Helene: In frigid temperatures, thousands in North Carolina remain without power

More than 12,000 customers remained without power on a Tuesday morning with temperatures barely above freezing in the North Carolina mountains on the third week since Hurricane Helene’s remnants crushed the region.

The nation’s fourth deadliest storm in the last three-quarters of a century killed 42 in Buncombe County, where overnight temperatures at Asheville Regional Airport dipped to the mid-30s. The state Health Department on Monday said 95 have died related to the storm.

According to poweroutage.us at 8:30 a.m., the county had 3,331 without power. There were 4,136 in neighboring Yancey County; 3,530 in Mitchell; 242 in Madison; and 114 in Avery.

Helene came ashore in the Big Bend of Florida on Sept. 26 as a Category 4 hurricane. It moved swiftly through Georgia and dissipated over the Appalachian Mountains and Tennessee, dumping more than 30 inches of rain into multiple locations.

The terrain created violent rushes of water and mud through a number of communities. The Swannanoa River crested at Biltmore Village at 26.1 feet, breaking the record of 20.7 feet set in the Great Flood of 1916. Flood stage is 10 feet. At the French Broad River in Asheville, flood stage is 9.5 feet, the Great Flood set the record of 23 feet, and Helene topped it at 24.67 feet.

Tuesday morning, the state’s road closure report included 579 – three on interstates, 38 federal highways, 58 state roads, and 480 secondary roads. Early estimates are for about 100 mountain bridges to need replacement.

Estimated damage, pending on metrics for calculation, has ranged as high as $250 billion.

An exact number killed has varied. When hurricanes hit, there are different numbers used pending on the agency and metrics it considers. For example, the state Department of Health and Human Services number includes a death in Wake County of a displaced Buncombe County resident who fell and died because of those injuries in her temporary housing.

The more than seven dozen fatalities include 20 categorized as drowning; 11 by landslide; 10 by blunt force; and 34 unknown circumstances. In addition to 42 in Buncombe, other counties with the most deaths from the storm were Yancey (11), Henderson (seven) and Haywood (five). There were four each in Avery and Madison.

An exact number of deaths across multiple states is unclear, though it is believed between 206 and 251. There are two different numbers, respectively, for North Carolina (95 and 124), Tennessee (six and 17) and Florida (20 and 25); published reports put the figure at 49 for South Carolina, 33 for Georgia, two in Virginia, and one in Indiana.

Only Katrina (2005, deaths 1,392), Audrey (1957, deaths 416) and Camille (1969, deaths 256) killed more people by hurricane since 1950.