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Hurricane Helene by Numbers: Catastrophic destruction spans 400 miles
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Hurricane Helene by Numbers: Catastrophic destruction spans 400 miles

After making landfall as a major Category 4 hurricane in Florida’s Big Bend region on Thursday night, Helene caused catastrophic storm surge, wind damage and inland flooding across a wide swath of the south.

Here’s a look at the storm by the numbers, as affected communities get a better sense of the deadly destruction.

A drone shot shows a damaged area after the passage of Hurricane Helene in Asheville, NC, September 29, 2024.

Marco Bello/Reuters

Category 4

Helene was the strongest hurricane ever to make landfall in the Big Bend region, making landfall near Perry, Florida, as a Category 4 storm with winds of 140 mph.

400 miles

Helene left a widespread path of destruction across the Southeast — from Florida’s Big Bend to Asheville, North Carolina, nearly 400 miles (640 kilometers) from where the storm made landfall.

PHOTO: A damaged 100-year-old house is seen after an oak tree landed on it after Hurricane Helene passed through the area on September 27, 2024 in Valdosta, Georgia.

A damaged 100-year-old house is seen after an oak tree landed on it after Hurricane Helene passed through the area on September 27, 2024 in Valdosta, Georgia.

Mike Stewart/AP

More than 120 dead

At least 121 people were killed by Helene in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, the Associated Press reported Monday.

Thirty-five people have died in hard-hit Buncombe County, North Carolina, which includes Asheville, according to county officials. Another 600 are missing in the province amid widespread power and cell service outages, officials said.

At least 73 people were missing in Tennessee’s Unicoi County as of Sunday morning, local officials said.

More than a foot of rain

Heavy rainfall from Hurricane Helene caused record flooding and damage in Asheville, NC, September 28, 2024.

Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images

Helene and a separate system dropped more than 3 feet of rain in North Carolina earlier this week, causing the largest localized flooding in history.

Flooding in western North Carolina surpassed records that had stood for more than a century. The French Broad River in Asheville peaked at 25 feet, breaking the previous record of 25 feet set in July 1916.

Elsewhere, Georgia saw a historic 14 inches of precipitation due to the combination of Hurricane Helene and a storm earlier this week.

Storm surge of 15 feet

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.

Record storm surge also hit the Tampa Bay area, with 7.2 feet reported in Tampa East Bay – a record of 5.16 feet set in 2023.

More than 20 reported tornadoes

More than 20 tornadoes were reported in five states – Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia – during the storm.

In Rocky Mount, North Carolina, 15 people were injured — including four seriously — after a tornado ripped through the city Friday, the National Weather Service said.

Debris and destroyed vehicles lie strewn across a parking lot near Hing Ta Restaurant after a tornado struck Rocky Mount, NC, September 27, 2024.

City of Rocky Mount via AP

400 roads closed in 1 state

In North Carolina, extreme flooding washed away homes and bridges. At one point, authorities closed 400 roads, deeming them unsafe for travel, state officials said.

Starting Monday, travel in western North Carolina would be for emergencies only as hundreds of Helene-related road problems persisted, officials said.

In Florida, emergency crews had to clear four to five feet of sand from roads in the wake of Helene, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday, saying all state highways were expected to reopen by the end of the day.

4 million customers

In the aftermath of Helene, more than 4 million customers in the South lost power on Friday.

Nearly 2 million customers from Florida to Ohio were still without power Monday afternoon.

Thousands of rescues

PHOTO: An airboat transporting residents rescued from flood waters caused by storm surge from Hurricane Helene is seen on September 27, 2024 in Crystal River, Florida.

An airboat carrying residents rescued from floodwaters caused by storm surge from Hurricane Helene is seen in Crystal River, Florida, on September 27, 2024.

Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times/ZUMA via Shutterstock

Thousands of successful rescue missions have been reported in Florida, DeSantis said Monday.

In North Carolina, more than 200 people have been rescued from floodwaters amid Helene, Gov. Roy Cooper said Saturday. More than 150 rescues were conducted in Buncombe County alone, officials said.

In Tennessee’s Unicoi County, 54 patients and staff were rescued by helicopter on Friday after being trapped on a hospital roof amid rapidly rising waters.

Melissa Griffin and Max Golembo of ABC News contributed to this report.