Recap on States Impacted By Hurricane Helene & Milton; Videos & Death Count
Who is benefiting from not providing an accurate assessment regarding the untold destruction and the countless unconfirmed deaths from Hurricane Helene?
Realtor Leigh Thomas Brown asks in her latest video “I’ve got one question for y’all today: Who benefits from this inaccurate death toll after Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina? The official number is in the low 200s, but reliable sources say the actual count could be closer to 3,000. So, why the big gap? When it comes to politics or business, there’s one golden rule: follow the money. Here’s the hard truth: if someone passes away, their family needs a death certificate to claim Social Security benefits or life insurance payouts. Without that certificate, families are left waiting—grieving without the closure or financial support they deserve. Now, y’all know the Bible says, “The love of money is the root of all evil.” So I’ll ask again: who loves money so much that they’re willing to let grieving families suffer for it?”
North Carolina Helene Damage
The office of Governor Roy Cooper provided an assessment from the North Carolina Office of State Budget & Management stating “Hurricane Helene is the worst storm in our state’s history, causing the tragic deaths of more than 100 North Carolinians. Helene caused a staggering amount of destruction to housing, infrastructure, and our economy. A preliminary damage and needs assessment conducted by the North Carolina Office of State Budget & Management points to an overall impact on our state from Helene in excess of $53 billion. This is more than three times that of Hurricane Florence in 2018.” President Biden declared a Major Disaster and FEMA has designated 39 counties for federal disaster assistance. An estimated 4.6 million people – more than 40% of the state’s population – live in one of the designated counties. Entire communities lost access to lifeline services like water, power, and communications. Over 1,000 roads and bridges were damaged and closed for traffic including major highways.
South Carolina Helene Damage
WYFF News Channel 4 reports “The U.S. National Weather Service Greenville-Spartanburg South Carolina released the wind damage assessment of Helene.
On Wednesday, NWS released the complete wind damage assessment that Helene had on the Carolinas. Officials said the assessment was completed by piecing together hundreds of crowdsourced damage pictures and videos, drone and aerial imagery, and high-resolution satellite imagery.
When the hurricane hit in late September, Helene caused extensive damage to trees and power infrastructure across much of the area. Officials noted structural damage not caused by falling trees occurred in some of the hardest hit areas.
GREENVILLE, S.C. (WSPA) The city said that in response to the abundance of damage across the county, building permit fees will be waived for storm damage repairs. Planning & Development will not require certificates of appropriateness for building permits. Damage is wide spread and includes:
Greenville
Greenville reported that:
1,300 buildings sustained minor damage
650 buildings sustained significant damage
More than 50 buildings or homes were classified as a total loss
The Hudson Street Bridge was not repairable and could be closed up to a year.
The South Carolina Forestry Commission (SCFC) chainsaw crews worked to clear trees from roads in the hardest-hit areas for more than a week after the storm. Present day damage assessment is estimated to be $$194 MILLION. A full damage assessment report will take months to ascertain. The counties with the heaviest losses in terms of value were Edgefield, Spartanburg, Pickens, McCormick and Aiken. The total timber damage was estimated to be $83 million across a 20-county area. This value is strictly timber value and does not include damage to infrastructure, which is substantial but not quantified.
FEMA has announced the Total Individual & Households Program Dollars Approved thus far equals $230,896,064.56, for South Carolina for disaster recovery.
Georgia Hurricane Helene Damage
These preliminary estimates are presented in the millions of dollars and based on data gathered by UGA Cooperative Extension agents and specialists working in each of Georgia's 159 counties as well as projections by UGA commodity analysts. Timber damage estimates have been provided by the Georgia Forestry Commission and the UGA Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources.
According to the Georgia Department of Agriculture, Hurricane Helene affected every crop that Georgia farmers produce. Total estimated crop damage is estimated to be at least $5.5 billion in total per early estimates.
The City of Savannah continues to respond to impacts from Hurricane Helene. City administrative offices and facilities reopened on Tuesday after tropical storm Helene passed through the state.
The City of Savannah reports “Following a complete assessment by the Damage Assessment Teams, the City calculates 339 structures were affected, 15 with minor damage, 96 with major damage and 8 were destroyed during the event. There was no damage reported to City facilities although several remained without power through Tuesday.”
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) FEMA says it has approved $239 million in housing and other types of assistance for Georgia households and $230 million for South Carolina homeowners.
Major Disaster Declaration for Individual & Public Assistance
The Georgia Emergency Management & Homeland Security Agency declared additional Major Disaster Declaration for Hurricane Helene areas and now covers Stephens and Wilkes counties for Individual Assistance. Public Assistance will cover Baldwin, Crisp and Paulding counties.
The following counties were previously approved for Individual Assistance following assessments: Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brantley, Brooks, Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Butts, Camden, Candler, Charlton, Chatham, Clinch, Coffee, Colquitt, Columbia, Cook, Dodge, Echols, Effingham, Elbert, Emanuel, Evans, Fulton, Glascock, Glynn, Hancock, Irwin, Jeff Davis, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Lanier, Laurens, Liberty, Lincoln, Long, Lowndes, McDuffie, McIntosh, Montgomery, Newton, Pierce, Rabun, Richmond, Screven, Taliaferro, Tattnall, Telfair, Thomas, Tift, Toombs, Treutlen, Ware, Warren, Washington, Wayne, and Wheeler.
Individual Assistance can fund individual and family recovery efforts, which may include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of Hurricane Helene.
The following counties were previously approved for Public Assistance following assessments: Banks, Bleckley, Dawson, Decatur, Dooly, Franklin, Gilmer, Grady, Greene Habersham, Hart, Jackson, Jasper, Lamar, Lumpkin, Madison, Mitchell, Monroe, Morgan, Oglethorpe, Pike, Pulaski, Putnam, Stephens, Turner, Twiggs, White, Wilcox, Wilkes, Wilkinson and Worth.
Public Assistance can fund debris removal and emergency work on a public facility and may assist with funding for permanently restoring community infrastructure affected by a federally declared incident. Eligible applicants include state and local government entities and qualified non-profit (PNP) organizations.
For more information on how to apply for Public Assistance, click here.
Tennessee Hurricane Helene Damage
RFD TV reports Almost Apocalyptic: Tennessee agriculture is still recovering after Hurricane Helene, “It’s been tragic for us. We’ve got eight counties that were declared a federal disaster by the government”, says Tennessee Ag Commissioner Charlie Hatcher.
Flood waters from the Nolichucky River rage near Jackson Love Highway and Interstate 26 in Erwin, Tenn., on Friday Sept. 27, 2024, Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel.
WKDZ FM 106.5 reports the Tennessee Valley Authority TVA Officials Give Update On Tropical Storm Helene Efforts , TVA Chief Operating Officer Don Moul said “Many flood records, and several “firsts,” were observed — and he noted the amount of rainfall observed was “record-setting.” In fact, Moul said:
Flood mitigation strategies prevented more than $400 million in potential damages
Dams in the TVA system stored more than 400 billion gallons of water, enough to fill more than 610,000 Olympic swimming pools
Without TVA’s hydroelectric system, Lenoir City and Chattanooga, Tennessee, would have been more than 20 feet higher than observed flood stage
Nolichucky Dam, located in Greeneville, Tennessee, withstood twice the flow of Niagara Falls
And between September 29 and October 5, TVA’s hydro units generated an average 2,860 megawatts of clean energy per day, which is more than 1,600 megawatts more than the average during the same time last year.
Farm Progress reports “direct loss estimates in Tennessee from Hurricane Helene range from $300.8 million to $1.12 billion. Those include crop, inventory and revenue losses in addition to the multiplier effect as revenue circulates through local economies.” Losses could range from as low as $772 million to $1.93 billion, the report indicates. “Estimates have a large range due to limitations on data availability and uncertainty regarding the regions long term recovery.” said Aaron Smith, UT Professor and Extension economist.
ABC 11 reported “at least 54 people were trapped on the roof of a hospital in Tennessee on September 27th “after floodwaters due to Hurricane Helene quickly surrounded the medical center.” For many Americans, this was the first live report of the wide spread damage that was occurring across multiple states because of severed communication systems.
Everyone was rescued safely, Sen. Bill Hagerty said in a statement.
Virginia Hurricane Helene Damage
Virginia Tech News reports the “economic analysis suggests the final price tag for the damage from Hurricane Helene to Virginia’s agriculture, forestry, and related industries will fall between $416 million and $630 million.”
“As of Nov. 8, Extension agents in 23 localities and the Virginia Department of Forestry had estimated $174.2 million in direct losses from the hurricane. Using their estimates and input, Bovay was able to calculate and include future losses and ripple effects to the regional economy.
Bovay estimated future income losses for farmers at $50.7 million – primarily from land being taken out of production by the storm damage. He said those losses will be heaviest for Virginia producers of Christmas trees, blueberries, beef cattle, and apples.”
ABC 13 News reports Pulaski County in Virginia is still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Helene after the storm ripped through totally destroying 12 homes and substantially damaging many more. Michelle provided a video asking people to please don’t forget about Grayson County, Virginia explaining this is “only a very tiny portion of Grayson County”
Florida Damage
In a two week span, Florida was hit with Hurricanes Helene and Milton and caused significant damage to the state, including:
Insurance claims
As of November 26, 2024, Florida residents filed $4.775 billion in insurance claims for damage from the storms. Hurricane Milton was responsible for the majority of the estimated insured losses, totaling $3.18 billion.
What to know about Hurricane Milton
Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida, on Wednesday night, Oct. 9, as a Category 3 storm.
At least 24 people died from the storm, officials confirmed to CBS News.
Milton moved across the Florida peninsula and out over the Atlantic Ocean.
Follow updates below.
Videos were quickly shared to social media of storm surges in the cities of Venice, which is located about 17 miles south of Siesta Key, and Punta Gorda, located over 50 miles southeast of Siesta Key in neighboring Charlotte County. Punta Gorda was hit with a 14 foot storm surge devasting large swaths of city blocks. Long time residents stated the flooding was the worst they have ever experienced including people that lived through hurricane Charlie in 2004.
Bucred55 reported live as the flooding continued in Punta Gorda from hurricane Milton stating “This is my street where I live East Helene Avenue Punta gorda Fl. Surge was coming in. Everybody wanna live here in florida until its time for this. Only the strong survive.”
According to AccuWeather the estimated damage and economic loss from Hurricanes Helene and Milton are:
Hurricane Helene: $225–$250 billion in damage and economic loss
Hurricane Milton: $160–$180 billion in damage and economic loss
The combined damage and economic loss from these two hurricanes is nearly 2% of the country's GDP. This loss is mainly focused in the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025. The total number of deaths from Hurricanes Helene and Milton was at least 256:
Hurricane Helene
Caused at least 232 deaths across six states, including Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Helene was the second-deadliest tropical storm to hit the contiguous United States in 50 years.
Hurricane Milton
Caused at least 17 deaths in Florida. Milton made landfall near Siesta Key on October 9, 2024, with Category 3 winds of 120 mph. The storm caused a tornado outbreak across Florida and knocked out power to millions of people.
There are still voluntary search and rescue teams in North Carolina and Tennessee sifting through the debris of swept away homes trying to identify the missing people that may have parished as their homes were washed away miles down the river. Winter is setting in and the rescue teams will soon have to end the search until spring. The total loss of life and financial damage is still being assessed and the final numbers will properly take years before an accurate report is finalized. Until then, I offer my prayers to all the families still waiting and wondering what happened to my family member(s).
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Excellent journalism! I had no idea there was so much destruction throughout such a wide area! We need to cover those little-talked about cities and counties more often!