Helene wreaks havoc across Southeast, killing at least 42 people

At least 64 dead due to Helene

At least 10 storm-related deaths have been reported in North Carolina, the latest being a man who drove his truck through flooded roads, Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement tonight.

The governor said crews have rescued more than 200 people since Helene made landfall on Thursday.

“The catastrophic devastation to western North Carolina is like nothing we have ever seen,” Cooper said. “Emergency responders are working around the clock coordinating rescues and getting resources to help people with their immediate needs as they work to save lives.”

Though “many of the rivers and tributaries are still far above flood stage,” waters are receding, state officials said according to the statement. Water levels are expected to be near-normal by late Monday.

Officials in Pinellas County, Florida today expressed concern about electric vehicles left behind by those fleeing Helene.

In a post on social media platform X, the county government in the Tampa Bay area said electric vehicles submerged in salt water can erupt in flames. It asked residents who left such cars, SUVs and golf carts behind to check in with the county information center.

The post included a video of a Tesla ablaze in a closed garage.

“If you evacuated and left an electric vehicle or golf cart in your garage or under a building and you are not able to get to it or move it, we want you to let us know,” the county government said.

The location of any EVs left behind would be given to local fire officials so they can prepare properly should they have to respond to fire that happens to involve electric vehicle batteries, it said.

The National Transportation Safety Board says lithium-ion battery fires “pose the risk of electric shock to emergency responders from exposure to the high-voltage components of a damaged lithium-ion battery.”

The National Volunteer Fire Council adds that such fires post additional risks including high heat, ejecting pieces of battery components, and “toxic byproducts of combustion such as hydrogen fluoride or phosphoryl fluoride.”

Reporting from Asheville, N.C.

The Carolinas and Tennessee are reeling from catastrophic flooding and mudslides that knocked out homes, roads and bridges. Food and water are running low in some areas. NBC News’ George Solis reports from Asheville, North Carolina.

Officials in North Carolina are continuing to encourage residents to avoid traveling anywhere in the western part of the state “as about 390 roads and dozens of main highways remain closed Saturday due to flooding, downed trees, landslides or storm damage,” Gov. Roy Cooper said in an update this evening.

Interstate 26 in North Carolina, south of Asheville, was open, but remains the only major road leading to the area because of damage to Interstate 40, as well as other routes, Cooper said.

The state Department of Transportation is working to reopen interstates and highways before getting to smaller roads, but is also working in conjunction with utility companies and local emergency officials to “find alternative routes and to assist in maintaining access to shelters and restoring power,” Cooper’s statement said.

Emergency crews in the state are also focused on supplying drinkable water to residents.

According to the statement, seven water plants in the state are closed, impacting 70,000 households.

An additional 17 water plants have no power, and 23 more are “operating on backup power” and there are 50 boil water advisories in effect across the western part of the state, the statement said.

Reporting from Clearwater, Fla.

A shelter on Florida’s Gulf Coast is the only thing some people have left after Helene tore through the state, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

“Our entire house is flooded. Everything that we have is gone,” Rasheedah Miley of St. Petersburg said outside a shelter in Clearwater. “This is what we have left right here, the shelter. Thank God for them because they’re amazing.”

Miley, and her wife, Imani, had to flee their home with their dog, Sasha, after water came crashing in.

“The water was literally coming up. It was just rising,” Rasheedah Miley said. 

There have been deaths confirmed in Asheville, North Carolina, although an exact number has not been released.

“We can confirm that fatalities have been suffered and we continue to recover bodies,” Asheville Police Department chief Mike Lamb said in a statement.

There have been at least seven Helene-related deaths in the state, although none of those were from Asheville. A majority of those deaths were attributed to falling trees.

After Helene made Florida landfall Thursday and moved north into Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and North Carolina, it delivered astonishing amounts of rain, with one location registering 30 inches.

That storm total was measured at a remote automatic weather station in the community of Busick, near Mount Mitchell State Park in eastern North Carolina. The park registered a storm total of 2 feet of rain.

The numbers were released in a National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center storm summary that includes rainfall measurements for the entire “weather event” from Wednesday, a day before landfall, to today.

Though rain has been moving out, the figures are preliminary, the weather service said.

Three other North Carolina locations posted rain amounts of 20 inches or greater: Spruce Pine (23 inches), Foscoe (21), and Boone (20), according to the summary. A handful of locations received more than a foot of rain, including Asheville, which got 13.15 inches.

South Carolina had six locations with rainfall of a foot or greater, the summary said. Georgia had a dozen such locations, with the remote automatic weather station at Tallulah recording 14 inches.

Helene made landfall near Perry, Florida, and wrought destruction from the Tampa Bay area to the Big Bend coast. Only one location in the state recorded a foot or more of rain: Sumatra, roughly 30 miles inland of the Big Bend coast, which registered nearly 16 inches.

Reporting from Asheville, N.C.

Military members were seen retiring an American flag found in mud and debris amid the devastation in historic Biltmore Village in Asheville, North Carolina.

Out of respect, the military personnel picked up the flag and folded it amid the mud and rubble.

Helene was fueled by its tropical origins and the unusually warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, but the strength-sapping affects of normally dry land didn’t stop it from producing structure-crushing winds.

Perry, Florida, just inland of Thursday’s landfall, recorded peak wind gusts of 99 mph during the weather event, which spanned from Wednesday to today, according to the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center.

That’s well within Category 1 hurricane status, which requires maximum sustained winds of at least 74 mph.

Hurricane-force wind gusts were recorded from Clearwater Beach, Florida, part of the Tampa Bay region, to the Big Bend coast south of Tallahassee, according to the prediction center’s roundup of Helene data.

Mount Mitchell State Park in North Carolina registered gusts of 106 during the event, the weather service said.

Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina measured wind gusts of 75 mph, just surpassing hurricane-force status.

Even Savannah, Georgia, on a coast not struck by Helene, posted hurricane-force gusts of 76 mph, the prediction center said.

Residents and beach business owners can return to their property in Clearwater, Florida, beginning at 4 p.m. today.

“Residents and business owners should proceed with caution. There are a large amount of clean-up and response vehicles on the beach roadways, and vehicles should proceed with caution,” Clearwater Public Safety said. “Additionally, a portion of the traffic signals are not operating, and drivers should treat intersections without power as a 4-way stop. Some roads are still impassable.”

Public safety officials said residents and business owners must have their Barrier Island re-entry passes or reasonable proof that they reside or have a legitimate business in order to gain entry.

Officials also cautioned the area may still be without power but said the water is “operational and drinkable.”

“The stormwater system is working at capacity, and residents are asked to reduce their use of water. Residents are also asked not to drain pools, do loads of laundry, or take baths (short showers are preferred),” public safety said.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency performed multiple rescues in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Tennessee communities in eastern Knox County and Sevier County near the North Carolina border were warned today that a dam release could swell nearby waterways and cause flooding.

The National Weather Service issued a flood warning for areas of both counties near the French Broad River and adjacent waterways through 8 p.m.

The communities of Sevierville, Kodak, and Kimberlin Heights could experience flooding, the weather service said. Evacuations were ongoing at Deerfield Trailer Park near Boyds Creek in Sevier County, it said.

The Knoxville-Knox County Emergency Management Agency said in an urgent notice the French Broad River could swell 2 to 2.5 feet and flood adjacent property as a result of the release.

The swelling is projected because Douglas Dam officials were increasing the release of floodwater to relieve the structure, the agency said.

The dam’s release rate was to increase from 55,000 cubic feet of water per second to 66,000, a rate expected to be maintained for 2 to 3 days, emergency management officials said.

The agency warned residents to standby for possible news on the river, be packed and ready to evacuate, and avoid driving through floodwaters.

There are at least eight people missing after flash flooding in Unicoi County, Tennessee, caused by Helene, officials said today.

No deaths have been confirmed. The number of missing had been 33 this morning, but 25 of the people were found safe, Tennessee Emergency Management Agency spokesperson Myron Hughes said.

About 75% of the water in the county has receded, which has allowed search and rescue crews to conduct operations, the agency said.

The Nolichucky River, which flows through parts of Tennessee and North Carolina, swelled about 30 feet with the heavy rain, causing widespread destruction, the agency said.

In Unicoi County, more than 50 patients and staff had to be rescued yesterday from a hospital as water rose around them.

There was also concern the Nolichucky Dam could face an imminent breach, but water levels have been falling and the Tennessee Valley Authority said today the dam is “stable and secure.”

Greeneville Community Hospital in Tennessee is suspending services due to water supply issues in the city.

At the direction of the local emergency management agency, inpatients are currently being evacuated and will be transferred to other facilities within the Ballad Health system.

The hospital is also suspending all operations except the emergency room, Ballad Health said in a post on X.

Sycamore Shoals Hospital in Elizabethton, Tennessee, also suspended inpatient services and operations except for the emergency room. Nearly 40 patients were evacuated yesterday.

Flooding caused Unicoi County Hospital to temporarily shut down. All patients and team members were successfully moved yesterday, Ballad Health said.

“The hospital remains closed until further notice,” the post on X stated.

Damage from the storm also caused intermittent phone outages for incoming and outgoing calls for all facilities within the healthcare system. As of now, all elective surgery cases at all facilities have been postponed.

Two days after Helene made landfall in Florida and crept its way northwest, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said at a news conference this afternoon that there is still a lot of work to be done and a lot of damage that still has to be assessed in his state.

Lee touted the importance of getting a disaster declaration approved from the federal government Friday, which he said sets the stage for a partnership between the state and federal government to begin clean up and recovery efforts. He said the state is currently working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“There’s a great deal of damage, a great deal of heartache, great deal of work to be done,” Lee said.

The Category 4 Hurricane Helene left Keaton Beach, Florida, in a state of chaos with roofs, docks and boats tossed about. The coastal town was one of the most affected communities in Florida.

Hikers planning trips at Great Smoky Mountains National Park are being urged to stay away after the park suffered “historic flooding” from Hurricane Helene.

The damage to the 522,427-acre national park in North Carolina and Tennessee was still being assessed Saturday.

“Visitors are encouraged to reschedule their trips for their own safety,” the park said in a statement. “Hiking and backcountry travel are not recommended due to the unpredictability of creek crossings, potential of downed trees and other hazardous trail conditions. Park staff will evaluate trails once roads are safely assessed.”

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was the most-visited of all national parks last year, with 13,297,647 visits.

At least 58 deaths have been reported as a result of the storm.

Eleven deaths were reported in Florida, 17 in Georgia, 7 in North Carolina, 22 in South Carolina and one in Virginia.

Video posted to YouTube by user Michael Heller shows the devastation that has struck Bradenton Beach on Anna Maria Island in Florida after Helene passed through.

In one shot, debris is seen strewn across the beach and small, shack-like structures on the sand are destroyed. A sailboat appears to have washed up on shore, its sail ripped to shreds.

Feet of storm surges caused sand to cover nearby roads, the video shows, and the first story of many homes appear to be demolished. A lifeguard stand was seen overturned on the ground and trees and branches littered the sandy area.

The storm has since passed and all appears calm on Bradenton Beach as of today, but the destruction is apparent.

Millions of people are without power across several states as of Saturday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us.

South Carolina: 1,033,201 outages

Florida: 367,991 outages

North Carolina: 664,941 outages

Georgia: 731,004 outages

Around 12% of the current oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, and 6.04% of the current natural gas production, was shut-in due to Hurricane Helene which roared through the Gulf as a major hurricane, a government agency said today.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, which is part of the Department of Interior, said that it has activated its hurricane response team and was monitoring production in the Gulf.

“After the storm has passed, facilities will be inspected. Once all standard checks have been completed, production from undamaged facilities will be brought back online immediately,” the bureau said in a news release.

Reporting from Clearwater, Fla.

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Stephen Bracciale left his home Friday morning and walked the streets of his hurricane-ravaged Pass-a-Grille neighborhood in St. Pete Beach, Florida, in search of a place to charge his phone and iPad.

Bracciale, a 71-year-old diabetic who has survived bladder cancer, left his wife of nearly 50 years, their cats and dogs, and the medical supplies that he relies on at home, thinking he would return shortly. He was mistaken.

A neighbor offered to take him for a drive, saying he could charge his phone in the car. Bracciale gratefully agreed, knowing finding electricity elsewhere on the barrier island would be tricky.

Read the full story here

More than 4,000 national guardsmen have been deployed in Florida to help with Helene response efforts.

The Florida National Guard said it has rescued 149 people and 55 animals, is supporting 85 missions, has liaison officers assigned to 14 counties, and executed seven search and rescue missions as well as 12 route-clearing missions.

“The FLNG remains postured to provide logistics support, law enforcement support, route clearance, search and rescue, commodity distribution, flood mitigation, aviation and other support as needed by the state,” it said in a news release.

President Joe Biden today called the devastation left by Hurricane Helene overwhelming, and pledged to the residents of six states that the federal government will help in the recovery.

“The devastation we’re witnessing in Hurricane Helene’s wake has been overwhelming. Jill and I continue to pray for all of those who have lost loved ones and for everyone impacted by this storm,” Biden said in a post on X.

More than 50 people are known to have died.

Reporting from Valdosta, Ga.

Fear lingers in this hard-hit city, where trees toppled onto houses and several downtown buildings were destroyed. Anxious families worry their community could be without power for weeks in the wake of Hurricane Helene.

Valdosta residents seeking bottled water, ice, tarps and food passed through an ever-growing line of cars Saturday morning at the Lowndes County Civic Center.

The biggest concern, some said, was the massive power outage in their city and the uncertainty of when the lights would return.

“It’s so widespread because we got a direct hit,” Ronney Bythwood, 71, said after his truck was loaded up with supplies.

Read the full story here.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation today said it has set up a phone line to coordinate reports of missing people following flooding caused by Hurricane Helene.

There was severe flooding in the eastern part of the state from the storm, which made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane.

The number is 1-800-TBI-FIND.

Over 200 people have been saved from floodwaters in North Carolina following Hurricane Helene’s torrential rains, according to a statement issued today from Gov. Roy Cooper’s office.

“This is a historic and catastrophic storm for Western North Carolina and I’m grateful to first responders working right now to save lives and evacuate residents,” Cooper said.

The statement said that search-and-rescue efforts are ongoing in western North Carolina. Some areas in the mountains received as much as 29 inches of rain, which caused “catastrophic flooding,” it added.

Meanwhile, Helene’s strong winds knocked down trees, power lines and cellphone towers. More than 700,000 people in the state were still without power as of Saturday morning, the governor’s office said.

There is no longer a potential imminent breach of a Tennessee dam after Hurricane Helene, an official with the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said today.

The situation at the Nolichucky Dam prompted evacuation orders, and video showed a massive amount of rushing water. The Tennessee Valley Authority said today the dam remains intact.

Yesterday, officials feared “a potential imminent breach,” TEMA Chief of Staff Alex Pellom said/

“We’ve worked with TVA to confirm that Nolichucky is not in that state anymore, and that we have no dam failures that are reported at the moment,” he said.

Hurricane Helene smashed Georgia poultry facilities, ruined cotton crops, and Gov. Brian Kemp said that he was told “literally every commodity in this state has been damaged by this storm.”

There have been 107 poultry facilities damaged or destroyed; 15 dairies that have been affected; “and dozens and dozens of other facilities” that have been affected, Kemp said.

Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tyler Harper said that some agricultural areas have suffered damage worse than Hurricane Michael in 2018.

Hurricane Michael caused over $2 billion in agricultural damage, he said.

“Economically, agriculture is in a really tough spot. And now we are dealing with the devastation, significant devastation of Hurricane Helene, from Valdosta all the way to Augusta,” Harper said.

Tyler said in some areas the cotton crop was significantly damaged or a total loss. The totality of the agricultural damage is still being assessed in the state, he said.

“East of I-75, it’s worse than Hurricane Michael, in the damage that we’re already seeing and that we’re already assessing,” Tyler said.

Georgia is the top producing state when it comes to broiler chickens, peanuts and pecans, among other goods, and is close to the top in production of cotton, according to the Georgia Farm Bureau.

Helene continues to slowly move across the Tennessee Valley area, the National Hurricane Center said in its final update on the storm, adding that heavy rain was beginning to lessen.

The post-tropical cyclone is about 145 miles from Louisville, Kentucky, and is moving at 3 mph with maximum sustained winds of 15 mph. It is not expected to strengthen during the next 48 hours.

Several flood warnings and advisories remain in effect for portions of the southern and central Appalachians throughout the day. There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A historic village in western North Carolina is under water after bearing the brunt of devastating flooding damage from Hurricane Helene.

Tree branches, logs and a dumpster floated across Asheville’s Biltmore Village, renowned for being built and owned by a single individual.

Resident Tammy Borgesen was among the dozens of people standing outside a downtown hotel, one of the few places with Wi-Fi access, hoping to connect with loved ones.

“We’ve been trying to get an email or a text out to just let everybody know we’re ok,” said Borgesen, who had water but no power at her home. 

She said she plans to wait out the storm and “hope for the best.”

“We’re in a weird limbo,” Borgesen said.

Read the full story here.

The Pinellas County, Florida, sheriff today released the identities of nine people who died in Hurricane Helene, and most appeared to have drowned after water entered their home.

The dead ranged in age from 37 to 89. Eight of the nine were identified, while the name of the ninth was withheld pending next of kin notification.

The victims were identified as: Donna Fagersten, 66; Patricia Mikos, 80; Aiden Bowles, 71; Marjorie Havard, 79; Francis Wright, 71; Jerome Waite, 89; James Thompson, 55; Rachel Burch, 37.

Pinellas County is on the Gulf Coast and includes the cities of Clearwater and St. Petersburg. Florida’s coast saw feet of storm surge as Hurricane Helene passed by in the Gulf before making landfall in the Big Bend Thursday.

Over 400 roads remained closed in North Carolina as of this morning, the state Department of Transportation said.

“All roads in Western NC should be considered closed,” the agency said in a post on X following damage from Helene.

President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for North Carolina, which allows federal funding, FEMA said today.

There were landslides and more than 900,000 households statewide lost power due to the storm, Gov. Roy Cooper said Friday. Two people in the state died.

Seventeen people, including children, died in Georgia due to Hurricane Helene, the governor said after viewing damage in Valdosta.

“From a statewide perspective this storm spared no one,” Gov. Brian Kemp said.

The dead include a 27-year-old mother and her twin 1-month-old boys who killed when a tree fell on their home in the city of Thomson, and a 7-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl who died after a tree fell on their home and after they were trapped inside the burning structure in Washington County, he said.

There were around 140 blockages on state routes Saturday, and that number is expected to go up, Kemp said. Around 1,100 people were in shelters across the state Friday, he said.

Kemp said that the economic damage from Hurricane Helene is expected to surpass that of Hurricane Michael, which struck in 2018.

Helene packed a “really monumental storm surge,” with some areas seeing more than 15 feet, when it slammed into Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis said.

The damage left behind has been disastrous. Across the state, there have been 11 storm-related deaths, the governor said.

“As you look around here, you see some homes that are now just rubble,” the governor said at a news conference this morning while visiting Dekle Beach. 

Rescue missions across the state’s Gulf Coast are being conducted “to help bring people to safety,” he told reporters. Thousands of missions have been completed.

Crews have cleared over 12,000 miles of roadway, the governor said, and over 1,4000 bridges have been inspected and reopened.

Hundreds of thousands of people remain without power. DeSantis said power has been restored for 1.49 million customers but 457,000 are still in the dark.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced they were donating $1 million to the Hurricane Helene relief effort.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and First Lady Marty Kemp will tour the Valdosta community today and meet with those heavily impacted by Helene.

Valdosta was one of the state’s hardest hit areas. The governor said officials had identified 115 structures in the city that suffered extensive damage, NBC affiliate WXIA-TV of Atlanta reported.

They will join emergency response officials and local leaders after the tour for a news conference to provide updates on the state’s ongoing response efforts.

President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Tennessee after Helene caused catastrophic flooding.

Biden ordered federal assistance for state and local response efforts and authorized the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate disaster relief efforts.

Gov. Bil Lee on Friday signed an executive order to provide critical relief to victims of Helene and had requested a “Major Disaster Declaration” from FEMA.

Nearly 3.3 million customers woke up without power in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Ohio, according to PowerOutage.us.

That includes nearly 2 million customers in the Carolinas, and 770,000 in Georgia, as the post-tropical cyclone unleashed life-threatening flooding and prompted evacuation warnings, the website reported today.

The U.S. Coast Guard carried out a daring rescue on Friday after a sailboat crashed into an old railroad pier as Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc in Boca Grande, Florida.

In a video taken by YouTuber Sailingwithyoshi, the boat can be seen trapped up against the pier amid heavy wind and choppy waters.

A helicopter hovers above the water as a rescuer descends to lift the first sailor to safety. “One person up,” a voice can be heard saying over the sound of ferocious winds and helicopter propellers.

A second figure is then airlifted out of the water before the helicopter flies away, receiving a thumbs up from the cameraman.

As the remnants of Hurricane Helene caused major flooding in the Southeast today, the Atlantic was serving up two more storms.

Hurricane Isaac was spinning east-northeast at 16 mph about 890 miles west of the Azores Islands, according to an 11 p.m. ET public advisory from the National Hurricane Center.

Maximum sustained winds have been measured at 90 mph, far above the 74 mph required for Category 1 hurricane status, the center said.

While it continued to strengthen amid the Atlantic’s warm water, Isaac’s expected path to the northeast will put it over cooler water, and it was expected to weaken to a post-tropical cyclone by Monday, federal forecasters said.

It’s existence in a desolate part of the Atlantic means it’s unlikely to wreak havoc for people, though it could generate life-threatening surf for the Azores, they said.

A breach of the Nolichucky Dam in Greene County, Tennessee, could happen at any time due to extreme rainfall from Helene, officials said.

The Tennessee Valley Authority’s River Forecast Center warned at 12:13 a.m. ET of an “imminent breach” of the dam, which could cause potentially life-threatening flooding.

The National Weather Service office in Morristown said a flash flooding warning for dam failure has been issued for the area downstream of the dam, including north central Cocke County, southwestern Green County and southeastern Hamblen County.

Homes and businesses in the Centerview and Bybee area are being evacuated, Cooke County Mayor Rob Mathis said. And a mandatory evacuation was issued for all residents of south Hamblen County along the Nolichucky River.

More than 50 people were rescued Friday from an eastern Tennessee hospital due to fast-rising water and high winds, Ballad Health officials said.

The high winds and water levels prevented helicopter crews from airlifting patients and staff from Unicoi County Hospital in Erwin, Tennessee, hospital officials said.

Unicoi County Emergency Medical Services Director Adam Copas said some first responders were trapped inside the hospital with patients and were able to help them get to its rooftop, where helicopter crews from the Tennessee Army National Guard and Virginia State Police pulled them from harm’s way.

“It was organized chaos, but there was a plan, and we executed it and affected that rescue the way that it should have been done and as safe as we possibly could,” Copas told NBC News’ Tom Llamas.

Read the full story here.

Tom Llamas

Tom Llamas and Erin Kutch

Reporting from Keaton Beach, Fla.

Laura Brafford, a resident of Clearwater, spoke to NBC News’ Tom Llamas about the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene on her home, which was flooded with four feet of water.

Brafford, her husband and two children evacuated from their home before the storm hit and says the damage is devastating.

She said they took extra precautions after Hurricane Idalia hit their home, installing floodgates.

“We felt like we had done what we could to mitigate that compared to what we had gotten with Idalia. But in the end, this surpassed completely what we had gotten that storm, and it was definitely shocking,” she said.

Brafford said she has learned to never let her guard down when it comes to storms saying, “safety comes first, and any inconveniences from evacuating comes second.”