‘Nightmare’ hurricane Helene leaves trail of destruction, dozens dead

Atlanta: Authorities across a wide swath of the south-eastern United States faced the daunting task on Saturday of cleaning up from Hurricane Helene, one of the most powerful to hit the country, as the death toll continued to rise.

At least 43 deaths have been reported, and officials feared more bodies would be discovered across several states.

Destruction to the Faraway Inn Cottages and Motel in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Cedar Key, Florida.Credit: AP

Helene, downgraded late on Friday to a post-tropical cyclone, continued to produce heavy rains across several states, sparking life-threatening flooding that threatened to create dam collapses that could inundate entire towns.

In Florida’s Pinellas County near Tampa, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said he had never seen destruction like that which Helene wrought. “I would just describe it, having spent the last few hours out there, as a war zone,” Gualtieri told a press conference.

At least 3.5 million customers remained without power across five states, with authorities warning it could be several days before services were fully restored.

Scientists say climate change contributes to stronger, more destructive hurricanes.

Helene came ashore amid warnings from the National Hurricane Centre that the enormous system could create a “nightmare” storm surge.

A helicopter lands on the roof of Unicoi County Hospital in Erwin, Tennessee., where patients and staff had to be rescued after the Nolichucky River flooded as a result of the hurricane.Credit: AP

President Joe Biden said he was praying for the survivors as the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency headed to the area. The agency has deployed more than 1500 workers, and they helped with 400 rescues by late morning.

Emergency crews rushed to rescue people trapped in flooded homes after Helene generated a massive storm surge and knocked out power to millions of customers in several states.

Governor Brian Kemp said at least 11 people in his state of Georgia were killed and dozens were still trapped in homes damaged by Helene. At least six others died in Florida and the Carolinas.

A vehicle is submerged outside a home near Peachtree Creek in Atlanta on Friday.Credit: AP

More than 1.2 million homes and businesses were without power in Florida, more than 190,000 in Georgia and more than 30,000 in the Carolinas, according to the poweroutage.us tracking site. The governors of those states and Alabama and Virginia have all declared emergencies.

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 Governor Ron DeSantis said at a news conference.

Hurricane Helene in the Gulf of Mexico moving towards Florida on Thursday.Credit: NOAA/AP

“Helene continues to produce catastrophic winds that are now pushing into southern Georgia,” the hurricane centre said in an update. “Persons should not leave their shelters and remain in place through the passage of these life-threatening conditions.”

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 25 centimetres of rain had fallen in the North Carolina mountains, with up to 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.

The St. Pete Pier is pictured among high winds and waves as hurricane Helene makes its way toward the Florida panhandle, passing west of Tampa Bay.Credit: AP

In south Georgia, two people were killed when a possible tornado struck a mobile home, Wheeler County Sheriff Randy Rigdon told WMAZ-TV.

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 issued during past hurricanes.

Still, Philip Tooke, a commercial fisherman who took over the business his father founded near the region’s Apalachee Bay, planned to ride out this storm like he did during Hurricane Michael and the others – on his boat. “If I lose that, I don’t have anything,” Tooke said. Michael, a Category 5 storm, all but destroyed one town, fractured thousands of homes and businesses and caused some $US25 billion ($36 billion) in damage when it struck the Florida Panhandle in 2018.

Charles Starling, a lineman with Team Fishel, is pelted with rain as he walks by a row of electrical line trucks in a field in The Villages, Florida, in preparation for damage from Hurricane Helene. Credit: AP

Many, though, were heeding 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 were Cindy Waymon and her husband, who went to a shelter in Tallahassee after securing their home and packing medications, snacks and drinks. They wanted to stay safe given the magnitude of the storm, she said.

“This is the first time we’ve actually come to a shelter, because of the complexities of the storm and the uncertainties,” she said.

A petrol station employee wraps fuel pumps ahead of hurricane Helene.Credit: AP

Federal authorities deployed search-and-rescue teams as the weather service forecast storm surges of up to six 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”.

Rescue crews assist residents after conducting door-to-door wellness checks, in coastal areas of Florida.Credit: AP

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, who lives about 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, while cancellations were widespread elsewhere in Florida and beyond.

“This is one of the biggest storms we’ve ever had,” said Georgia Governor 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 June 1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year because of record-warm ocean temperatures.

AP