Helene: Dozens dead as hurricane triggers life-threatening flooding and knocks out power to millions in southeast

CNN
—

Helene continues its wrath across the Southeast after killing 49 people in several states, leveling entire communities and leaving many stranded in floodwaters after the historic storm emerged Thursday night as a monstrous Category 4 hurricane with raging winds of 140 miles per hour made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida. Here's the latest:

• Deaths in 5 states: Storm-related deaths were reported in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia. State officials say at least 19 people have died in South Carolina, including two firefighters who died in Saluda County and two residents who died from fallen trees in Anderson County. According to a spokesman for Governor Brian Kemp, at least 15 people have died in Georgia, two of them from a tornado in the Alamo. Florida officials reported eight deaths, including several drownings in Pinellas County, near Tampa. Six additional deaths were reported in North Carolina: They include a car crash on a storm-slick road that killed a 4-year-old girl in Claremont and a fallen tree that killed one person in her home in Charlotte. And in Craig County, Virginia, one person died in a storm-related tree fall and building collapse, Gov. Glenn Youngkin said Friday.

• Storm rescue operations underway: Nearly 4,000 National Guardsmen conducted rescue operations in 21 counties across Florida, the Defense Department said Friday. North Carolina has activated 358 Guardsmen, while Georgia has more than 300 and Alabama has 43, said Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh. In addition, the Biden administration has mobilized more than 1,500 federal employees to support communities affected by Helene, Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday.

• Severe flooding in North Carolina: Helene “is one of the worst storms in modern history for parts of North Carolina,” Gov. Roy Cooper said. Western parts of the state were hit by heavy rains and strong winds bordering on hurricane force, causing life-threatening flash floods, numerous landslides and power outages. More than 100 people were rescued from the flood, the governor said. More than 2 feet of rain fell across the state's mountainous region from Wednesday morning through Friday morning, with Busick recording a total of 29.58 inches of rain in just 48 hours. In the hardest-hit city of Asheville, a citywide curfew is in effect until 7:30 a.m. Saturday, according to the city government. About 20 miles southwest of Asheville, overwhelming, torrential rains caused Lake Lure Dam to “imminently fail,” according to the National Weather Service.

• The threat is not over yet: The remnants of Helene will continue to bring rain and gusty winds hundreds of miles east. More than a foot of rain was recorded in several states, with at least 14 separate flash flood emergencies declared for about 1.1 million people in the southern Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina and adjacent parts of Tennessee, South Carolina and Virginia. In addition to the rainfall, wind gusts of 30 to 50 mph continued to blow across the Ohio and Tennessee Valley regions Friday evening, and more than 35 million people were under wind warnings through Saturday.

• More than 3 million people without electricity: Helene's remnants continued to disrupt power across several states in the eastern U.S. Saturday morning, leaving about 3,429,137 customers in the dark in South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, Florida and Ohio, according to PowerOutage.us.

• Helene disrupts travel and delivery services: Helene has caused numerous disruptions to travel and delivery services. Several Amtrak trains arriving or departing in Florida and Georgia have been canceled, the company said. Delivery services were also affected, as UPS announced that it had suspended shipping to Florida, North Carolina and Georgia due to the storm. FedEx has also suspended or limited service in five states. The water flooded countless roads across the region, making them impassable. In North Carolina, 290 roads have been closed across the state, and Gov. Roy Cooper said the state Department of Transportation is closing even more roads as severe flooding, landslides and washed-out roads pose a serious threat to public safety.

• Dozens rescued from Tennessee hospital roof: More than 50 people stranded on the roof of Unicoi County Hospital in Erwin, Tennessee, were rescued after rapidly rising waters from Helene made evacuation impossible Friday morning, Ballad Health said.

• Helene is now a post-tropical cyclone: According to the National Hurricane Center, Helene – the strongest hurricane ever to hit Florida's Big Bend region – is now a post-tropical cyclone with winds of 35 miles per hour. This means that Helene no longer has an organized transport center and loses its hurricane-like features. However, this change in designation does not make much difference to the overall danger for Helene in the future, as Helene will continue to trigger heavy, flooding rains and gusty winds. Keith Turi, acting director of response and recovery at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, warned residents of the dangers that remain even after Helene's death. “There are a number of reasons why people believe the dangers will diminish as the storm passes. That’s not necessarily true,” Turi told CNN. “There are a lot of dangers in these floods, things you can see and sometimes things you can't see, that go beneath the surface and that's why you really need to stay away from these floods. Make sure you get to a safe place.”