The aftermath of the ferocious Storm Helene has resulted in a staggering loss of life, with at least 53 people confirmed dead, authorities have reported. Rescue teams, facing significant challenges due to washed-out bridges and roads littered with debris, are conducting thorough searches for survivors in several ravaged eastern U.S. states.
According to updated figures compiled by AFP, the state-by-state breakdown of fatalities includes a heartbreaking 22 lives lost in South Carolina, 17 in Georgia, 11 in Florida, two in North Carolina, and one in Virginia.
Helene made landfall in Florida late Thursday as a formidable Category 4 hurricane, subsequently moving northward and gradually diminishing in strength but leaving behind a trail of unprecedented destruction.
This morning, repair crews swung into action, while the National Weather Service assured residents that conditions would “start to improve today after the horrific flooding experienced over the last couple of days.”
Impressively, nearly three million customers remained without power across ten states, stretching from the southeastern tip of Florida to the midwestern reaches of Indiana and Ohio, as reported by poweroutage.us.
The remnants of Helene left behind a chaotic scene, with boats overturned in harbors.
The storm initially struck Florida’s northern Gulf shore with destructive winds reaching up to 225 kilometers per hour. Even after losing strength and transforming into a post-tropical cyclone, Helene continued to wreak havoc.
Although water levels were at record highs, threatening to breach numerous dams, Tennessee emergency officials reported that the Nolichucky Dam, previously at risk of failure, was no longer a concern, allowing residents downstream to return home safely.
Severe flooding plagued Asheville, a western North Carolina city, where Governor Ray Cooper deemed it “one of the most devastating storms in recent history” for the state.
In South Carolina, where hurricanes are a familiar menace, some locals declared Helene the most destructive storm to hit their region in four decades.
Reports emerged of isolated towns in the mountainous regions of the Carolinas, cut off from power and cell service, with access roads obliterated or buried beneath mudslides.
Cedar Key, an island community of barely 700 inhabitants just off Florida’s northwest coast, showcased the hurricane’s full destructive capabilities.
Officials had fervently urged residents within Helene’s trajectory to heed evacuation orders. National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan described the storm surge as “unsurvivable.”
Many pastel-hued wooden homes succumbed to the storm’s fury, battered by record-high storm surges and howling winds. Gabe Doty, a Cedar Key official, lamented, “I’ve lived here my entire life, and witnessing this devastation breaks my heart. We’ve hardly had a moment’s respite,” referring to two previous hurricanes that struck the area in the preceding year.
President Biden remarked on the “overwhelming” damage caused, noting the tremendous toll it has taken on affected communities.
In South Carolina, among the deceased were two firefighters, while Georgia’s toll included an emergency responder, state officials disclosed.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis stated that the destruction wrought by Helene was greater than the impacts of hurricanes Idalia and Debby, both of which struck southeast of Tallahassee within the last 13 months. “It’s a real blow to those communities,” DeSantis conveyed during an interview with Fox News.
On the upscale Anna Maria Island, located south of Tampa, nearly every ground-level residence was inundated, with a coastal roadway buried under several feet of sand, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported.
In the Tennessee town of Erwin, a dramatic rescue operation unfolded as over 50 patients and staff members trapped on the roof of a hospital due to rising floodwaters were airlifted to safety by helicopters.
As remnants of the now-weakened storm continued to drop rain across the lower Midwest on Saturday, President Biden addressed the nation, describing Helene’s destruction as “overwhelming.”
He announced the deployment of additional response personnel and dispatched Deanne Criswell, Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to Florida to assess the damage firsthand. FEMA now boasts a workforce of more than 800 in the regions hit hardest by the storm.
September has seen unusually high precipitation levels globally, with climate scientists linking numerous extreme weather occurrences to anthropogenic climate change.
Edited by: Ali Musa
alimusa@axadletimes.com
Axadle international–Monitoring
