Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida Friday, and by Saturday evening it had already claimed at least 55 lives across five states, according to reports.
CNN reported that as of 5:05 p.m. ET, 19 people had been found dead in South Carolina, including two firefighters; 17 people in Georgia had perished; 11 had died in Florida, six were reported dead in North Carolina and one had died in Virginia. Reported causes of death included a tornado in Georgia, drowning in Florida, a car wreck in North Carolina that killed a 4-year-old girl, and a storm-related tree fall in Virginia.
Helene was considered a post-tropical cyclone by 5 p.m. Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. It said in an update that the storm was weakening and expected to dissipate by Monday.
“The system will produce moderate to heavy rain over parts of the Ohio/Tennessee Valleys, portions of the Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic States, and along its southeast periphery in Florida into Monday. A Slight Risk of excessive rainfall exists for portions of the Appalachians,” said the NWS. “The associated heavy rainfall could create scattered occurrences of flash flooding on Sunday and Monday.”
Significant river flooding has been ongoing across the southern Appalachians since Helene touched town, and some of which are record-breaking. In fact, the NWS called the flooding recorded this week “catastrophic.”
Earlier in the week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned that the storm was predicted to cause flooding, rainfall and high winds not limited to the Gulf Coast. It said Helene is an “unusually large storm” with wind fields extending as far as 275 miles from its center.
In a Saturday update, the National Weather Service said rainfall over 4.8 inches was reported in parts of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Even more rainfall was recorded in North Carolina and Florida.
Busick, N.C., had seen the most – 30.78 inches – as of Saturday morning. Mount Mitchell State Park, N.C., also saw 24.20 inches Sumatra, Fla., had 15.91 inches.
“I have authorized the FL National Guard to send air assets to North Carolina in support of NC’s Hurricane Helene response,” said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a Saturday X post.
Along with heavy rainfall, flooding and winds comes power outages, property destruction and other challenges. According to the National Weather Service, there is a possibility of long-duration power outages in portions of the southeast U.S. It warned people using generators to place them outside, at least 20 feet away from doors, windows and garages to avoid deadly carbon monoxide poisoning.
Check out this article to learn ways to help those dealing with the aftermath of Helene.