Helene death toll rises to 200, making it deadliest storm to hit mainland US since Hurricane Katrina

The confirmed death toll for Hurricane Helene rose to at least 200 people as of Wednesday evening, The Associated Press reported, making it the deadliest hurricane since Katrina to hit the mainland U.S. The death toll was at 189 Thursday morning but eight new deaths reported in Georgia and three from North Carolina upped that number to 200 by noon. Search and rescue operations continued Thursday in the mountains of western North Carolina, which bore the worst of the storm. The storm surge, wind damage and inland flooding from Hurricane Helene have been catastrophic, flooding neighborhoods, stranding residents and destroying homes in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.