Hurricane Helene has caused severe devastation across the southeastern United States, leaving at least 17 people dead and causing widespread flooding on Friday.
Millions of homes and businesses were left without power as the storm, which hit Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, moved northward, weakening to a tropical storm.
The National Hurricane Center described the flooding as “historic and catastrophic,” warning of flash floods in major cities like Atlanta, Georgia, as well as in South Carolina and North Carolina. Parts of the Appalachian Mountains could see up to 12 inches of rain, with some areas receiving as much as 20 inches.
In the small town of Perry, near where Helene made landfall, homes were left without power and a gas station was destroyed. Larry Bailey, a local resident, shared his experience: “Once the eye got to us, that’s when everything started to intensify… It was real scary at one point. It’s like, was my house gonna get blown away or not?”
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp confirmed 11 deaths in his state, including one emergency responder. In Valdosta, Georgia, 115 buildings were heavily damaged, with many people trapped inside. Five people lost their lives in Florida’s Pinellas County, and one person in Charlotte, North Carolina, died after a tree fell on their home.
Across Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, over 4.3 million homes and businesses lost power, according to the tracking site PowerOutage.us. In Atlanta, residents resorted to using buckets to clear water from their homes.
The hurricane also brought attention to the increasing frequency of extreme weather events. Curtis Drafton, a volunteer in Steinhatchee, Florida, reflected on the situation: “We have got to start wondering: is this the new normal? Is it going to happen every year?”
President Joe Biden and state officials had urged people to evacuate before the hurricane struck. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis mobilized the National Guard and called for search and rescue efforts to begin immediately. Despite warnings of an “unsurvivable” storm surge, some residents chose to stay behind and wait out the storm in their homes.
