Ranking the Impact of Hurricane Helene

Image courtesy of The National Guard under Attribution 2.0 Generic License, resized to 700 x 391 pixels.

Hurricane Helene hit Florida’s Big Bend region one week ago as of the time of this writing.  The Category-4 hurricane already ranks as one of the deadliest storms to make landfall in modern U.S. history.

Hurricane Helene: Behind the Numbers

Hurricane Helene featured 140 mph wind speeds, as well as torrential downpours that caused massive waves of flooding.  Over 4 million people were without power at one point across a huge area spanning Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Ohio.

The storm also caused over 200 deaths (and counting?) in 6 states.  It’s one of just 9 U.S. hurricanes causing over 100 fatalities, and just 1 of 4 causing over 200, since 1950.  The last time any hurricane caused 100 or more fatalities was 7 years prior, when Hurricane Harvey, which made landfall neat Houston, TX, caused 103 deaths.

The deadliest storm to hit the U.S. was Hurricane Katrina, which landed in New Orleans in 2005 and was blamed for nearly 1,400 fatalities.  Aside from Katrina and Helene, the other 8 hurricanes that make the list of top-10 deadliest include:

1. Hurricane Audrey (1957): Made landfall in southwest, LA – $200 million in damage, and 416 U.S. deaths.
2. Hurricane Camille (1969): Made landfall in Bay St. Louis, MS – $1.42 billion in damage, and 256 U.S. deaths.
3. Hurricane Sandy (2012): Made landfall in Atlantic City, NJ – $65 billion in damage, and 219 U.S. deaths.
4. Hurricane Diana (1955): Made landfall near Wilmington, NC – $1 billion in damage, and 184 U.S. deaths.
5. Hurricane Ian (2022): Made landfall about 29 miles west of Fort Myers, FL – $113 billion in damage, and 156 U.S. deaths.
6. Hurricane Agnes (1972): Hurricane Ian (2022): Made landfall on Florida’s panhandle, FL – $2.1 billion in damage, and 122 U.S. deaths.
7. Hurricane Harvey (2017): Made landfall about 20 miles southeast of Houston, TX – $125 billion in damage, and 103 U.S. deaths.
8. Hurricane Hazel (1954): Made landfall in North Carolina – $308 million in damage, and 95 U.S. deaths.

It?s clear that Hurricane Helene already ranks as one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history.  It?s just more evidence that utility emergency preparedness is absolutely critical.