On This Date: Hurricane Helene Made Landfall, But There Was More To Come Jonathan ErdmanSeptember 26, 2025 at 7:00 AM 0 Often, the climax of any hurricane is its landfall. But last September was a stark reminder that hurricanes often leave their destructive marks well inland, not just at the coast.
- - On This Date: Hurricane Helene Made Landfall, But There Was More To Come
Jonathan ErdmanSeptember 26, 2025 at 7:00 AM
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Often, the climax of any hurricane is its landfall. But last September was a stark reminder that hurricanes often leave their destructive marks well inland, not just at the coast.
On Sept. 26, 2024, one year ago tonight, Hurricane Helene made a Category 4 landfall in northern Florida. It was the strongest hurricane on record to landfall in Florida's Big Bend region. It drove a 12- to 16-foot storm surge into Keaton Beach and Steinhatchee, leaving 80% of buildings destroyed. Helene also churned up a record storm surge in Cedar Key, Clearwater and St. Petersburg.
That's awful enough, but it was far from the end of Helene's tale.
Rain had already begun over the Southeast the previous day, well ahead of Helene's arrival — something meteorologists call a "predecessor rain event." This soaked the ground ahead of Helene's heaviest rain, which arrived early in the morning on Sept. 27.
Up to 30 inches of total rain fell in the Southern Appalachians, leading to catastrophic flooding.
At least 63 stream and river gauges set all-time record crests during Helene, according to the National Hurricane Center. Both the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers in Asheville, North Carolina, shattered their previous record crests from 1916.
The U.S. Geological Survey mapped 2,015 landslides in the southern Appalachians during Helene, primarily in western North Carolina. Half of those slides affected buildings, roads or rivers.
Helene's fast movement also led to deadly, damaging winds well inland, almost entirely from falling trees.
In all, Helene was the deadliest hurricane in the mainland U.S. — at least 250 deaths during and after the storm — since Katrina. Helene's $78.7 billion damage estimate placed it among the 10 costliest hurricanes in U.S. history.
Hurricane Helene Cedar Key surge damage
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
Source: "AOL General News"
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