Description

Category 4 Hurricane Helene with 140 mph sustained winds was the strongest hurricane on record to strike the Big Bend region of Florida having made landfall near Perry, Florida on September 26. Helene was the third hurricane to hit the Big Bend region in just over a year. It caused up to 15 feet of storm surge along the Big Bend coast and six feet of surge as far south as St. Petersburg. It also caused billions of dollars in damage to Georgia's agriculture sector. Helene's most severe impacts were from the historic rainfall (up to 30+ inches) and flooding across much of western North Carolina. This flooding eclipsed the region's previous worst flood from 1916. Asheville and many surrounding cities and communities were heavily impacted. Southwestern Virginia and extreme eastern Tennessee were also heavily impacted. Damage came in many forms. Landslides, debris flows, and historic levels of flooding inundated and destroyed homes, businesses, parks, hospitals, the electrical, cellular and water system infrastructure, and damaged thousands of roads, highways and bridges, as examples. Additional information is currently being assembled that summarizes the vast scope of damage produced by Helene. Helene was the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since Maria (2017), and the deadliest to strike the U.S. mainland since Katrina (2005).