PERRY, Fla. (AP) Hurricane Helene left a massive trail of destruction in Florida and the southeastern United States, killing at least 44 people, leaving towering oak trees in small branches and destroying homes while Rescue teams undertake desperate missions to save people from the waters.
Among the dead were three firefighters, a woman and her one-month-old twins, and an 89-year-old woman whose house was hit by a falling tree. According to a count by The Associated Press, the deaths occurred in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
The Category 4 hurricane left some hospitals in south Georgia without power, and Gov. Brian Kemp said authorities had to use chainsaws to clear debris and clear roads. The storm had maximum winds of 225 kilometers per hour (140 miles per hour) when it made landfall late Thursday in a sparsely populated region of rural northern Florida, home to fishing towns and resorts, where the northwest strip of Florida and the peninsula.
According to Moodys Analytics, material damage worth between $15 billion and $26 billion is expected.
The damage spread hundreds of miles north and into northeastern Tennessee, where a dangerous helicopter rescue situation ensued after 54 people were taken to the roof of Unicoi County Hospital as water rapidly flooded the buildings. facilities. Everyone was rescued and no one was left in the hospital late Friday afternoon, Ballad Health reported.
In North Carolina, a lake that was used to film scenes in the movie Dirty Dancing suffered a dam overflow and surrounding neighborhoods were evacuated, although there were no fears that it would fail. People in Newport, Tennessee, a city of about 7,000, were also evacuated over concerns about a nearby reservoir, although officials later said the structure had not collapsed.
Some locations were hit by tornadoes, including Nash County, North Carolina, where four people were seriously injured.
Atlanta received a record 11.12 inches (28.24 centimeters) of rain in 48 hours, the most recorded in the city in a two-day period since records began in 1878, the Georgia Weather Service reported in social network
When Laurie Lilliott entered her street in Dekle Beach, Florida, after Helene passed, she couldn’t see the roof of her house beyond the palm trees. It had collapsed, torn apart by the storm, and one corner remained precariously supported by a pile.
“It took my breath away,” Lilliott said.
As he surveyed the damage, his name and phone number remained etched on his arm in permanent marker, a move Taylor County officials advised residents to help identify bodies recovered after the storm. The community has been directly hit by three hurricanes since August 2023.
The five people who died in one Florida county were in neighborhoods where residents were told to evacuate, said Bob Gualtieri, sheriff of Pinellas County, in the St. Petersburg area. Some of those who stayed ended up having to take shelter in their attics while the water rose. He added that the death toll could rise as rescue teams search home by home in flooded areas.
More deaths were reported in Georgia and North and South Carolina, including two firefighters from South Carolina and one from Georgia who died when their trucks were crushed by trees.
Video on social media showed sheets of rain and siding falling off buildings in Perry, Florida, near where the storm made landfall. A news channel showed an overturned house, and many communities established curfews.
Also in Perry, the hurricane ripped off the new roof of a church that had been replaced after Hurricane Idalia last year.
Payne reported in Tallahassee, Florida, and Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri. Associated Press writers Seth Borenstein in New York; Jeff Amy in Atlanta; Russ Bynum in Valdosta, Georgia; Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Andrea Rodríguez in Havana; Mark Stevenson and Mara Verza in Mexico City, and Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
