AccuWeather reported today its latest damage estimate for Hurricane Helene, which made landfall Sept. 26-27 across several states on the East Coast, including Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia, among others. The storm was one of the deadliest in history, with more than 200 deaths reported so far. AccuWeather's last damage total is $225 billion to $250 billion, underscoring the severity of the damage. In comparison, the damage total for Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was $195 billion.
The U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and more are in the process of assessing damage to countless roads, bridges, airports and other critical infrastructure in the wake of Hurricane Helene. Some of those efforts include:
- The FHWA has reviewed damage to hundreds of bridges and other infrastructure across the Southeast. FHWA is also rapidly processing emergency funding requests to this region.
- The FAA has reopened airports across the damaged region and is in the process of distributing satellite communication kits and other gear to the region.
- The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has lifted some regulations temporarily to allow truck drivers to transport essential supplies to the region.
Recovery efforts will take on a unique complexity, as so many roads and bridges have washed out, and many of the damaged areas are remote or are located in geographically challenging areas.
"Remember, rural locations, and this has been such part of the problem here that we've seen, is that people that are located in some of the higher elevations, while they didn't experience as much flooding right in their area as the lower elevations and the places that were right near creeks and streams and rivers, but people at the higher elevations are dealing with a wide variety of impacts," said AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter said. "The roads to get down to those lower elevations are compromised and in many cases they are completely washed out."
AccuWeather's damage estimate includes insured and uninsured losses, business disruptions, job losses, medical costs, evacuation, cleanup, and long-term tourism impacts. Key factors in the high dollar total were additional death tolls, infrastructure damage and business interruptions. Interstates 26 and 40, significant routes that connect to other parts of the country, were washed out in several areas and could be closed for months as crews work to restore those roads.
"Bridges are washed out, and there's difficulty getting to people or assets that are located in the southern Appalachians. And I think that's going to be perhaps the lasting impact here is that much of this infrastructure is going to have to be repaired," Porter said. "When you're talking about roads that have been completely washed out or destroyed. Railroad track that are not even there anymore. Bridges that are not even there anymore. We're talking about a long path to be able to recover access and continuity of those business operations."
The damage estimate also takes into account the semiconductor industry. The semiconductor industry in the Southern Appalachians was hit hard, with much of the towns surrounding those component sites washed away in the storm.
"The concern is not only the shutdown of operations at some of those sites, but also the transit in and out of those sites," he said.
Porter added that many small businesses and residential homes were also hit hard and will need to be rebuilt. He added that many businesses and homeowners in the region, especially those not adjacent to waterways, tend to not have flood insurance. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 40 percent of companies do not reopen after a disaster.
