Note: These stories are a series of profiles accompanying Helene: What We Lost, What We Found, a powerful investigative documentary examining the devastation and resilience that followed Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina. Watch the documentary everywhere you stream WRAL.

Hurricane Helene ravaged western North Carolina a year ago.

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The center of Helene approached the South Carolina-North Carolina state line around 8 a.m. ET Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. It brought widespread destruction from flooding, landslides and strong wind gusts across the southern Appalachians.

There was rain that hit western North Carolina before Helene’s arrival, too. The National Weather Service’s Helene report states the southern Appalachians were primed for flooding by rainfall on Sept . 25-26, 2024, which was before Helene’s arrival.

The speed of Helene pivoted around the cut-off low, which resulted in hurricane-force wind gusts in the mountains of western North Carolina.

WRAL News compiled some of the key figures and datapoints that define the damage Helene left behind.

At least 250 people dead

Helene was the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since Maria (2017), and the deadliest to strike the U.S. mainland since Katrina (2005).

The National Hurricane Center [NHC] shows North Carolina had 107 deaths from Helene, 86 direct deaths and 21 indirect deaths.

Many indirect deaths were from medical issues, heart attacks, car crashes and incidents during post-storm cleanup.

$78.7 billion in damage

Helene caused an estimated $78.7 billion worth of damage, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information.

Helene heavily impacted Asheville and many surrounding cities and communities.

Here are the highest rainfall totals by North Carolina County, according to the NHC:

  • Yancey: 30.78 inches
    • Transylvania: 29.98 inches
      • Mitchell: 23.31 inches
        • Avery: 22.85 inches
          • Henderson: 21.70 inches
            • McDowell: 21.68 inches
              • Watauga: 21.60 inches
                • Buncombe: 21.07 inches
                  • Polk: 18.24 inches

                    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 infrastructure, and damaged thousands of roads, highways and bridges.

                    Helene is the fifth-costliest Atlantic hurricane on record adjusted for inflation behind Katrina, Harvey, Ian and Maria.

                    Highest recorded winds overall: 140 mph

                    Hurricane Helene had 140 mph winds and was a Category 4 major hurricane when it made landfall on Sept. 27, 2024, about 10 miles southwest of Perry, Florida.

                    Highest recorded winds in North Carolina: About 106 mph

                    Helene’s highest wind speeds in North Carolina were about 106 mph (92 kt) around 8 a.m. ET Friday, Sept. 27, 2024,  at Mount Mitchell in Yancey County, according to the National Hurricane Center [NHC].

                    Also on Sept. 27, 2024, Banner Elk in Watauga County recorded wind speeds of 101 mph (88 kt) and Flying Pan Mountain in Haywood County had wind speeds of 87 mph (76 kt).

                    Helene brought rainfall totals between 20 to 30 inches in western North Carolina

                    The NHC reported rainfall amounts of 20 to 30 inches occurred over a large area within the mountainous region of western North Carolina. 

                    The highest observed rainfall total was in Busick, North Carolina, where 30.78 inches was recorded from Sept. 25 to Sept. 28, according to the NHC.

                    A National Weather Service Cooperative Observer Program (COOP) observer near Celo, North Carolina, measured 26.65 inches of rain.

                    Busick and Celo are located in Yancey County.  

                    Farther south, a rainfall total of 29.98 inches was measured in Transylvania County, a short distance north of the South Carolina stateline.

                    The next highest rainfall total outside of North Carolina from Helene was in Greenville, South Carolina, which had 21.66 inches of rain.

                    The NOAA National Water Center (NWC) produced a map of three-day annual exceedance probabilities, which details the rarity of the rainfall totals.  An area stretching from northwestern South Carolina into western North Carolina and southwestern Virginia received three-day rainfall totals that had less than a 1 in 1,000 (<0.1%) chance of occurring in any given year.

                    33 tornadoes

                    The NHC said Helene produced 33 tornadoes in the United States while it was a tropical cyclone from Sept. 26-27, 2024, and six additional tornadoes after it became post-tropical.

                    Of the 33 tornadoes that Helene produced while it was a tropical cyclone, six occurred in North Carolina, three in Florida, three in Georgia and 21 in South Carolina.

                    One of Helene’s tornadoes was deadly. Two people lost their lives inside a mobile home that was hit by an EF1 tornado in Wheeler County, Georgia.

                    In North Carolina, an EF3 tornado happened on Sept. 27, 2024, in Nash County.

                    After Helene became post-tropical, Rockingham County had an EF1 tornado.

                    34 flash flood emergencies issued

                    A total of 34 flash flood emergencies were issued in association with Helene.

                    Two were issued around the Atlanta metro area, with the remaining 32 across the southern Appalachians, with a maximum density over western North Carolina.

                    The National Weather Service [NWS] issued an initial flash flood emergency at 5:54 p.m. ET, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, relating to a dam release in Charlotte.

                    However, the NWS issued its first weather-driven flash flood emergency at 3:39 a.m. ET Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, as the core of Helene approached the western Carolinas.

                    Heavy rainfall rates as high as 2 to 3 inches per hour associated with the core of Helene moved over these areas on the morning of Sept. 27, 2024. Catastrophic flash flooding occurred, triggering numerous flash-flood emergencies. Widespread landslides also occurred, with the United States Geological Survey documenting more than 2,000 landslides, with the majority located over western North Carolina.

                    Preliminary estimates are that at least 63 stream and river gauges exceeded their record flood levels during Helene, from northwestern South Carolina into southwestern North Carolina, northeastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia.

                    Damage to North Carolina

                    In the NHC’s official report on Hurricane Helene, it mentions how media reports indicate that the storm damaged or destroyed more than 125,000 housing units across western North Carolina. 

                    The North Carolina Forest Service estimated 822,000 acres of damaged timberland, which resulted in $214 million in damage to North Carolina forests.

                    In Buncombe County, flash flooding, river flooding and landslides were directly responsible for at least 37 deaths. Landslides killed 16 people in the Fairview area. In the towns of Swannanoa and Black Mountain, at least nine people drowned in the Swannanoa River’s floodwaters, where multiple homes, businesses and roads were destroyed.

                    At least six deaths occurred in the city of Asheville;  the exact locations of six other deaths are unknown.

                    More than 490 water rescues were performed across Buncombe County. Historic river flooding was particularly damaging to the lower-lying areas of Asheville along the French Broad and Swannanoa Rivers. 

                    In the historic Biltmore Village, located on the south bank of the intersection of where the Swannanoa River flows into the French Broad River, lower-lying buildings were inundated with deep water or swept away. Asheville’s historic River Arts District, located 1 mile north of the Biltmore Estate along the French Broad River, was largely destroyed.

                    In addition, significant flooding was reported along the Ivy River in Barnardsville, where multiple structures were inundated.

                    In the southeast part of the county, flooding from the Broad River impacted several structures and multiple roads.  At least 300 landslides occurred in Buncombe County.

                    Helene caused extensive damage to Asheville’s water treatment infrastructure, and clean water was not restored to the city until Nov. 18, 53 days after Helene passed through the area.

                    Power was restored to more than half of Asheville’s customers within a week, although media reports indicate that 25,000 Asheville customers were still without power two weeks after Helene.

                    Tens of thousands of trees were knocked down across the county, with hundreds down on homes due to a combination of strong wind gusts and debris flows.

                    Media reports indicate that more than 560 structures were destroyed and at least 901 structures sustained major damage in Buncombe County, with an additional 8,920 homes/buildings incurring minor or moderate damage.

                    Helene: What we've lost, what we've found: Watch on WRAL 

                    During the summer of 2025, WRAL reporters Eric Miller and Cristin Severance and photographers Sean Braswell and Dwayne Myers spent a week in the mountains, talking to people about the progress made and work still to be done almost a year after Hurricane Helene. 

                    The WRAL Documentary "Helene: What we've lost, what we've found" will debut Sept. 25 at 7:30 p.m. on WRAL-TV. You can stream is everywhere you find WRAL.