After making a landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region Thursday night as a major Category 4 hurricane, Helene has caused catastrophic storm and intensified devastation, wind damage and inland flooding across South.
Here’s a look at Hurricane Helene by the numbers:
Category 4
Hurricane Helene was the strongest storm to make landfall in the Big Bend region on record, making landfall near Perry, Florida, as a Category 4 storm with 140 mph winds.
400 miles of destruction
Helene left a widespread path of destruction across the Southeast from Florida’s Big Bend to Asheville, North Carolina, nearly 400 miles from where the storm made landfall.
More than 130 killed
At least 130 people have been killed by Helene in six states across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Most of North Carolina’s 56 deaths happened far inland. In Buncombe County, at least 40 people were killed. The county includes Asheville, the scenic mountain city now engulfed by murky brown floodwater.
More than 30 inches of rain
Helene resulted in more than 30 inches of rain on North Carolina and caused the biggest local flooding in recorded history.
The flooding in western North Carolina surpassed records that stood for more than a century. The French Broad River in Asheville peaked at 24.67 feet, breaking the previous record of 23.1 feet from July 1916.
15-foot storm surge
The storm surge was more than 15 feet above ground level in parts of Florida, including Keaton Beach and Steinhatchee, both in Taylor County, and Horseshoe Beach in Dixie County.
More than 20 tornadoes
There were more than 20 reported tornadoes across five states, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia, amid the storm.
In Rocky Mount, North Carolina, 15 people were injured including four seriously — after a tornado tore through the city on Friday, the National Weather Service said.
400 roads closed in one state
In North Carolina, extreme floods washed away homes and bridges. At one point, authorities closed 400 roads, deeming them unsafe for travel, state officials said.
4 million people affected
More than 4 million people faced power outage across the South on Friday in the wake of Helene.Nearly 2 million customers, from Florida to Ohio, were still without power as of Monday afternoon.
Thousands of rescues
Thousands of successful rescue missions were reported in Florida. In North Carolina, more than 200 people had been rescued from floodwaters amid Helene, Gov. Roy Cooper said Saturday. Over 150 rescues were performed in Buncombe County alone.
