When a hurricane like Helene rolls through a community, it leaves a trail of devastation. Tragically, Hurricane Helene did more than shut down operations for Ken Ganley Kia in New Port Richey, Florida. The big storm flooded the Florida dealership’s inventory, destroying nearly 700 vehicles.

New cars and customer vehicles in the 672 automotive casualties at Ken Ganley Kia after Hurricane Helene slammed the dealer

Ken Ganley, owner and namesake behind the Kia dealership in New Port Richey, Florida, doesn’t live in Florida. Instead, most of his dealer network is in Ohio. However, the Ken Ganley network does operate locations in West Virginia and, you guessed it, Florida. As you might imagine, Ganley was concerned about the impact of Hurricane Helene.

Hurricane Helene landed in Northwestern Florida, cutting a swath of destruction across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. New Port Richey, a community near Tampa, was one of the unfortunate locations that took a beating from Helene.

Still, even with the looming devastation from Hurricane Helene, Ken Ganley was likely shocked to learn that his New Port Richey Kia dealership was all but wiped out. The rising waters covered over four feet of the property in places. Consequently, the insurance adjustor informed Ganley that the storm had destroyed 660 new Kia vehicles.

In addition to the 660 new vehicles, 12 customer vehicles at the service center met a similar watery demise. After the insurance adjustors had done their evaluation, the storm destroyed 672 vehicles at the massive dealership. Moreover, the estimated value of the loss is somewhere between $28 and $30 million, per Auto News. 

Tragically, the Florida dealership is far from the only place rising waters have claimed vehicles. With communities like Asheville, North Carolina, irreparably damaged by wind and water, the car market there will be problematic moving forward. After all, flood-damaged cars conceal a multitude of issues that could plague owners in the future.