Helene Deadliest Storm to Hit Mainland US Since Katrina

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Hurricane Helene’s official death toll rose to at least 215 people Thursday, making it the deadliest storm to hit the U.S. mainland since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Axios reported.

On Friday, NBC News reported the death toll had risen to at least 223.

The storm devastated six Southeastern states after making landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast Sept. 26 as a Category 4 storm. Hardest-hit areas include western North Carolina, South Carolina, and northern Georgia.

More than 600,000 people remained without power in those states as of Friday afternoon.

In Asheville, North Carolina, nearly 14 inches of rain fell from Sept. 25-27, swamping neighborhoods, causing landslides, and knocking out electricity and cell service.

Hundreds remain missing in North Carolina, and on Friday, 1,000 active duty troops from North Carolina’s Fort Liberty arrived in the region to help with search and recovery efforts. They join National Guard troops already on the ground.

Officials said the troops’ responsibilities will “include delivering support and commodities to impacted and isolated communities, assisting with supply point logistics at commodity staging locations, and removing debris from affected routes.”

Helene is now one of the three deadliest U.S. hurricanes in the past 50 years, surpassed only by Katrina, with 1,392 deaths, and Hurricane Maria, which struck Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2017, killing at least 2,975 people. Hurricane Camille in 1969 also triggered flash flooding across the Appalachians, and 259 deaths, both direct and indirect, are attributed to Camille.