6 months later, Hurricane Helene by the numbers

The storm's numbers were impressive the week that Helene hit the U.S., but in post-analysis, new numbers have emerged that are even more telling of the storm's historical significance.

It has been 6 months since Hurricane Helene, the deadliest Continental U.S. hurricane since Katrina in 2005, devastated parts of Florida then created historic flooding in the southern Appalachians. Residents are still struggling to pick up the pieces.

The storm's numbers were impressive the week that Helene hit the U.S., but in post-analysis, new numbers have emerged that are even more telling of the storm's historical significance.

249 fatalities

Helene killed a total of 249 people. Around 30 percent of those deaths were indirect fatalities, from medical issues such as heart attacks, car accident, or incidents during post-storm cleanup. North Carolina had the highest death toll, 106, with 77 of those fatalities blamed on flooding in the state, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) final report on Helene issued last week.

16,200,000 people without power

Around 7.4 million customers (16.2 million people) lost power during Helene. That number was the highest weather-related power outage in the United States since Hurricane Irma in 2017, according to PowerOutage.US.

The highest number of concurrent customers outages during Helene was 4.9 million. The number of didn't drop below 1 million customers until more than a week after Helene's landfall; below 500,000 ten days after; and still159,000 two weeks later. In Johnson County, which is the northeastern-most county in Tennessee, power wasn’t restored for 3 weeks in some areas.

3 feet of rain

An unofficial rainfall report attributed to a NWS cooperative observer at Jonas Ridge, North Carolina, reported more than 3 feet of rain from Hurricane Helene. An AccuWeather Ambient Weather rain gauge at Jeter Mountain calculated 32.51 inches during the storm.

The highest official total the National Weather Service has confirmed was 30.78 inches at Busick, North Carolina. This did not break the record for tropical storm rainfall in the state, which was set by Hurricane Florence in 2018, at 35.93 inches.

Those rainfall amounts are extremely rare, in fact they were more than a "1,000-year event" over a wide area, according to Climate.Gov.

42 trillion gallons

Lake Tahoe could be filled with all the rain that fell on the southeast U.S. during Hurricane Helene, the AP reported. The 42 trillion gallons of rainfall would also be equivalent to the flow of Niagara Falls for 1.75 years.

4,562 cell towers down

Thousands of cell phone towers were knocked out by Hurricane Helene, due to power outages or damage to the towers themselves or infrastructure that served them. WirelessEstimator.com puts the number at 4,562 towers, a record, by far, for any recent hurricane. In some cases, landslides or washed-out bridges disconnected fiberoptic lines. The southern Appalachians were plunged into a communications blackout for weeks, complicating recovery.

33 tornadoes spawned, including the widest on record

Hurricane Helene spawned 39 tornadoes as it moved inland, mostly in the Carolinas. One tornado in Nash County, North Carolina was rated an EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. At 3,300 feet wide, an EF1 tornado in Cordova, South Carolina was the widest documented tornado spawned by a tropical storm since records began in 1995. Two people lost their lives when an EF1 tornado in Wheeler County, Georgia hit their mobile home on Sept. 26.

2,700 people rescued

About 1,300 people were rescued from Helene's storm surge flooding in Florida, with another 1,000 rescues from flooding in western North Carolina. Including other states, the total number of people rescued from water is at least 2,700, NHC says.

125,000 homes damaged

More than 125,000 housing units were damaged or destroyed in western North Carolina alone, the NHC report said. Many residents were left homeless for weeks or months.

$225-$250 billion

822,000 acres of forest destroyed

The North Carolina Forest Service estimated that 822,000 acres of forest were destroyed in the state, resulting in $214 million in damage. In Mitchell County alone, an estimated 100,000 trees were knocked down by Helene.

106 mph at 6,684 feet

The second-highest wind gust from Hurricane Helene was recorded on top of Mount Mitchell, North Carolina, more than 430 miles from landfall. The peak's unique height, at 6,684 feet, poked up into the storm's higher winds that weren't observed on the ground at lower elevations. The highest wind gust, 107 miles per hour, was measured by a buoy offshore from Florida's west coast.

AccuWeather’s estimate of the total damage and economic loss from Hurricane Helene in the United States is $225-250 billion, part of a decimating hurricane season that caused over half a trillion dollars in total damages. AccuWeather’s exclusive estimates for the total damage and economic loss from weather disasters account for long-term and residual impacts that many other damage estimates do not consider.

2,015 landslides

The United States Geological Service (USGS) says that more than 2,000 landslides were documented in the southern Appalachians during Hurricane Helene. Roughly half affected rivers, roads or other structures.

450,000 pounds

The North Carolina Air National Guard delivered over 450,000 pounds of supplies to help those affected by Hurricane Helene. The group also rescued more than 500 people and 64 animals from the storm.

15-foot storm surge

Based on computer modeling, The National Hurricane Center estimated that Hurricane Helene's storm surge reached at least 15 feet near Keaton Beach and Steinhatchee, Florida. The only tidal gauge in the Big Bend of Florida, at Cedar Key, reached 9.3 feet, smashing its previous record of 6.9 feet set during Hurricane Idalia in 2023.

Helene's large wild field increased storm surge impacts over a wide area, with a 5-7 foot surge extending from the Florida Panhandle to south of, and including, Tampa Bay -- affecting millions of people.

3rd-fastest moving tropical storm

With a forward speed of 31 mph, Hurricane Helene was the 3rd-fastest-moving tropical storm to make landfall in the northern Gulf in recorded history. Like Hurricane Hugo in 1989, which made landfall near Charleston, South Carolina moving at 26 mph, Helene's quick speed allowed its high winds to penetrate far inland to the mountains of western North Carolina.

34 flash flood emergencies

During Hurricane Helene's heavy rainfall in the southern Appalachians, 34 flash flood emergency warnings were issued. These particularly dire advisories are issued when a flood is considered to be particularly dangerous.

During an average year, 50 flash flood emergencies are issued in the nation. According to the Iowa Environmental Mesonet (IEM), Helene helped make 2024 the year with the highest number of these dire warnings since 2011, when records began.

1,471 roads closed

The North Carolina Department of Transportation closed 1,471 sections of roads during Hurricane Helene. Today, 141 sections are still closed, including much of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Interstate 40 on the North Carolina/Tennessee border was just reopened one month ago this week after 4 million vehicles had detoured around the closure since the storm.

63 river gauge records broken

The National Weather Service reported that river gauges surpassed record high water levels at 63 different sites during Helene. Nearly half of those have records going back more than 50 years. The Swannanoa River at Biltmore, North Carolina, reached a peak stage of 27.33 feet, far surpassing its previous record of 20.7 feet set in 1916. Dozens of gauges are still offline six months after the storm.

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