灾难性洪水和惊险直升机救援的关闭医院约7英里。
飓风海伦期间，洪水涌入Unicoi县医院并切断电力，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精确。Fathom和First Street均估计，百年一遇的洪水（比海伦飓风更为常见但强度较低的天气事件）可能会淹没医院场地的大部分区域，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，拟议的场地显然是一个洪泛区。你无需模型就能看出这一点。”
温指出，新医院场地实际上比旧场地更容易发生洪水，由于附近有一条小溪以及西部山区可能形成的暴雨径流，该场地”开发风险很高”。但他补充说，新址的洪水强度将低于旧址，通过抬高医院或建造土堤可以减轻影响。
Ballad Health确认了新医院的选址，但未回应有关洪水风险或计划的防御措施的问题。发言人莫莉·卢顿（Molly Luton）在简短的书面声明中表示，Ballad正在与岩土工程专业人士、苏黎世保险集团（Zurich Insurance Group）以及纳什维尔知名建筑公司Earl Swensson Associates合作，”为Unicoi县社区规划并建造一所安全的医院”。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，且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，并未将新医院址列为洪水危险区。
在全国范围内，FEMA的地图未能涵盖Fathom和First Street所识别的大部分洪水风险。这两家公司使用复杂的计算机模型和详细的地形数据创建洪水模拟，这些模型被主要开发商、保险公司和政府机构所依赖。First Street将其大部分模型在线发布，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·伯格尼尼斯（Chad Berginnis）表示，尽管田纳西州东北部的丘陵地形可能限制了Ballad的重建选择，但不应忽视Fathom和First Street的数据，也不应纯粹依赖FEMA的地图——这些地图暗示医院可仅采取最低限度的防洪措施。
伯格尼尼斯称，如果Ballad在沃尔玛后方建设，应遵循美国土木工程师协会（American Society of Civil Engineers）的最新标准，该标准建议医院抬高至足以抵御百年一遇洪水（如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场地的地面抬高至少8英尺，最高可达18英尺。
伯格尼尼斯表示：”这将需要一定的抬高，而且会产生一些成本。但天呐，你们的医院都没了。”
2024年Unicoi县医院的损毁促使KFF健康新闻展开了一项关于医院洪水风险的调查，该调查利用Fathom的数据识别了全国范围内超过170家面临重大或危险洪水风险的医院。其中至少39家医院面临与Unicoi类似的情况：附近河流或小溪预计会泛滥并淹没设施。
Ballad Health拥有Unicoi县医院及田纳西州和弗吉尼亚州的另外19家医院，是美国最大的州立医院垄断企业，也是阿巴拉契亚地区29个县大多数居民唯一的医疗选择。
Unicoi县医院是田纳西州Erwin的一家10床位设施，在2024年9月的飓风海伦中被强洪水摧毁。患者和工作人员逃往屋顶并被直升机救援。 Maddy Alewine / KFF健康新闻
在宣布Unicoi重建的新闻稿中，Ballad表示正在敲定新医院场地的土地购买，预计春季开始施工，工期为两年。Ballad Health首席运营官埃里克·迪顿（Eric Deaton）称，重建宣布是”走向康复的期待已久的一步”。
迪顿在新闻稿中表示：”重建Unicoi县医院不仅仅关乎一砖一瓦，更关乎为经历了诸多苦难的人们提供触手可及的医疗服务。”
田纳西州共和党众议员雷内娅·琼斯（Renea Jones）的选区既包括旧医院也包括新医院址，她在Ballad的新闻稿中对重建计划表示赞赏。新闻稿未提及Ballad将从琼斯家族购买约15英亩土地用于新医院，这一消息最初由当地电视台WJHL报道，后经田纳西州公共记录证实。
琼斯未同意就房产出售或洪水风险接受采访。
这家耗资3000万美元的损毁Unicoi县医院建在Nolichucky河弯道旁，尽管FEMA已将该区域标记为洪水区数十年。Mountain States Health Alliance于2017年开始建设，后更名为Ballad Health，医院于2018年开业。
Unicoi县医院前厅在2024年飓风海伦毁灭性洪水中被摧毁。 Maddy Alewine / KFF健康新闻
曾担任Mountain States首席执行官、现任Ballad首席执行官的艾伦·莱文（Alan Levine）在2024年接受KFF健康新闻采访时表示，Mountain States在建设Unicoi医院时已意识到洪水风险，但认为堤坝可以保护设施。
莱文称：”我觉得我们在建设时做的每一步都是正确的。”
海伦飓风证明，他们的努力不足以应对。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Nolichucky河溢出河岸，医院被淹没在高达12英尺的洪水中。
洪水涌入医院并切断电力，迫使患者和工作人员撤离至屋顶等待救援。最终，直升机从屋顶和急流中救出70人，险些造成致命伤亡。
幸存患者安吉·米切尔（Angel Mitchell）与病重的母亲一同被空运到安全地带，她对医院将在另一个易受洪水侵袭的区域重建感到震惊。
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，只能容忍这种风险。
米切尔说：”这太荒谬了。我们想找个地方康复，而不是一个让我们忧心忡忡的地方。”
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）对本报道有贡献。
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.