Hurricane Helene and the aftermath of the Category 4 storm have left over 100 people dead, millions without power and destruction not seen in decades in several states since making landfall Thursday night.
What Happened: The hurricane, which shut down airports, roads and bridges, theme parks and sporting contests ahead of the storm’s landfall, further devastated the states in its path after making landfall.
At least 102 people are dead across the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia, as reported by CNN.
With more than 100 dead, Hurricane Helene now ranks as one of the deadliest hurricanes to hit the U.S. in the last 50 years. Hurricane Katrina had 1,833 fatalities and remains the worst storm in the last 50 years. Helene ranks third behind Katrina and Hurricane Ian, which caused 150 deaths.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Hurricane Helene "spared no one" when it came to the storm path.
"It looks like a tornado went off, it looks like a bomb went off," Kemp said.
Regions in North Carolina and South Carolina received four to five months worth of rain over a three-day period.
The federal government has declared a public health emergency for Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. Federal disaster declarations have been made for Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
President Joe Biden is set to visit some of the impacted areas later this week "as soon as it will not disrupt emergency response operations," the White House said. Former President Donald Trump is set to visit areas impacted by the hurricane on Monday.
Read Also: Hurricane Helene Exposes Vulnerability Of Florida’s Home Insurance Market
North Carolina Hit Hard: Among the states most affected by Hurricane Helene is North Carolina, with Buncombe County, home of the city of Asheville, accounting for at least 40 of the storm fatalities.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper called Hurricane Helene "one of the worst storms in modern history."
Over 200 roads are closed in North Carolina as of Monday, with many people still unaccounted for, meaning the fatality count could rise in the coming days.
The hurricane damage in North Carolina could impact several key industries, with the state’s plastics/chemical workforce being one of the country’s largest, as well as North Carolina being a large employer in the automotive sector, the home of several large financial companies, the second largest turbine manufacturer and a key semiconductor manufacturer.
The state is one of the largest textile manufacturers in the country and is the home of Hanesbrands Inc HBI.
Fourteen of the Fortune 500 companies call North Carolina home, including Bank of America BAC and Lowe's Companies LOW.
Lowe's and peer home improvement company Home Depot HD are among the companies that could benefit from the restoration efforts in the region and the home repairs and rebuilds needed in the coming months.
Power Outages: Over 4 million homes had no power as of Friday across Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.
As of Monday morning, 2 million homes and businesses remain without power.
Duke Energy DUK, which is headquartered in North Carolina, offers utilities to several of the states impacted by the storm. The company said it has restored power to more than 1.1 million people in North Carolina and South Carolina with over 900,000 customers still without power as of Sunday night, primarily in the Carolinas.
Helen’s aftermath could be a long process for Duke Energy, which is a publicly traded company.
"Based on what we can see on the ground, from helicopter and by drone, there are lots of areas across the South Carolina Upstate and North Carolina mountains where we're going to have to completely rebuild parts of our system, not just repair it," Duke Energy storm director for the Carolinas Jason Hollifield said.
Georgia Power, which is a unit of Southern Company SO, is another utility company that faced heavy power outages. The company said Sunday that it had restored power for around 690,000 customers and around 425,000 are still without power.
The utility company said Hurricane Helene was the "most destructive hurricane" in company history. The company estimates it will have to replace or repair over 5,000 power poles, over 9,000 spans of wire and over 500 transformers.
Generator company Generac Holdings GNRC could see a lift in the current quarter with heavy purchases likely to have been made ahead of the storm.
Insurance Impact: After the hurricane hit an area of Florida with a lower population than other regions, a report from the Miami Herald said the losses from the storm could be modest for the state's insurance market and smaller than Hurricane Ian (2022) and Hurricane Michael (2018).
Ahead of the storm, a report from reinsurance company Gallagher Re, which is a unit of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co AJG, said private insurers' losses could come in a range of $3 billion to $6 billion across multiple states.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc BRKBRK, Allstate Corporation ALL and Travelers Companies TRV are among the publicly traded companies that could be impacted by the insurance claims from the hurricane.
A new report from AccuWeather, shared by NBC News, says the total damage from the storm and the economic loss could total a range of $145 billion to $160 billion. The previous AccuWeather estimate was a range of $95 billion to $100 billion.
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