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Helene leaves about 1 million in the dark

Posted on by Vanessa
Helene leaves about 1 million in the dark

About a million people in Georgia were without power early Friday as Helene swept through the state after making landfall in Florida on Thursday.

Helene, downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm, continued to make its way through Georgia at 30 mph. As of early Friday, the storm was about 40 miles east of Macon, Georgia, and 100 miles southeast of Atlanta.

Two people have already died from the storm in Georgia after a mobile home overturned in a possible tornado on Thursday, according to local news outlets.

Authorities in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas rescued residents trapped in rising floodwaters, while heavy rains continued to lash Helene in the southeast. According to the National Weather Service office in Atlanta, thousands are already without power and the storm is expected to continue to have significant impacts across the state and in north-central Georgia.

About 4 to 6 inches of rain fell across north-central Georgia, including Atlanta and surrounding counties, according to the weather service in Peachtree City, south of Atlanta. Forecasters say another 5cm could fall during the morning hours.

In response, Governor Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency.

According to a USA TODAY power outage tracker, over 2.5 million homes and businesses in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina were left in the dark early Friday as Helene hit the region with strong winds and heavy rain.

Below are the latest power outages in Georgia as Hurricane Helene makes landfall.

Map of Georgia power outages

More than a million people were without power in Georgia alone around 7:30 a.m. Friday, according to USA TODAY's tracker. Chatham County had the most residents without power, with 113,212 outages reported.

Hurricane Helene Tracker

Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a featured news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected] and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.

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