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The death toll from Hurricane Helene is rising, making it one of the deadliest

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As the toll from Helene reached at least 100 on Monday, the powerful storm that swept across the Southeast and dumped epic rains has become one of the deadliest hurricanes to make landfall on the U.S. mainland in modern times.

Since 1950, only eight hurricanes have caused more than 100 deaths in the contiguous 48 states. Hurricane Harvey, which flooded Houston and the surrounding region in 2017, claimed 103 lives.

Officials in the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee have reported deaths. Falling trees were the most common cause of death, according to preliminary reports.

Hundreds of people remain missing, and search and rescue operations were underway in Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee on Monday, officials said. Trained teams are deployed from across the country, said Diana Marty, who is overseeing search operations in Pinellas County, Florida, where at least nine deaths have been reported as a result of the historic storm surge that Helene caused along the coast.

Devastating flooding has devastated communities along the Blue Ridge Mountains from Georgia to Tennessee. Helene and a pre-hurricane wave of moisture dropped overwhelming amounts of 10 to 30 inches of rain. They drive torrents of water from steep mountain ridges into narrow valleys.

At least 35 people died in a county in the US state of North Carolina

North Carolina was hit particularly hard. The confirmed death toll rose to 35 in Buncombe County alone and an increase is expected, officials said. Authorities say there are still about 600 missing person reports, but many are expected to be resolved once communications are restored.

And the number of victims could rise. In Unicoi, Tennessee, where one death was confirmed Sunday, Unicoi County Emergency Management Agency spokesman Myron Hughes said, “We expect this number to change.”

Hurricane Katrina, which struck Mississippi and Louisiana in August 2005, remains the deadliest storm since 1950 and the third deadliest since the 19th century.

Cards show devastation: Trace Hurricane Helene's 800-mile path of destruction through the Southeast

Deadliest hurricanes in the USA

The deadliest hurricanes are listed below by rank, name, year and number of deaths, according to the National Hurricane Center.

  1. Katrina – 2005, 1,392
  2. Audrey – 1957, 416
  3. Camille – 1969, 256
  4. Sandy – 2012, 219
  5. Diane – 1955, 184
  6. Ian – 2022, 156
  7. Agnes – 1972, 122
  8. Harvey – 2017, 103
  9. Helene (provisional), 100
  10. hazel – 1954, 95
  11. Irma – 2017, 92
  12. Ike – 2008, 85
  13. Ida – 2021, 87
  14. Betsy – 1965, 75
  15. Andrew – 1992, 65
  16. Rita – 2005, 62
  17. Carol – 1954, 60
  18. Michael – 2018, 59
  19. Ivan – 2001, 57
  20. Floyd – 1999, 56
  21. Matthew – 2016, 52
  22. Florence – 2018, 52
  23. Isabel – 2003, 51
  24. donna – 1960, 50

Source: National Hurricane Center reports

(This story has been updated to correct a spelling/typo error.)

Contributor: Areena Arora, Knoxville News Sentinel

Dinah Voyles Pulver covers climate change and the environment for USA TODAY. She has been writing about hurricanes, tornadoes and severe weather for more than 30 years. Reach her at [email protected] or @dinahvp.

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