‘Astronomical’: How much rain was dumped by Hurricane Helene in the Southeast?

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — The damage done by Hurricane Helene since late last week has been a lot to process for many, including those who are specialists in preparing for these events.

During a Wednesday briefing in Raleigh attended by President Joe Biden, Director of North Carolina Emergency Management William Ray called the precipitation North Carolina saw across three days from Hurricane Helene “extreme and unrelenting.”

New figures from current and former experts with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have put a new perspective on the sheer volume of rain that Helene inflicted.

40 trillion gallons

A staggering number first put out by meteorologist Ryan Maue, a former NOAA chief scientist, was that 40 trillion gallons of rain drenched the Southeast from Hurricane Helene and a run-of-the-mill rainstorm which pre-saturated grounds across the hardest-hit states.

The Associated Press spoke with Ed Clark, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Water Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Clark, who did his own independent calculations, said the 40 trillion gallon figure was “about right and, if anything, conservative.”

How much water is that?

To put this hard-to-imagine amount of water into perspective, this level of unheard-of rainwater could:

• Fill the Dallas Cowboy’s stadium 51,000 times
• Fill Lake Tahoe (once)
• Fill 60 million Olympic-size swimming pools

That much rainfall equates to 619 days of constant water flow over Niagara Falls, which drops roughly 750,000 gallons of water every second .

Rainfall in Upstate and western North Carolina

Portions of western North Carolina and the Upstate saw rainfall totals measuring in the feet.

In North Carolina, Busick in Yancey County received 30.78″ of rain during the from Tuesday through Saturday before and during Hurricane Helene.

Spruce Pine in Mitchell County received just over two feet of rain while Hendersonville received nearly 22 inches and Swannanoa received just over 13 inches of rain. The airport in Asheville recorded more than 15 inches of rain.

In the Upstate, areas along the state line received the most rain, with totals approaching 22 inches near Rocky Bottom in Pickens County.

Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport tallied 8.63″ of rain while Anderson received 9.42″.

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