'Potentially Historic' Hurricane Helene Makes Landfall Overnight, Quickly Turns Deadly
Rising panic and rising water are reverberating across the Southeast Friday morning as Tropical Storm Helene drops torrential rain upon Georgia and the Carolinas.
Flash flood warning have been issued for downtown Atlanta, a first.
At least five people in three states have been killed in storm-related incidents, according to Fox Weather.
This was last night in Biltmore Village- Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene has not even made landfall in Florida yet 😱 pic.twitter.com/JWvTSI7hkp
— Glenda (@Glendaragnarson) September 26, 2024
Three deaths in Georgia and one each from Florida and North Carolina are linked to Helene.
Helene struck land near Perry, Florida, at 11:10 p.m. ET on Thursday and quickly moved on, leaving devastation in its wake.
Western North Carolina is being warned that flooding and landslides are likely, according to CNN. As emergency workers rescue those trapped, officials in the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Virginia and Alabama have declared emergencies.
*URGENT MESSAGE*
This will be one of the most significant weather events to happen in the western portions of the area in the modern era. Record flooding is forecasted and has been compared to the floods of 1916 in the Asheville area. pic.twitter.com/Q8SmJUlQda
— NWS GSP (@NWSGSP) September 26, 2024
“Rapid rises are imminent along the Swannanoa River, resulting in major, catastrophic, and potentially historic flash flooding within the valley,” the National Weather Service said. “There is an increasing likelihood that this flooding will exceed the flash flooding observed in September 2004.”
The storm ravaged the Florida town of Steinhatchee, resident Jules Carl told CNN.
“I’ve got a boat sitting in the road in front of me right now and fish in our yard,” she said.
“It was coming up our patio steps. It got very, very close to coming in,” Carl said.
“This town is pretty well devastated,” she added.
Steinhatchee river is now receding from the 16’ storm surge. With large amounts of debris in the river and across the city. #NWSTallahassee #flwx #HurricaneHelene pic.twitter.com/DExtqPrtdT
— Jeff Piotrowski (@Jeff_Piotrowski) September 27, 2024
Storm chaser Aaron Rigsby said some mobile homes floated away in the rain.
“Several of these were mobile homes, and multiple homes behind these floated away and crashed into each other in the trees and a couple others when they all got lodged,” Rigsby explained.
As of 8 a.m. Friday, more than 3.2 million customers across Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and southern Virginia had no electricity.
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