Hurricane Helene unleashed a staggering 42 trillion gallons of rain across the southeastern United States, resulting in an estimated $225 to $250 billion in total damage and economic losses throughout the region.

Asheville

Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 storm in Perry, Florida, maintaining hurricane strength as it moved north into Georgia and the Carolinas. The storm brought 42 trillion gallons of rain to the southeastern US, leading to widespread devastation, particularly in western North Carolina. The hurricane resulted in nearly 250 deaths across the US, with 157 fatalities in the Carolinas alone, and caused extensive flooding and power outages affecting 4.8 million people across ten states. The World Meteorological Organization retired the name Helene due to the storm's impact, and preliminary estimates place the total damage between $225 and $250 billion.

Hurricane Helene: One year later

This is what it looked like as Hurricane Helene came ashore one year ago. The storm made landfall in Perry, FL on the evening of September 26th, 2024. It was a major hurricane with winds that classified it as a Category 4 storm. Due to the speed that storm was moving northward, it was able to stay a hurricane into northern Georgia, but the storm wasn't finished there. 42 trillion gallons of rain fell on the southeastern US from Helene. Helene then got wrapped into another storm system to its West. All of this led to widespread devastation in Western North Carolina. 157 deaths came from the Carolinas alone, as Helene produced almost 250 deaths in the US. The name was retired by the World Neurological Organization this past spring, but you can see how the storm trekked its way north into northern Georgia as a hurricane, and even after it weakened, it produced hurricane gusts that were in the mountains of the Carolinas as it merged with that storm that was already there, producing rain and wind. A few days leading up to Helene's arrival. So this was a very powerful storm. But of course, as you can see, there's wind gusts 107 mph offshore were only a small part of the story. The rainfall almost 2 1⁄2 feet more than I should say in North Carolina led to some of the widespread flooding. Plus all the devastation due to the mountainous terrain. Storm surge. There were more than 100 people rescued from storm surge in coastal Florida. 4.8 million power outages across 10 different states. Some of the hardest hit. Georgia and South Carolina. The storm did quite a bit of damage with the Accuweather preliminary estimate of 225 to $250 billion of damage coming from that storm surge as well as the devastating winds and historic flooding.

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