Did Nicholas Sparks Predict Hurricane Helene in His New Novel? The Real Story Revealed

A 2024 novel by Nicholas Sparks named ‘Counting Miracles’ details the central North Carolina city of Asheboro. The novel was released on September 24, 2024, and many netizens are claiming that the author had predicted the hurricane that devastated western North Carolina starting September 27, 2024.

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A TikTok clip, which was posted on October 5, 2024, even showed the passage in question with the text superimposed, and it read,

“Nicholas Sparks!!! How did you know?!?!”

The same passage was also used as a reference point by several other TikTok videos as well as posts on X, threads, and other social media platforms.

However, there were several dissenting voices also like a Facebook user who commented on a post about an upcoming ‘Counting Miracles’ film adaptation:

“How did you know Hurricane Helene was going to hit North Carolina? Nice play on your wording, Asheville, North Carolina to Asheboro, North Carolina. You released this book just in time for the hurricane to hit. That’s disgusting.”

Hurricane Helene in Nicholas Sparks’ Novel Happened in 1958

Nicholas Sparks’s novel ‘Counting Miracles’ does contain a passage which describes the devastation caused by a hurricane named Helene. However, the hurricane destroyed the North Carolina city of Asheboro and not in Asheville, the city where the 2024 hurricane devastated. The author of the novel also makes it clear that he was describing a 1958 storm that accidentally shared the same name.

Hence, all the claims that Nicholas Sparks predicted Hurricane Helene in the new novel are bogus and false.

For that reason, we have rated the claim false.

The passage reads as follows,

“Jasper had barely settled into his new job, however, when his life was upended again. In September, only a month after Audrey had left, Hurricane Helene unleashed massive rainfall and a nearby creek in Asheboro quickly rose to dangerous levels. Fortunately—or unfortunately, as the case may be—Jasper was at his house in town, not the cabin, when it began to flood. He pushed through water that soon reached his waist, gathering up photographs from the mantel, his father’s Bible, and as many of the carvings they’d made together as he could carry, hauling it all to his truck, which he’d parked on higher ground, just in case. As the storm continued to rage, a loblolly in the yard snapped and crashed through the roof. Days later, after the water finally receded and hot weather returned, mold began growing on the walls and the floors, ruining pretty much everything in the house that the storm hadn’t.”

Another fact that escaped the attention of many was the fact that the character mentioned in the passage, Jasper, is 83 years old in present times and the events in the passage were a recount of the happenings when the character was only 18 years old. Hence the events happened 65 years ago.

Also, Asheville is in western North Carolina, a few kilometres from the Tennessee border, while Asheboro is roughly 150 miles to Asheville’s east, in the centre of the state.

Also, the names of the Hurricanes are decided by a United Nations agency established in 1950, the World Meteorological Organization and the names are based on predetermined alphabetical lists that rotate every six years. Hence, there is every possibility that the same name can be given to two different hurricanes at different periods.

Also, a name can be removed from the list at the request of any member country if the storm has caused immense damage and misery. Hurricane Helene which hit the US in 1958 was strong but did not cause massive human casualties. The 1958 Hurricane Helene was powerful but did not make landfall and did not cause any casualties.

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