Hurricane Helene is deadliest since Katrina

With more than 200 dead — 104 in North Carolina — Hurricane Helene is the deadliest U.S. hurricane in decades.

Helene also is responsible for the most inland flooding deaths since 1972 and the most U.S. wind deaths since at least 1963, Dr. Michael Brenna, director of the National Hurricane Center, told a conference of meteorologists this week.

The September 2024 storm is estimated to have done almost $80 billion in damage to people and property across the southeast.

Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida on Sept. 26 as a Category 4 storm with 140 mph winds, then carved a path through Georgia and the Carolinas. The storm dumped more than 30 inches of rain on an already drenched western North Carolina, causing rivers and creeks to flood, washing out roads and triggering deadly mudslides.

The French Broad River in Asheville peaked at 24.67 feet, breaking the previous record of 23.1 feet from July 1916.

Gov. Roy Cooper said more than 200 people had to be rescued from rising water during the peak of the flooding.

By January 2025, 185 roads remained closed in western North Carolina, including Interstate 40 at the North Carolina-Tennessee border.