Hurricane Helene has resulted in at least 17 fatalities and extensive flooding across the southeastern United States, especially affecting Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas. The storm made landfall near Tallahassee as a strong Category 4 hurricane but weakened to a tropical storm as it moved inland.
Authorities reported “historic flooding,” with forecasts predicting up to 12 inches (30 cm) of rain in the Appalachian mountains and some areas possibly receiving as much as 20 inches. Cities like Atlanta, Georgia, along with regions in South Carolina and North Carolina, are on alert for flash floods.
In Perry, Florida, where the hurricane hit hardest, residents faced significant damage.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp reported 11 fatalities in the state, including an emergency responder. He warned that Valdosta has identified 115 severely damaged structures, with multiple individuals trapped inside. In Florida’s Pinellas County, officials confirmed five storm-related deaths, while a sixth occurred in Charlotte, North Carolina, when a tree fell on a home.
Meanwhile, Typhoon Yagi is battering Asia and Storm Boris is causing heavy rain in Europe, making September a month of extreme flooding globally. Although scientists have linked some extreme weather events to human-caused climate change, it remains too early to draw definitive conclusions about this month’s events.
In Atlanta, some residents were forced to use buckets to bail water from their ground-floor windows as flooding worsened.
More than 4.3 million homes and businesses across Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas were without power, according to PowerOutage.us. Residents in the affected areas had been warned of “unsurvivable” storm surges.
President Joe Biden and state officials urged residents to heed evacuation warnings before Helene made landfall, though some chose to remain in their homes to ride out the storm. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis mobilized the National Guard and deployed thousands of personnel to prepare for search and rescue operations, emphasizing the importance of safety precautions.
