Dozens dead as Helene unleashes life-threatening flooding and knocks out power to millions across Southeast

CNN

By Dalia Faheid, CNN

(CNN) — Helene continues to unleash its fury across the Southeast after leaving 49 people dead in multiple states, leveling communities and stranding many in flood waters after the historic storm made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region Thursday night as a monstrous Category 4 hurricane with roaring 140 mph winds. Here’s the latest:

• Deaths across 5 states: Storm-related deaths have been reported in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia. At least 19 are dead in South Carolina, including two firefighters who died in Saluda County and two residents who died from fallen trees in Anderson County, according to state officials. In Georgia, at least 15 people have died, two of them killed by a tornado in Alamo, according to a spokesperson for Gov. Brian Kemp. Florida officials reported eight deaths, including several people who drowned in Pinellas County near Tampa. Six more deaths were reported in North Carolina: these include a car wreck on a storm-slick road that left a 4-year-old girl dead in Claremont and a fallen tree that left someone dead at their 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 missions underway: Nearly 4,000 National Guardsmen were conducting rescue efforts 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 Sabrina Singh, Pentagon deputy press secretary. Additionally, the Biden administration has mobilized more than 1,500 federal personnel 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 slammed by heavy rains and strong winds bordering on hurricane-strength levels, causing life-threatening flash flooding, numerous landslides and power outages. More than 100 people were rescued from high waters, the governor said. From Wednesday morning to Friday morning, more than 2 feet of rain fell in the state’s mountainous region, with Busick recording a total of 29.58 inches in just 48 hours. In the hard-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 rainfall was pushing the Lake Lure Dam into “imminent failure,” according to the National Weather Service.

• The threat isn’t over: Helene’s remnants will continue to bring rain and gusty winds over hundreds of miles of the East. Multiple states have recorded more than a foot of rain, with at least 14 different flash flood emergencies issued for approximately 1.1 million people in the Southern Appalachians of Western North Carolina and adjacent parts of Tennessee, South Carolina and Virginia. In addition to the rainfall, winds continued to gust 30 to 50 mph over the Ohio and Tennessee Valley regions Friday evening and more than 35 million people were under wind alerts heading into Saturday.

• More than 3 million left without power: The remnants of Helene continued to knock out power for several states across the eastern US on Saturday morning, with approximately 3,429,137 customers left 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 Florida and Georgia have been canceled, the company said. Delivery services were also impacted, with UPS announcing it has suspended service to Florida, North Carolina and Georgia because of the storm. FedEx likewise suspended or limited its service in five states. Water inundated countless roadways across the region, making them impassable. In North Carolina, 290 roads were closed throughout the state, and Gov. Roy Cooper said the state’s transportation department is shutting down even more roadways as severe flooding, landslides and washed-out roads pose serious threats to public safety.

• Dozens rescued from hospital roof in Tennessee: 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: Helene – the strongest hurricane on record to slam into Florida’s Big Bend region – is now a post-tropical cyclone with winds of 35 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. That means Helene no longer has an organized center of circulation and is losing its hurricane-like features. But this change in designation doesn’t alter much of Helene’s overall threat going forward, as Helene will continue to unleash heavy, flooding rainfall and gusty winds. Keith Turi, acting director of response and recovery at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, warned residents of the dangers remaining from Helene even after it passes. “There’s a range of reasons why people think that as the storm passes, the hazards will decrease. It’s not necessarily true,” Turi told CNN. “There are a lot of dangers in those floodwaters, things you can see and sometimes things you can’t see that are going under the surface, and so really you need to stay out of those floodwaters. Make sure you get to a safe place.”

Florida and Georgia communities devastated

Helene cut a massive path of destruction across Florida, Georgia and the Southeastern US, snapping trees and power lines, and mangling hundreds of homes. As millions were left without essentials like electricity and with nowhere to take shelter from the ravaging storm, rescue crews set out to save people trapped in wreckage or underwater.

In Cedar Key, Florida, the devastation is so widespread that it’s not safe enough to allow residents or volunteers back into the small community off the Florida coast, city officials said Friday. The town doesn’t have any sewage water or power, “so there’s really not a whole lot to be able to sustain people being here,” Cedar Key Mayor Sue Colson said.

Scores of historical buildings and new homes have been decimated, while roads were blocked by downed wires and “extremely dangerous” debris, the mayor said. “It’s just a multifaceted mess,” Colson said.

Another small, tight-knit Florida community, Keaton Beach, is picking up the pieces of their lives left behind by the ravages of Helene.

“You look at Keaton Beach, I mean I think almost every home was destroyed, or the vast majority, and some totally obliterated. It’s because they had such a massive surge that went in there,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday, adding that the storm surge might have been as high as 20 feet.

The town’s Beach Bums gas station was three days away from celebrating the five-year anniversary of its opening when it collapsed, said owner Jared Hunt, who spent the morning helping residents look for personal belongings, salvaging what’s left.

One Keaton Beach resident stood with his wife in front of the wreckage of what used to be their home, wondering where he might go next.

“Man, I just lost my house. I have nowhere else to go,” Eric Church told CNN. “My house is laying here in a pile. It was sitting right there. There are just pillars left in the ground. I got a wife and two dogs with me. What am I supposed to do?”

Church’s wife, Erin Peelar, said the couple had just purchased the home and expected some water from the hurricane, not for the house “to disappear.”

“The house has been here for 75 years and that’s the whole reason we bought it six months ago, having faith it would be here for another 75,” Peelar said.

At the end of the day, however, Peelar said the family was lucky.

“Lucky we didn’t stay because nobody would’ve made it through this. There were six, seven, eight homes in front of us – they’re all gone,” she said.

In the ocean off of Sanibel Island, Florida, US Coast Guard swimmer Ted Hudson, rescued a man and his dog from their house boat during the hurricane as dangerous waves threatened their lives.

Footage of the dramatic rescue captured by Hudson’s helmet camera shows Hudson being hoisted down from a helicopter battling to stay still amid 60 mph winds, until he enters the water. He then swims through terrifying waves to reach the stranded man and his dog. They enter the water and swim toward Hudson, who assists them as they are airlifted into the helicopter.

“I think my adrenaline kicked in, and I was just going,” Hudson told CNN. “It was a dangerous situation to be in, and I was trying to get out of there as fast as possible.”

DeSantis said he believes Hurricane Helene inflicted more damage than Hurricane Idalia in 2023, which at the time was the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region in more than 125 years.

Hurricane Helene made landfall near Perry, Florida, on Thursday night as a Category 4 with 140 mph sustained winds and higher gusts, according to the National Hurricane Center. In comparison, Hurricane Idalia in August 2023 made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane with sustained wind speeds of 125 mph.

Over in Georgia, multiple people were trapped after at least 115 structures in the southern city of Valdosta in Lowndes County were heavily damaged by Helene, Gov. Brian Kemp said Friday.

“The damage to our community is substantial and appears much worse than Hurricane Idalia,” the Lowndes County Emergency Management said on its Facebook page.

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CNN’s Emma Tucker, Elise Hammond, Ashley R. Williams, Taylor Ward, Taylor Romine, Mary Gilbert, Brandon Miller, Alaa Elassar, Nicole Chavez, Josh Replogle and Andy Rose contributed to this report.