(Perry) Torrential rains caused by powerful hurricane Helene left people stranded, homeless and awaiting rescue Saturday, as clean-up operations began after the storm. It killed at least 64 people, caused widespread destruction in the southeastern United States and left millions without power.
Helene grounded in the Big Bend, Florida area as a Category 4 hurricane Thursday evening with winds of 140 mph.
From there, the typhoon quickly spread to Georgia, where Gov. Brian Kemp said Saturday it “looked like a bomb went off” after seeing broken homes and debris-covered highways from the air. Weakened, the storm Helene then flooded the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains, causing streams and rivers to overflow and straining dams.
PHOTO CHANDAN KHANNA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The rubble of buildings destroyed during the passage ofHelene in Horseshoe Beach, Florida.
Western North Carolina has been isolated due to landslides and flooding that forced the closure of Interstate 40 and other roads.
There have been hundreds of water rescues, none more dramatic than in rural Unicoi County in eastern Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were rescued by helicopter from the roof of a hospital Friday. And rescues continued the next day in Buncombe County, North Carolina, where part of Asheville was under water.
The storm, now a post-tropical cyclone, is expected to hover over the Tennessee Valley Saturday and Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said.
PHOTO MIKE CARLSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Only the front of this house survived the hurricane in Tampa, Florida.
It triggered the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina, where Gov. Roy Cooper called it “catastrophic” as search and rescue teams from 19 states and the federal government rushed to help. One community, Spruce Pine, received more than 2 feet of rain from Tuesday to Saturday.
And in Atlanta, 11 inches of rain fell in 48 hours, the most precipitation the city has seen in two days since record-keeping began in 1878.
PHOTO CHANDAN KHANNA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A woman cleans a flooded house during the passage ofHelene in Cedar Key, Florida.
President Joe Biden said Saturday that the devastation caused by Helene is upsetting and said his administration is committed to helping the vast swath of the Southeast hit by the storm recover.
Helene is the deadliest tropical storm in South Carolina since Hurricane Hugo killed 35 people after making landfall just north of Charleston in 1989. Deaths were also reported in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and in Virginia. Moody’s Analytics expects property damage of US$15 billion to US$26 billion. AccuWeather’s preliminary estimate of total damage and economic losses caused by Helene in the United States is between 95 and 110 billion US dollars.