Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida as major category 4 storm, battering the Sunshine State before weakening and striking Georgia as a tropical storm Friday morning.
So far, five deaths have been linked to the monster storm system, including a North Carolina 4-year-old who was killed in a traffic accident amid “heavy rain conditions” brought by the storm, according to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.
Helene roared ashore on Thursday around 11:10 p.m. near the mouth of the Aucilla River in the Big Bend area of Florida’s Gulf Coast, with wind speeds topping 140 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. It brought with it torrential rains that overwhelmed roadways and left buildings underwater as well as gusts strong enough to rip the siding from homes and businesses.
Bruce Rector, the mayor of Clearwater, told NBC that officials have not yet determined the full scope of the damage wrought by Helene.
“When the sun comes up this morning we’ll see what the damage is, but we believe it’s devastating,” he said.
In response to the storm, federal authorities are launching search-and-rescue teams as the weather service forecast storm surges of up to 20 feet, which could be particularly “catastrophic and unsurvivable” in Apalachee Bay.
“Please, please, please take any evacuation orders seriously!” the office said, describing the surge scenario as “a nightmare.”
Officials have also issued evacuation orders for residents in several Florida counties including Franklin, Taylor, Liberty and Wakulla, affecting some 70,000 people.
The storm has since set its sights on Georgia — and while it has lost a significant amount of steam, forecasters have warned that Helene is still incredibly dangerous. As of 8 a.m. on Friday, the tropical storm was approximately 80 miles outside of Atlanta, where officials have issued a flash flood emergency due to thunderstorms that are expected to produce heavy rain.
Between 2 to 4 inches of rain has already fallen with an additional 1 to 2 inches expected.
The storm is currently packing maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, 4 mph below the threshold for it to have hurricane status and half the strength of what they were when Helene made landfall.
Helene has also knocked out power for some 3.5 million people across the south. In Florida, at least 1.2 million people were in the dark Friday morning, while nearly 1 million Georgians were without electricity. Hundreds of thousands of more people in the Carolinas and Virginia have also lost power, according to PowerOutage.us.
Helene is the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year because of record-warm ocean temperatures.
With News Wire Services
