Hurricane Helen killed dozens and billions of dollars in damage across a wide swath of the southeastern United States, leaving more than three million customers without any power and, for some, an ongoing threat of flooding.
Helen Dawn to the beach The hurricane hit Florida’s Big Bend as a Category 4 hurricane late Thursday with winds of 225 kilometers per hour and then moved quickly across Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, uprooting trees, destroying homes, overflowing streams and rivers and straining levees.
Dustin Holmes, back, his girlfriend Hailey Morgan, and her children Aria Skye Hall, 7, left, and Kyle Ross, 4, right, arrive at their flooded home in the wake of Hurricane Helen, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Crystal River, Florida.
AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack
Western North Carolina was mainly isolated by landslides and flooding that closed Interstate 40 and other roads. There have been hundreds of water rescues, none more dramatic than what happened in rural Unicoi County in eastern Tennessee. Dozens of patients and staff They were recovered by helicopter from the roof of the hospital, which was surrounded by the waters of a flooded river.
The National Hurricane Center said the storm, now a tropical cyclone, was expected to hover over the Tennessee Valley on Saturday and Sunday. Several flood and flash flood warnings remain in effect for parts of southern and central Appalachia, while high wind warnings also covered parts of Tennessee and Ohio.
At least 44 people killed in the storm included three firefighters, a woman and her 1-month-old twins, and an 89-year-old woman whose home was struck by a falling tree. According to the Associated Press’ toll, the deaths occurred in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
When the water reached knee-deep in Keira O’Neill’s home in Hudson, Florida, she knew it was time to escape.
“There’s a moment where you think: If this water rises above the level of the stove, we won’t have much room to breathe,” she said, recalling how she and her sister waded through chest-deep water. With one cat in a plastic carrier and the other in a cardboard box.
Evacuations and record rainfall
A lake in North Carolina was featured in the film Dirty dancing I crossed the dam The surrounding neighborhoods were evacuated, although there were no immediate fears that the operation would fail. People were also evacuated from Newport, Tennessee, a city of about 7,000 people, amid concerns about a nearby dam there, although officials later said the structure had not collapsed.
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Tornadoes touched down in some areas, including one in Nash County, North Carolina, seriously injuring four people.
The Georgia State Climatology Office said on the social platform Only the roofs of cars can be seen floating on water.
Moody’s Analytics said it expects property losses ranging from $15 billion to $26 billion.
Climate change has worsened the conditions that allow such storms to flourish, intensifying quickly in warm waters, and turning into powerful hurricanes sometimes within hours.
Floodwaters surround a home in the wake of Hurricane Helen, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Crystal River, Florida.
AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack
The Big Bend area was hit hard
Florida’s Big Bend is a part of the state where salt marshes and pine trees stretch to the horizon, and where the condominium and shopping mall developments that have divided much of the state’s coastline are largely absent.
It’s a place where Susan Sauls Hartaway and her 4-year-old Chihuahua, Lucy, can live within walking distance of the beach on her housekeeper’s salary.
At least until Helen carried her home away.
On Friday afternoon, Hartaway walked down her street near Ezell Beach, looking for where the storm might have deposited her home.
“He’s gone. I don’t know where he is. I can’t find him,” she said of her home.
Hartway, who was born and raised in rural Taylor County, said there is no place in the world she would rather be, even after Helen. But she’s seen wealthy out-of-state residents buy second homes here. She wonders how many homes will sell out, and what will happen to local residents who have nowhere else to go.
“There are a lot of people here, and they don’t have anywhere to go now. This was all they had,” she said.
The community has suffered direct hits from three hurricanes since August 2023.
Bob Gualtieri, the mayor of Pinellas County in the St. Petersburg area, said that all five people who died in one Florida county were in neighborhoods that residents had been asked to evacuate. Some of those who stayed ended up hiding in the attics of their homes to escape the rising waters. He added that the death toll may rise as rescue crews move from house to house in flooded areas.
More deaths were reported in Georgia and the Carolinas, including two firefighters in South Carolina and a firefighter from Georgia who died when their trucks collided with trees. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin reported at least one death in his state.
Loss of power and destruction of infrastructure
President Joe Biden said he was praying for survivors, and the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency headed to the area. The agency deployed more than 1,500 workers and had assisted in 400 rescue operations by late Friday morning.
Officials urged trapped people to call rescuers and not walk through floodwaters, warning that they could pose a danger due to live wires, sewage, sharp objects and other debris.
In Georgia, an electric utility group warned of “catastrophic” damage to utility infrastructure, with more than 100 high-voltage transmission lines damaged. Officials in South Carolina, where more than 40 percent of customers were without power, said crews had to pick their way through debris just to determine what was still standing in some places.
The hurricane came ashore Near the mouth of the Ocilla River, about 20 miles (30 km) northwest of the place Hurricane Idalia hit Last year with almost the same ferocity. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said damage from Helen appears to be greater than the combined impacts of Idalia and Hurricane Debbie in August.
The devastation extended far beyond Florida.
Heavy rains from Hurricane Helen cause lake levels to rise on Lake James, flooding docks and gazebos, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Morganton, N.C.
AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack
Historic flooding is expected
A mudslide in the Appalachian Mountains washed away part of the Interstate Highway on the North Carolina-Tennessee state line.
Another slide hit homes in North Carolina, and residents had to wait more than four hours to be rescued, said Ryan Cole, assistant director of Buncombe County Emergency Services. Its 911 center received more than 3,300 calls in eight hours on Friday.
“This is something we will be dealing with for many days and weeks to come,” Cole said.
Forecasters have warned that flooding in North Carolina could be worse than anything seen in the last century. The Connecticut Army National Guard sent a helicopter to assist.
Helen was the eighth storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began on June 1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted an above-average season this year. Due to record warm ocean temperatures.
