Category 4 Hurricane Helene will be one of the costliest storms in United States history with total damage and economic loss estimated to be up to $160 billion, according to forecasters AccuWeather.

More than 100 people died after Helene hit Florida’s Gulf Coast, before tearing through the US South East causing floods and mudslides.

Originally, AccuWeather estimated the cost of the damage would be between $95 billion and $110 billion, but increased that to between $145 billion and $160 billion.

It said the increase reflected the additional grim damage reports received over the past 48 hours and made Hurricane Helene one of the costliest storms in US history.

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Catastrophic flooding in the southern Appalachians, including Asheville, North Carolina, and surrounding areas, as well as the widespread storm surge along the populated west coast of Florida, were significant contributing factors to the estimate, said AccuWeather.

“The scale of this historic flooding disaster in the southern Appalachians cannot be understated.

“The majority of homes and businesses in some communities were destroyed and some have been washed away,” said Jonathan Porter, AccuWeather’s chief meteorologist.

He added: “Bridges, roadways and other expensive and critical infrastructure have been heavily damaged or destroyed.

“Pictures and video from the scene, as limited as those reports have been due to ongoing major communication infrastructure damage, suggest one of the worst flooding disasters in United States history, with tragically striking similarities in damage to other catastrophic floods such as flooding associated with Hurricane Katrina, the flooding from Hurricane Harvey and the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, floods of 1889 and 1977.”

Mr Porter said the impacts from Helene had devastated communities and strained emergency resources.

“This is a tremendous humanitarian disaster with many people in urgent need of critical help.

“It is heartbreaking that so many lives were lost in this catastrophic inland flash flooding. We do not use the terms ‘catastrophic’ or ‘extreme’ lightly,” added Mr Porter.

Hurricane Ian, in 2022, caused $180 billion to $210 billion in total damage and economic loss; Hurricane Harvey caused $190 billion in damage and economic loss in 2017, Sandy in 2012 caused $210 billion in damage and economic loss and Katrina in 2005, caused $320 billion in damage, as adjusted for inflation.

For the areas impacted by flooding, water damage tends to be particularly costly to repair and may either not be covered by homeowner’s insurance policies or underinsured relative to actual damage sustained for people who do carry additional flood insurance, said AccuWeather.

The forecaster said its estimates can sometimes be multiples of estimates released by other sources because those sources only consider insured losses or provide an incomplete picture of the total damage and economic impact, which the AccuWeather estimate considers and includes.