Hurricane Helene’s path of destruction.
Credit: Sajid Photography – Shutterstock
The southeastern coast of the United States has been battered by Hurricane Helene, which so far has claimed the lives of at least 52 people.
Billions of dollars of destruction lay in the wake of the hurricane in the southeastern US, and 3 million people have begun the weekend under the threat of serious flooding and left in darkness as power cables have been downed.
Hurricane Helene hit Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane late on Thursday 26 with winds of 140 mph (225 kph) and then rapidly moved through Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee, felling trees, flattening homes, and causing rivers to break their banks.
Mudslides, flooding and power outages
Western North Carolina became cut off due to mudslides and flooding, forcing the closure of Interstate 40. Helicopters were called in once the worst of the hurricane had passed to rescue dozens of stranded people in Asheville, North Carolina, unable to escape due to landslides.
The Nolichucky Dam in eastern Tennessee just about held out as workers at the site reported the water rising at a rate of one foot per hour, while residents in the potential flood zone were ordered to move to higher ground over doubts over the dam’s ability to hold the flood of water.
So far, at least 52 deaths have been reported over five states: Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Although given the expanse of the destruction, currently estimated to be in the region of between $15 billion and $26 billion in property damage alone, the death toll is expected to be higher. Among the dead are three firefighters, a mother and her 1-month-old twins, and an 89-year-old woman who was struck by a tree that hit her house.
The White House said it had approved emergency declaration requests from the governors of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, giving the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, authorisation to provide emergency response assistance.
