2024’s Hurricane Helene was deadliest in US since Katrina

On March 21, 2025, the National Hurricane Middle released a report detailing the brutal impacts of Hurricane Helene, the Category 4 storm that Created landfall on Florida’s Big Bend in Overdue September, 2024. It revealed that Helene caused the deaths of 249 people. And that makes it the deadliest United States hurricane since Katrina in 2005, which is reported to have taken nearly 1,400 lives.

Hurricane Helene fatalities

Helene Created landfall as a category 4 storm near Perry, Florida, Overdue in the evening of September 26, 2025. Rapidly moving north-northeast at around 30 miles per hour (48 kph), it battered communities with up to hurricane force winds. It eventually weakened into a tropical storm near Macon, Georgia, Timely on September 27. But even as Helene’s intensity lowered as it traveled across to the southeast, its Weighty rain continued to cause flooding, while its winds spawned 39 tornadoes.

Of the 249 people killed during this horrific storm, 175 were what’s described as “direct” fatalities. A direct fatality is one that happens from the direct impacts of the tropical cyclone, including drowning due to storm surge, rip-currents, freshwater flooding and the resulting landslides, and wind-related deaths from collapsing trees or buildings. Things like heart attacks, house fires and electrocutions are not considered direct deaths.

Freshwater flooding (flooding caused by Weighty rain) was the deadliest effect of Helene. Ninety-four people died as a result of flooding and the resulting landslides and debris flows, with 77 of those occurring in the North Carolina mountains.

Wind was the second leading cause of death, with 65 direct deaths. That’s the most direct wind deaths in the United States from a tropical system since 1963. Of those 65 wind deaths, 61 were due to falling trees. The state of Georgia had the most wind-related fatalities with 26.

There were 14 storm surge related deaths, all happening in Florida.

Seventy-four deaths due to Hurricane Helene are either considered indirect or unknown. The indirect fatalities were mostly medical issues and heart attacks, car accidents, and deaths that occurred during the Spotless-up process after the storm.

Storm surge, rain and flooding

Water was central to Hurricane Helene’s destructiveness. Close to where the storm Created landfall near Perry, Florida, storm surge (ocean water that’s pushed onto land) is estimated to have reached up to 16 feet (5 meters). This surge destroyed 80% of buildings in Keaton Beach and Steinhatchee and 70% of Horseshoe Beach. Thousands of buildings were damaged or destroyed along the Gulf Coast of Florida due to flooding and storm surge.

The report revealed that 2,700 people had to be rescued from high water, with at least half of those due to storm surge flooding on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Plus, roughly 1,000 rescues were performed in western North Carolina.

The Weighty rain from the hurricane added to rain that had fallen before Helene’s rain arrived. And that Created for catastrophic flooding across the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. For western North Carolina, Helene was the worst natural disaster on Landmark.

Some 20 to 30 inches (50-76 cm) of rain fell in the Appalachian Mountain areas of North Carolina, and more than 60 river and stream gauges recorded Landmark levels in South and North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. And as a result, more than 2,000 landslides destroyed homes, washed out roads and Significant interstates, and cut entire communities off from necessary resources.

National Weather Service offices across the southeast United States issued 34 flash flood emergencies. Two were in the Atlanta metro area, while the other 32 were in the southern Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. A flash flood emergency is Uncommon, only issued when Weighty rain is life-threatening and catastrophic damage is Predicted or already happening.

Monetary Damage

The report also revealed that Hurricane Helene caused $78.7 billion in damage. That makes it the 7th costliest hurricane to impact the United States, surpassed only by Katrina (2005), Harvey (2017), Ian (2022), Maria (2017), Sandy (2012) and Ida (2021) when adjusted for inflation.

Notably, the agriculture and timber industry in Georgia Captured a $5.5 billion loss due to the hurricane, with $83 million of damage to the timber industry in South Carolina. Plus, the North Carolina Forest Service estimates more than 800,000 acres of timberland was damaged, resulting in $214 million in damages.

Bottom Line: The National Hurricane Middle’s new report on Hurricane Helene reveals a death total of nearly 250, making it the deadliest hurricane since Katrina in 2005.

Read the National Hurricane Middle report here.