Massive rains from Hurricane Helene have left many stranded and awaiting rescue as cleanup efforts begin across the U.S. Southeast. The storm, which made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 140 mph, resulted in at least 52 fatalities and widespread destruction, leaving millions without power.
After hitting Florida late Thursday, Helene rapidly moved through Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee, uprooting trees, damaging homes, and causing creeks and rivers to overflow. Western North Carolina faced severe disruptions due to landslides and flooding, forcing the closure of Interstate 40 and other major roads.
Rescue efforts included hundreds of water rescues, the most dramatic occurring in rural Unicoi County, Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were airlifted from a hospital rooftop on Friday. Rescue operations continued into Saturday in Buncombe County, North Carolina, where parts of Asheville are under water.
“This caught us off-guard,” said Quentin Miller, the county sheriff. While there have been fatalities in the county, Emergency Services Director Van Taylor Jones stated that he couldn’t provide specific details due to communication outages affecting the ability to reach next of kin, as multiple cell towers remain down in the area.
The storm, now classified as a post-tropical cyclone, was expected to linger over the Tennessee Valley through Saturday and Sunday, according to the National Hurricane Center. In North Carolina, flooding has reached levels not seen in a century, while Atlanta experienced unprecedented rainfall, with 11.12 inches (28.24 centimeters) falling over just 48 hours—the highest recorded in the city since record-keeping began in 1878, leaving only car roofs visible above the floodwaters in some neighborhoods.
President Joe Biden described the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene as “overwhelming” and emphasized that his administration is committed to assisting the affected regions across the Southeast in their recovery efforts.
Moody’s Analytics estimates that property damage from Hurricane Helene could range from $15 billion to $26 billion. In contrast, AccuWeather’s preliminary assessment puts the total damage and economic loss in the U.S. between $95 billion and $110 billion.
Climate change has played a significant role in worsening conditions that enable storms to thrive, leading to rapid intensification in warming waters. This can result in powerful cyclones forming within just a few hours.
