Hurricane Helene’s death toll reached 200 on Thursday and could rise higher still, as searchers made their way toward the hardest to reach places in the mountains of western North Carolina, where the storm washed out roads and knocked out electricity, water and cellular service.

Officials in Georgia and North Carolina added to their states’ grim tallies, padding an overall count that has already made Helene the deadliest storm to hit the U.S. mainland since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

A week after the storm came ashore in Florida before carving a path of destruction through the Southeast, connections between friends, neighbors and even strangers have provided hope in the worst-affected areas.

While government cargo planes brought food and water to these areas and rescue crews waded through creeks searching for survivors, those who made it through the storm leaned on one another for support.

Sarah Vekasi, who makes and sells pottery out of her Sarah Sunshine Pottery store in Black Mountain, North Carolina, said she’s struggling with the trauma of Hurricane Helene and uncertainty about the future of her business.

“All I can say is that I’m alive. I’m not doing great. I’m not doing good. But I’m extremely grateful to be alive, especially when so many are not,” Vekasi said.

One thing that makes her feel a little better is the fellowship of the daily town meeting at the square.

“It’s incredible being able to meet in person,” said Vekasi, who was cut off by impassible roads for days. More than 150 people gathered for Wednesday’s session, as local leaders stood atop a picnic table shouting updates.

In pictures: Rage of Hurricane Helene

Martha Sullivan took careful notes so she could share the information — roads reopened, progress in getting power restored, work on trying to get water flowing again — with others.

Sullivan, who has lived in Black Mountain for 43 years, said her children invited her to come to Charlotte after the storm, but she wants to stay in her community and look after her neighbors.

“I’m going to stay as long as I feel like I’m being useful,” Sullivan said.

In remote mountain areas, helicopters hoisted the stranded to safety while search crews moved toppled trees so they could look door to door for survivors. In some places, homes teetered on hillsides and washed-out riverbanks.

Electricity is being slowly restored, as the number of homes and businesses without power dipped below 1 million for the first time since last weekend, according to poweroutage.us. Most of the outages are in the Carolinas and Georgia, where Helene struck after barreling over Florida’s Gulf Coast on Sept. 26 as a Category 4 hurricane. Deaths have been reported in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia, in addition to the Carolinas.

Robin Wynn lost power at her Asheville home early last Friday and was able to grab a bag of canned goods and water before getting to a shelter despite water up to her knees.

“I didn’t know where I was going, didn’t know what was going to happen next. But I got out and I’m alive,” Wynn said Wednesday.

Now that she’s back home, her neighbors have been watching out for one another. Plenty of people have come around to make sure everyone has a hot meal and water, she said.

Eric Williamson, who works at First Baptist Church in Hendersonville, normally makes home visits to members who can’t physically get to church. This week, he’s their lifeline, delivering food that meets dietary restrictions and tossing out food that had spoiled.

Beyond checking in on the essentials, he says it’s important to just socialize with folks in a moment like this to help them know they aren’t alone.

He has a handwritten list of everyone he needs to visit. “They don’t have telephone service, even if they have a landline, a lot of that isn’t working,” Williamson said. “So we’re bringing them food and water, but also just bringing them a smile and a prayer with them just to give them comfort.”

Volunteers in Asheville gathered Wednesday before going out to help find people who have been unreachable because of phone and internet outages. They took along boxes of drinking water and instructions to return in person with their results.

Even notifying relatives of people who died in the storm has been difficult.

“That has been our challenge, quite honestly, is no cell service, no way to reach out to next of kin,” said Avril Pinder, an official in Buncombe County where at least 61 people have died. “We have a confirmed body count, but we don’t have identifications on everyone or next-of-kin notifications.”

Thursday marked the seventh day of search and rescue operations, Pinder said, adding the county doesn’t have an official tally of people who are unaccounted for or missing.

“We’re continuing to find people. We know we have pockets of people who are isolated due to landslides and bridges out,” she said. “So they are disconnected but not missing.”

President Joe Biden spoke with survivors and first responders and surveyed damage Thursday in Keaton Beach, Florida, walking past mountains of splintered wood, demolished homes and massive pieces of siding crumpled like paper. Biden met with people who had lost homes; one couple was living out of a trailer near the wreckage of their home, their personal belongings strewn on the ground.

The president also was due to visit Georgia Thursday.

Biden flew over the devastation in North and South Carolina on Wednesday. The administration announced a federal commitment to foot the bill for debris removal and emergency protective measures for six months in North Carolina and three months in Georgia. The money will address the impacts of landslides and flooding and cover costs of first responders, search and rescue teams, shelters, and mass feeding.

Employees at a plastics factory in rural Tennessee who kept working last week until water flooded their parking lot and power went out at the plant were among those killed. The floodwaters swept 11 workers away, and only five were rescued. Two are confirmed dead.

Tennessee state authorities said they are investigating the company that owns the factory after some employees said they weren’t allowed to leave in time to avoid the storm’s impact.

Hospitals and health care organizations in the Southeast mostly stayed open despite dealing with blackouts, wind damage, supply issues and flooding. Many hospitals halted elective procedures, while only a few closed completely.

In Florida, officials were turning to “low-risk” state prisoners to help clear the mountains of debris left behind.

“Department of Corrections, they do prison labor anyways. So they’re bringing them to do debris removal,” Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters on Wednesday.

Marine One carrying U.S. President Joe Biden flies, as Biden visits North and South Carolina to survey storm damage and meet with officials in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris travelled on Wednesday (October 2, 2024) to South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia to assess the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene in the U.S. Southeast, which has killed more than 160 people.

Mr. Biden landed on Wednesday afternoon in Greer, South Carolina, where he was met by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, among others. The president had what appeared to be an intense conversation with the group on the tarmac, then boarded a helicopter for an aerial tour.

In pictures: Rage of Hurricane Helene

Before leaving Washington, Mr. Biden directed up to 1,000 active-duty troops to immediately deploy to assist with response and recovery efforts. Search-and-rescue teams have conducted nearly 1,500 structural evaluations and hundreds of rescues and evacuations, said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Former President Donald Trump, a Republican running against Harris in this year’s presidential election, falsely claimed that Mr. Biden, a Democrat, has been unresponsive to the hurricane’s destruction, an allegation local officials deny.

Ms. Harris arrived in Georgia on Wednesday and will head to North Carolina in the coming days.

Mr. Biden will be briefed in Raleigh, North Carolina, later on Wednesday as rescuers scour the state’s mountains for survivors, then head to Georgia and Florida on Thursday, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said.

More than $10 million has been provided directly to those affected by the storm, Helene, Jean-Pierre said.

Over 4,800 personnel from across the federal workforce have been deployed to help in recovery efforts, along with 8.8 million meals, more than 7.4 million liters of water and 150 emergency power generators, said Mayorkas.

Still, the Homeland Security secretary said federal funding may not be enough should another hurricane hit.

“We are meeting the moment, but that doesn’t speak about the future,” Mayorkas said. “We are expecting another hurricane hitting. … FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season.”

POTENTIAL ELECTION EFFECTS

North Carolina and Georgia are among seven key battleground states in the Nov. 5 election, which is expected to be won by thin margins. Harris now leads Trump by 2.6 percentage points in national opinion polls, according to aggregator FiveThirtyEight.

North Carolina election officials are scrambling to make sure the state’s over 7 million registered voters can cast a ballot in federal, state and local elections.

Earlier this week, Mr. Trump visited Georgia. Presidents and presidential candidates usually do not visit a storm-hit region immediately because of fears they will distract from rescue efforts and divert resources from local law enforcement officials and emergency responders.

Hurricane Helene slammed into Florida on Thursday as a powerful Category 4 hurricane before tearing a destructive path through Southeastern states for several days.

Mr. Biden quickly made major disaster declarations in several states, allowing survivors to apply for federal assistance. The White House also contacted hundreds of officials across North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.

Mr. Biden may ask Congress to return to Washington for a special session to pass supplemental aid funding, he said earlier this week.

The process of rebuilding after Hurricane Helene will be extremely costly and take years, Mayorkas said.

Donald Trump sought to turn a storm that killed more than 100 people and caused destructive flooding across the U.S. southeast into a major presidential election issue Monday, as he hurried to the impact zone and the White House refuted criticism of its emergency response.

With the death toll rising and hundreds of people still unaccounted for, rescuers searched for survivors across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, where torrential rains brought by Hurricane Helene brought widespread havoc.

Georgia and North Carolina were epicenters of the destruction — and are among the key swing states where the U.S. election will be decided in just five weeks’ time.

Also Read : In pictures: Rage of Hurricane Helene

At least 108 people were killed by the storm and associated flooding — 39 in North Carolina, 25 in South Carolina, 25 in Georgia, 14 in Florida, four in Tennessee and one in Virginia, according to tallies from local authorities compiled by AFP.

That total was expected to rise, authorities warned, with cell phone service knocked out across much of the region and up to 600 people still unaccounted for.

Trump arrived in Valdosta, Georgia, vowing to “bring lots of relief material, including fuel, equipment, water, and other things” to those in need.

Without providing evidence, he claimed his Republican Party supporters were being denied help.

“The federal government is not being responsive,” he told reporters. “The vice president, she’s out someplace, campaigning, looking for money,” he said, referring to his election rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.

“We’re not talking about politics now,” he said later, wearing a bright red “Make America Great Again” hat while standing in the rubble of a furniture store.

Democrat Harris canceled campaign events to return to Washington for a briefing on the federal response, and will visit the region after the first wave of emergency operations.

President Joe Biden pointedly said that he would also not visit immediately, saying “it’d be disruptive.”

“We will not do that if we are diverting or delaying any of the response assets needed to deal with this crisis,” he said.

The White House rejected criticism by Trump that Biden and Harris did not respond to the disaster quickly enough.

Harris was on a campaign trip in California over the weekend, while Biden was at his beach house in Delaware and returned to the White House on Sunday afternoon.

Trump accused Biden of “sleeping” instead of dealing with the storm damage.

“I was commanding, I was on the phone for at least two hours yesterday, and the day before as well,” the president said Monday when asked about the criticisms.

When a major natural disaster hits the United States, the federal government responds at the request of states. A president’s role is usually to oversee and coordinate aid, including funding.

Scientists say climate change likely plays a role in the rapid intensification of hurricanes, because there is more energy in warmer oceans for them to feed on.

Drowned in their homes

On Monday, U.S. homeland security chief Liz Sherwood-Randall raised the worst-case scenario, telling reporters: “It looks like there could be as many as 600 lost lives… We know there are 600 who are either lost or unaccounted for.”

The sheriff’s office in Pinellas County, Florida, published a grim litany of the nine lives lost there so far, almost all of whose bodies were found in their homes.

Nearly all appeared to have drowned, it said, describing some found still lying in several inches of water, while others were buried under debris.

Residents face power cuts, supply shortages, blocked roads and broken communication lines in often mountainous terrain, with Georgia Governor Brian Kemp describing the storm as a “250-mile wide tornado.”

Around two million households and businesses remained without power on Monday, according to tracker poweroutage.us.

In Valdosta, Trump said he was asking SpaceX chief Elon Musk to get his satellite internet service Starlink into the area.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said Monday that hundreds of roads had been destroyed and many communities “wiped off the map.”

“This is an unprecedented storm,” he told reporters.

“The emotional and physical toll here is indescribable.”

Hurricane Helene: Authorities say Florida has suffered seven fatalities and Georgia has recorded 11.

Hurricane Helene made landfall on Thursday night (September 27, 2024) in northwestern Florida as Category-4 storm as forecasters warned that the enormous system could create a “nightmare” storm surge and bring dangerous winds and rain across much of the southeastern U.S.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Helene roared ashore at around 11:10 p.m. EDT near the mouth of the Aucilla River in the Big Bend area of Florida’s Gulf Coast. It had maximum sustained winds estimated at 225 kph (140 mph). That location was only about 32 km (20 miles) northwest of where Hurricane Idalia came ashore last year at nearly the same ferocity and caused widespread damage.

Helene prompted hurricane and flash flood warnings extending far beyond the coast up into northern Georgia and western North Carolina. More than a million homes and businesses were without power in Florida and more than 50,000 in Georgia, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us. The Governors of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, the Carolinas and Virginia all declared emergencies in their states.

One person was killed in Florida when a sign fell on their car and two people were reported killed in a possible tornado in south Georgia as the storm approached.

“When Floridians wake up tomorrow morning, we’re going to be waking up to a state where very likely there’s been additional loss of life and certainly there’s going to be loss of property,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference on Thursday night (September 26, 2024.)

The National Weather Service in Tallahassee had issued an “extreme wind warning” for the Big Bend as the eyewall approached: “Treat this warning like a tornado warning,” it said in a post on X. “Take shelter in the most interior room and hunker down!”

Even before landfall, the storm’s wrath was felt widely, with sustained tropical storm-force winds and hurricane-force gusts along Florida’s west coast. Water lapped over a road in Siesta Key near Sarasota and covered some intersections in St. Pete Beach. Lumber and other debris from a fire in Cedar Key a week ago crashed ashore in the rising water.

Beyond Florida, up to 10 inches (25 centimetres) of rain had fallen in the North Carolina mountains, with up to 14 inches (36 centimetres) more possible before the deluge ends, setting the stage for flooding that forecasters warned could be worse than anything seen in the past century.

Heavy rains began falling and winds were picking up earlier on Thursday in Valdosta, Georgia, near the Florida state line. The weather service said more than a dozen Georgia counties could see hurricane-force winds exceeding 110 mph (177 kph).

In south Georgia, two people were killed when a possible tornado struck a mobile home on Thursday night, Wheeler County Sheriff Randy Rigdon told WMAZ-TV. The damage was reported as heavy thunderstorms raked much of the state. Wheeler County is about 113 kilometers (70 miles) southeast of Macon.

Forecaster Dylan Lusk said the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Wheeler County at 8:47 p.m. on Thursday. He said it’s one of 12 tornado warnings the office near Atlanta issued for parts of Georgia between 1 p.m. and 11 p.m.

The storm made landfall in the sparsely-populated Big Bend area, home to fishing villages and vacation hideaways where Florida’s Panhandle and peninsula meet.

“Please write your name, birthday, and important information on your arm or leg in a PERMANENT MARKER so that you can be identified and family notified,” the Sheriff’s office in mostly rural Taylor County warned those who chose not to evacuate in a Facebook post, the dire advice similar to what other officials have dolled out during past hurricanes.

Many, though, were heeding to the mandatory evacuation orders that stretched from the Panhandle south along the Gulf Coast in low-lying areas around Tallahassee, Gainesville, Cedar Key, Lake City, Tampa and Sarasota.

Among them was Sharonda Davis, one of the several people gathered at a Tallahassee shelter, worrying whether their mobile homes would withstand the winds. She said the hurricane’s size is “scarier than anything because it’s the aftermath that we’re going to have to face.”

Federal authorities were staging search-and-rescue teams as the weather service forecast storm surges of up to 20ft (6 metres) and warned they 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.”

This stretch of Florida known as the Forgotten Coast has been largely spared by the widespread condo development and commercialisation that dominates so many of Florida’s beach communities. The region is loved for its natural wonders — the vast stretches of salt marshes, tidal pools and barrier islands.

“You live down here, you run the risk of losing everything to a bad storm,” said Anthony Godwin (20), who lives about a half-mile (800 metres) from the water in the coastal town of Panacea, as he stopped for gas before heading west toward his sister’s house in Pensacola.

School districts and multiple universities cancelled classes. Airports in Tampa, Tallahassee and Clearwater were closed on Thursday, while cancellations were widespread elsewhere in Florida and beyond.

“While Helene will likely weaken as it moves inland, damaging winds and heavy rain were expected to extend to the southern Appalachian Mountains, where landslides were possible,” forecasters said. The hurricane centre warned that much of the region could experience prolonged power outages and flooding. Tennessee was among the states expected to get drenched.

Helene had swamped parts of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Wednesday (September 25, 2024), flooding streets and toppling trees as it passed offshore and brushed the resort city of Cancun. In western Cuba, Helene knocked out power to more than 2,00,000 homes and businesses as it brushed past the island.

Areas 160 km (100 miles) north of the Georgia-Florida line expected hurricane conditions. The state opened its parks to evacuees and their pets, including horses. Overnight curfews were imposed in many cities and counties in south Georgia. “This is one of the biggest storms we’ve ever had,” said Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

“For Atlanta, Helene could be the worst strike on a major Southern inland city in 35 years,” said University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd.

Helene is the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began on June 1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year because of record-warm ocean temperatures.

In storm activity in the Pacific, former Hurricane John reformed on Wednesday as a tropical storm and strengthened on Thursday back into a hurricane as it threatened areas of Mexico’s western coast with flash flooding and mudslides. Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador raised John’s death toll to five as communities along the country’s Pacific coast prepared for the storm to make a second landfall.

Alligator Point, United States:

The “extremely dangerous” Hurricane Helene made landfall in the US state of Florida on Thursday, with officials warning of “unsurvivable” conditions and a potentially catastrophic storm surge high enough to swamp a two-story house.

More than a million people were without power and roads were already flooded ahead of what is expected to be one of the largest Gulf of Mexico storms in decades.

Fast-moving Helene strengthened to an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 hurricane Thursday, with the eye hitting near the town of Perry at approximately 11:10 pm local time (0310 GMT Friday), the US National Hurricane Center said.

It was packing winds of 140 miles (225 kilometres) per hour as it passed over the Gulf’s warm waters and began hitting the Big Bend area south of Tallahassee.

“EVERYONE along the Florida Big Bend coast is at risk of potentially catastrophic storm surge,” the NHC said on social media.

Tampa and Tallahassee airports have closed, with parts of St Petersburg, downtown Tampa, Sarasota, Treasure Island and other cities on Florida’s west coast already flooded.

About 1,036,553 homes and businesses were without power, according to tracking site PowerOutage.us.

“We’re expecting to see a storm surge inundation of 15 to 20 feet above ground level,” NHC director Mike Brennan said. “That’s up to the top of a second-story building. Again, a really unsurvivable scenario is going to play out here in this portion of the Florida coastline.”

The accompanying waves “can destroy houses, move cars, and that water level is going to rise very quickly,” Brennan added. 

US President Joe Biden urged people to heed official evacuation warnings.

“I urge everyone in and near the path of Helene to listen to local officials and follow evacuation warnings,” he said. “Take this seriously, and be safe.”

‘I’m stuck with them’ 

Authorities in Florida’s Taylor County asked residents who did not act on mandatory evacuation warnings to write their names on their bodies with permanent marker, to aid in identification if they are killed.

In Alligator Point, a coastal town on a picturesque peninsula in the storm’s path, David Wesolowski was taking no chances.

“I just came to button up a few things before it gets too windy,” the 37-year-old real estate agent told AFP as he boarded up his house on stilts.

“If it stays on course, this is going to look different afterwards, that’s for sure,” he said.

Patrick Riickert refused to budge from his small wooden house in Crawfordville, a town of 5,000 people a few miles inland.

Most residents have bolted, but Riickert, his wife and five grandchildren were “not going anywhere,” the 58-year-old insisted. 

“I am going to hunker down” and ride out the hurricane, as he did in 2018 when deadly Hurricane Michael, a Category 5 mega-storm, blew through the Florida panhandle.

At a gas station in Panacea, John Luper said he was reluctantly staying put because his mother and brother refused to flee to higher ground.

“They’re not going to leave,” he said, filling jerry cans with fuel. “I’m stuck with them.”

The NHC warned of up to 20 inches (51 cm) of rain in some spots and potentially life-threatening flooding, as well as numerous landslides across the southern Appalachians. 

The National Weather Service said the region could be hit extremely hard, with floods not seen in more than a century.

“This will be one of the most significant weather events to happen in the western portions of the area in the modern era,” it warned.

Tornado warnings went out across northern Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

More than 55 million Americans were under some form of weather alert or warning from Hurricane Helene.

 ‘Multi-state event’ 

“This is going to be a multi-state event with the potential for significant impacts from Florida all the way to Tennessee,” Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Deanne Criswell told reporters.

Vice President Kamala Harris said the White House was watching.

“The President and I, of course, are monitoring the case and the situation closely, and we urge everyone who is watching at this very moment to take this storm very seriously,” she told reporters.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis mobilized the National Guard and ordered thousands of personnel to be ready for search-and-rescue operations. 

He warned that the powerful storm would be dangerous and urged everyone to take precautions.

“We can’t control how strong this hurricane is going to get. We can’t control the track of the hurricane, but what you can control is what you can do to put yourself in the best chance to be able to ride this out in a way that’s going to be safe,” DeSantis said.

Helene could become the most powerful hurricane to hit the United States in over a year — and almost certainly the biggest, at nearly 500 miles across.

Scientists say climate change likely plays a role in the rapid intensification of hurricanes because there is more energy in warmer oceans for them to feed on. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Alligator Point, United States:

A powerful hurricane was barreling towards Florida on Thursday, with officials warning of “unsurvivable” conditions and a potentially catastrophic storm surge high enough to swamp a two-story house.

Tens of thousands of people were without power and roads were already flooded ahead of what is expected to be one of the largest Gulf of Mexico storms in decades.

Fast-moving Helene strengthened to an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 hurricane Thursday evening, ahead of landfall expected around 11pm (0300 GMT), the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

It was packing winds of 130 miles (215 kilometers) per hour as it churned over the Gulf’s warm waters towards the Big Bend area south of Florida’s capital city Tallahassee.

“EVERYONE along the Florida Big Bend coast is at risk of potentially catastrophic storm surge,” the NHC said on social media.

Tampa and Tallahassee airports have closed, with parts of St. Petersburg, downtown Tampa, Sarasota, Treasure Island and other cities on Florida’s west coast already flooded.

About 125,000 homes and businesses were without power.

“We’re expecting to see a storm surge inundation of 15 to 20 feet above ground level,” NHC director Mike Brennan said. “That’s up to the top of a second story building. Again, a really unsurvivable scenario is going to play out here in this portion of the Florida coastline.”

The accompanying waves “can destroy houses, move cars, and that water level is going to rise very quickly,” Brennan added.

– Evacuate or hunker down? –
In Alligator Point, a coastal town on a picturesque peninsula in the storm’s path, David Wesolowski was taking no chances.

“I just came to button up a few things before it gets too windy,” the 37-year-old real estate agent told AFP as he boarded up his house on stilts.

“If it stays on course, this is going to look different afterwards, that’s for sure,” he said, before taking his family to higher ground in Tallahassee.

Meanwhile, Patrick Riickert refused to budge from his small wooden house in Crawfordville, a town of 5,000 people a few miles inland.

As in Alligator Point, most residents have bolted and it looked like a ghost town, but Riickert, his wife and five grandchildren were “not going anywhere,” the 58-year-old insisted.

“I am going to hunker down” and ride out the hurricane, as he did in 2018 when deadly Hurricane Michael, a Category 5 megastorm, blew through the Florida panhandle.

The NHC warned of up to 20 inches (51 cm) of rain in some spots, and potentially life-threatening flooding as well as numerous landslides across the southern Appalachians.

The National Weather Service said the region could be hit extremely hard, with floods not seen in more than a century.

“This will be one of the most significant weather events to happen in the western portions of the area in the modern era,” it warned.

Tornado warnings went out across northern Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

Georgia’s sprawling capital Atlanta was forecast to experience tropical storm-force winds and flash flooding from up to 12 inches of rain.

And Tennessee — more than 300 miles from the Gulf Coast — braced for tropical storm conditions statewide.

More than 55 million Americans were under some form of weather alert or warning from Hurricane Helene.

– ‘Life-threatening impacts’ –
“This is going to be a multi-state event with the potential for significant impacts from Florida all the way to Tennessee,” Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Deanne Criswell told reporters.

Vice President Kamala Harris said the White House was watching.

“The President and I, of course, are monitoring the case and the situation closely, and we urge everyone who is watching at this very moment to take this storm very seriously,” she told reporters.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis mobilized the National Guard and ordered thousands of personnel to ready for search-and-rescue operations.

He warned that the powerful storm would be dangerous, and urged everyone to take precautions.

“We can’t control how strong this hurricane is going to get. We can’t control the track of the hurricane, but what you can control is what you can do to put yourself in the best chance to be able to ride this out in a way that’s going to be safe.”

Helene could become the most powerful hurricane to hit the United States in over a year — and almost certainly the biggest.

Hurricane specialist Michael Lowry called Helene “extreme,” noting its tropical storm winds of 39 mph or higher stretched nearly 500 miles across.

Researchers say climate change likely plays a role in the rapid intensification of hurricanes, because there is more energy in warmer oceans for them to feed on.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A family from the coastal town of Guanimar, in Artemisa province, southwest of Havana, move in a boat to safer areas after their homes were flooded due the passage of Hurricane Helene on September 25, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Fast-moving Hurricane Helene was advancing on Thursday (September 26, 2024) across the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida, threatening an “unsurvivable” storm surge in north-western parts of the state as well as damaging winds, rains and flash floods hundreds of miles inland across much of the south-eastern U.S., forecasters said.

Helene is expected to be a major hurricane — meaning a Category 3 or higher — when it makes landfall on Florida’s north-western coast on Thursday (September 26, 2024) evening. As of early Thursday, hurricane warnings and flash flood warnings extended far beyond the coast up into south-central Georgia. The governors of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas have all declared emergencies in their states.

The National Weather Service in Tallahassee forecast storm surges of up to 20 feet (6 meters) and warned they could be particularly “catastrophic and life-threatening” in Florida’s Apalachee Bay. It added that high winds and heavy rains also posed risks.

“This forecast, if realized, is a nightmare surge scenario for Apalachee Bay,” the office said. “Please, please, please take any evacuation orders seriously!”

In Crawfordville, farther inland and about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of Apalachee Bay, Christine Nazworth stocked up on bottled water, baked goods and premade meals at a Walmart. She said her family would be sheltering in place, despite Wakulla County issuing a mandatory evacuation order.

“I’m prayed up,” she said. “Lord have mercy on us. And everybody else that might be in its path.”

Wakulla County was one of several to issue evacuation orders. Along Florida’s Gulf Coast, school districts and multiple universities have cancelled classes.

Early on Thursday (September 26, 2024), Helene was about 425 miles (680 kilometers) southwest of Tampa and moving north at 9 mph (15 kph) with top sustained winds of 85 mph (137 kph). Forecasters said it should become a major Category 3 or higher hurricane, meaning winds would top 110 mph (177 kph).

While Helene will likely weaken as it moves inland, its “fast forward speed will allow strong, damaging winds, especially in gusts, to penetrate well inland across the southeastern United States,” including in the southern Appalachian Mountains, the National Hurricane Center said. The center posted lesser tropical storm warnings as far north as North Carolina, and warned that much of the region could experience prolonged power outages, toppled trees and dangerous flooding.

Helene had swamped parts of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Wednesday, flooding streets and toppling trees as it passed offshore and brushed the resort city of Cancun.

The storm formed Tuesday in the Caribbean Sea. In Cuba, the government preventively shut off power in some communities as waves as high as 16 feet (5 meters) slammed Cortes Bay. And in the Cayman Islands, schools closed and residents pumped water from flooded homes.

Rain was already falling steadily in Atlanta on Wednesday evening as shoppers emptied shelves of water at a Kroger supermarket east of downtown. The National Weather Service in Atlanta issued flash flood warnings for much of the state.

Charles McComb said he still found it hard to believe Helene would seriously impact the city, which is more than 250 miles (400 kilometers) north of the Gulf of Mexico. “It would be really unique for it to hit so far inland,” Charles said as he bought water, bread and lunch meat.

He was, however, worried about losing electricity.

“I do live in an area where it doesn’t take so much for the power to go out,” he said.

Helene is forecast to be one of the largest storms in breadth in years to hit the region, said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach. He said since 1988, only three Gulf hurricanes were bigger than Helene’s predicted size: 2017’s Irma, 2005’s Wilma and 1995’s Opal.

Areas 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of the Georgia-Florida line can expect hurricane conditions. More than half of Georgia’s public school districts and several universities canceled classes.

For Atlanta, Helene could be the worst strike on a major Southern inland city in 35 years, said University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd.

Landslides were possible in southern Appalachia, and rainfall was expected as far away as Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana.

Federal authorities have positioned generators, food and water, along with search-and-rescue and power restoration teams.

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.

In further storm activity, Tropical Storm Isaac formed Wednesday in the Atlantic and was expected to strengthen as it moves eastward across the open ocean, possibly becoming a hurricane by the end of the week, forecasters said. Isaac was about 690 miles (1,115 kilometers) northeast of Bermuda with top sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami, which said its swells and winds could affect parts of Bermuda and eventually the Azores by the weekend.