As search and rescue teams continue to examine stream beds and debris piles in hollers throughout North Carolina's western mountains, the toll of lives lost in Hurricane Helene's horrific flooding mounts daily. And with hundreds still missing, officials expect the number to rise.

Officials in four other states ‒ Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee ‒ also announced additional deaths this week, bringing the toll to 214, as of Thursday morning. That makes Helene the fourth deadliest landfalling hurricane in the mainland U.S. since 1950.

Counting the deadliest hurricanes can be tricky.  

If you include hurricanes in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands on the list, Maria in 2017 was the deadliest hurricane in the modern era. After a reassessment by the National Hurricane Center, Maria's final death toll was set at 2,975. However, there are studies indicating the loss of life related to Maria continued for months after the storm. (Similar studies have suggested all hurricane-related deaths may rise for years after a storm.)

That makes Maria the deadliest Atlantic hurricane in all of the U.S. since 1950.

Death estimates:Helene will likely cause thousands of deaths over decades, study suggests

If the entire history of Atlantic hurricanes dating back to 1851 is considered, the loss of life before modern forecasting and communications was much greater. That list is topped by the 1900 hurricane in Galveston, Texas, which killed at least 8,000 but possibly as many as 12,000, according to hurricane center information.

A hurricane in San Ciriaco, Puerto Rico claimed 3,369 lives in 1899. Only a few storms in the modern era would appear in a comparison of the deadliest storms on the full historical list. They include Maria, Katrina (which struck Mississippi and Louisiana in 2005), and Audrey (which in 1957 hit southwestern Louisiana and northern Texas).

In the strictest sense, Sandy was not a hurricane when it made landfall. It was a hurricane at one point, then transitioned into an extratropical storm as it arrived in the Northeast. Ultimately Sandy claimed at least 159 lives.

With those caveats, here's a look at the deadliest hurricanes to make landfall in the mainland U.S. since 1950:

  1. Katrina - 2005, 1,392
  2. Audrey - 1957, 416
  3. Camille - 1969, 256
  4. Helene - 2024, 214 (preliminary)
  5. Diane - 1955, 184
  6. Ian - 2022, 156
  7. Agnes - 1972, 122
  8. Harvey - 2017, 103
  9. Hazel - 1954, 95
  10. Irma - 2017, 92
  11. Ike - 2008, 85
  12. Ida - 2021, 87
  13. Betsy - 1965, 75
  14. Andrew - 1992, 65
  15. Rita - 2005, 62
  16. Carol - 1954, 60
  17. Michael - 2018, 59
  18. Ivan - 2004, 57
  19. Floyd - 1999, 56
  20. Matthew - 2016, 52

Dinah Voyles Pulver covers climate change and the environment for USA TODAY. She's written about hurricanes, tornadoes and violent weather for more than 30 years. Reach her at dpulver@gannett.com or @dinahvp.

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