At least 50 people have been reported dead across multiple states after Helene made landfall Thursday night as a Category 4 hurricane. More than 3 million customers were still without power on Saturday.
Now a weakened post-tropical cyclone, Helene came ashore in Florida's Big Bend region, bringing winds up to 140 mph and life-threatening storm surges of 15 feet in some locations. As Helene traveled inland, the storm brought high winds, extreme rainfall and catastrophic flash-flooding.
What's left of the storm "will drift slowly southeast and eventually eastward along the Kentucky-Tennessee border through the weekend."
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Yahoo News Staff
Pregnant mother of 2 is 'completely trapped' in her North Carolina home
Jennifer Replogle, a pregnant mother of two young children, told CNN that she has been “completely trapped” at her home in Tater Hill, N.C., a mountainous area near Boone that has been hit by historic flooding.
“We weren’t prepared for this,” she texted a CNN reporter on Saturday. “The roads are gone, like completely gone.”
Replogle said she hasn't had power since early Friday. According to PowerOutage.us, more than 631,000 people were still without power in North Carolina on Saturday evening.
CNN reports:
Replogle said she has no food and is running out of water.
The few narrow, winding roads from the mountain into Boone are impassable, she said.
“Our basement flooded yesterday. If they don’t get somebody to us soon, I really don’t know what to do,” Replogle said.
She is worried about the plumbing and water service business she and her husband own. They have seen a photo of the business’s flooded parking lot and fear “we have lost most of everything.”
Click here for more from CNN on what's happening in western North Carolina.
Yahoo News Staff
Asheville, N.C., cut off after Helene leaves mountain town without power, access to roads
Asheville, North Carolina's largest mountain town, was essentially cut off on Saturday after Hurricane Helene left damaged and flooded roads and a lack of electricity in its wake.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency for Asheville and the surrounding areas on Friday, saying that all roads to western North Carolina "should be considered closed."
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said on Friday that "when tropical weather crosses into our mountains, it can be deadly," adding that storms that hit the mountains need different emergency resources.
"Just a few years ago, Tropical Storm Fred shocked our mountain regions with torrential rain, sweeping away homes, bridges and lives," he said, according to local news outlet WRAL. "With Helene, this can happen again."
A flood warning was in effect until Monday evening, the NWS said. Water levels of the French Broad River, which runs through Asheville into Tennessee, were recorded at 23.1 feet, which meteorologists said "is the highest stage observed" since measurements began in 1895. "Devastating flooding of adjacent areas of the French Broad River Valley is likely."
Please share! Newport, TN. The French broad river has overflown into the town. They are currently in a state of emergency. This town is very small around 7,000 total population. Many live under the poverty level. It is going to take them a long time to recover from this… pic.twitter.com/G2R5un6rSV
— MrsRooster (@RoosterGSD) September 28, 2024
Yahoo News Staff
Video captures moment meteorologist rescues woman from rising floodwaters in Atlanta
A Fox Weather meteorologist rescued a woman from rising floodwaters in Atlanta on Friday — and it was all caught on camera.
Bob Van Dillen was reporting on Hurricane Helene in Atlanta, which was under a rare flash-flood emergency from the National Weather Service.
According to Fox Weather, Van Dillen "heard a woman's desperate cries for help" after she drove into floodwaters and got trapped in her car as the water continued to rise.
"I just put the microphone down and called 911," Van Dillen said. "I know that those guys are swamped, so we waited about five minutes. She was getting panicked a little bit more because the water was coming up a little bit higher."
The meteorologist pulled the woman from the car and carried her to safety to dry land.
Click here for more from Fox Weather on the rescue.
Yahoo News Staff
Biden says 'road to recovery will be long'
In a statement on Saturday, President Biden said he and Vice President Kamala Harris "remain focused on life-saving and life-sustaining response and recovery efforts" after Helene made landfall in the Southeast.
"I am being regularly briefed by my team on the ongoing response efforts, and my Administration is in constant contact with state and local officials to ensure communities have the support and resources they need," he said, adding that FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell "is traveling throughout the Southeast to assess the damage alongside other state and local officials."
"The road to recovery will be long, but know that my Administration will be with you every step of the way. We’re not going to walk away. We’re not going to give up," Biden said. He also said that his administration will make sure "no resource is spared to ensure that families, businesses, schools, hospitals, and entire communities can quickly begin their road to rebuilding."
Yahoo News Staff
Augusta National Golf Club assessing Helene damage
The Augusta National Golf Club has been assessing the damage after Hurricane Helene hit Georgia on Friday, bringing with it destructive winds that brought down trees and caused other damage.
Yahoo Sports' Jay Busbee reports:
While the extent of any damage at Augusta National Golf Club remains unclear, the club released a statement Saturday keeping the focus on the surrounding community. Several residents in the area died during the storms, and much of the area remains under curfew during the weekend as crews work to address damage and restore services.
“Our Augusta community has suffered catastrophic and historic impact from Hurricane Helene. We currently are assessing the effects at Augusta National Golf Club," ANGC chairman Fred Ridley said in the statement. "In the meantime, our focus and efforts are foremost with our staff, neighbors and business owners in Augusta. Our thoughts and prayers are with them as well as everyone throughout Georgia and the Southeast who have been affected.”
Read more from Yahoo Sports here.
Nicole Darrah
At least 52 people dead from Hurricane Helene
At least 52 people have been killed in recent days after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida and spread throughout the Southeast, according to the Associated Press.
The deaths have been reported in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
Read more from the AP here.
Nicole Darrah
More than 1 million still without power in South Carolina. When will power be restored?
South Carolina still has more than 1 million customers without power, according to PowerOutage.us. While utility companies were working to immediately restore power, officials warned it might take a long time.
Around 40% of the state was without power on Friday, local station WLTX reported. Dominion Energy South Carolina President Keller Kissam said crews are working 24 hours a day, and bringing in more workers from Alabama and Mississippi.
“You will be frustrated. Tomorrow it’s going to be 86 degrees and clear. You’re going to say ‘Why can’t I watch the football game? Why can’t my life be back to normal?’" Kissam said Friday, per the news outlet. "Life’s not going to be back to normal until probably the middle of next week."
Rob Hochstetler, CEO of Central Electric Power Cooperative, said some of his employees described the damage from Helene as the most destructive they've seen.
Nicole Darrah
Photos show North Carolina after devastating flooding
Nicole Darrah
Rescues underway across multiple states
CNN reports:
Nearly 4,000 National Guardsmen were conducting rescue efforts in 21 counties across Florida, the Defense Department said Friday. North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama have also activated guardsmen. The Biden administration has also mobilized more than 1,500 federal personnel to support communities affected by Helene, Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday.
Nicole Darrah
Helene bringing 'catastrophic, historic flooding' near southern Appalachia, but most rainfall has ended, NHC says
The National Hurricane Center said in an advisory Saturday morning that Helene, now a post-tropical cyclone, is still bringing "catastrophic, historic flooding" over parts of southern Appalachia.
Forecasters did note that "the risk for additional heavy rainfall continues to wane."
"Most of the rainfall across the central and southern Appalachians has come to an end, although a few lingering showers are possible through Saturday," the NHC said.
What's left of Helene "will drift slowly southeast and eventually eastward along the Kentucky-Tennessee border through the weekend."
Nicole Darrah
Georgia woman and her 1-month-old twin boys among those killed
In Thomas, Ga., a city around 117 miles east of Atlanta, officials said that a 27-year-old mother and her twin boys, who were a month old, died when a tree crashed through their mobile home.
All three of them were in bed together when they were killed after Helene churned through the state, McDuffie County Coroner Paul Johnson said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
As of Saturday morning, at least 44 people have been reported dead from Helene. Most of those deaths were reported in Georgia and the Carolinas.
David Knowles
What's next for Helene?
The good news is that Helene's winds have diminished enough that the storm is no longer classified as a hurricane or even a tropical storm.
The bad news is that post-tropical cyclone Helene could continue to cause flooding in some areas through Sunday. That's because the storm is forecast to linger over much of Tennessee and Kentucky. Western portions of those two states could see an additional 2 to 4 inches of rain before the weekend is done. That comes after an extraordinary 24-hour period in which Helene left her mark on the region. Here's a rundown of the storm's impact:
More than 40 people died due to the storm.
Helene dropped up to two feet of rain in portions of North Carolina and South Carolina, and set a record for the worst flood in North Carolina's recorded history, according to North Carolina state climatologist Katie Dello.
The storm caused damage estimated by Moody's between $20 billion and $34 billion.
A record number of Americans found themselves under a flash flood emergency issued by the National Weather Service.
More than 50 patients and staff at Unicoi County Hospital in Tennessee had to be rescued from a rooftop after flood waters cut off their means of escape.
More than 4.8 million customers lost power because of the storm.
David Knowles
Damage from Helene estimated between $20 and $34 billion
Moody's Analytics released an initial estimate of the damage caused by Helene after it ravaged several states over the past 24 hours, saying that the combined total of property damage and lost wages was likely to total between $20 billion and $34 billion.
Of course, Helene is still causing serious problems in multiple states, which could cause those estimates to rise.
Yahoo News Photo Staff
Devastating photos show damage wrought by Helene
David Knowles
Helene's staggering rainfall totals so far
Helene has dumped rain on a part of the country that had recently endured extreme precipitation, an unfortunate one-two punch that has made flooding that much worse. Here are some of the totals that have come just from Helene:
25.07 inches in Hendersonville, N.C.
24.01 inches Ridgecrest, N.C.
23.77 inches at Mount Mitchell State Park, N.C.
22.98 inches at Sunfish Mountain, S.C.
21.07 inches at Slicking Mountain, S.C
19.50 inches in Clemson, S.C.
19.39 inches in Banner Elk, N.C.
17.70 inches at Grandfather Mountain, N.C.
16.61 inches in Salem, S.C.
14.68 inches in Tallulah Falls, Ga.
13.56 inches in Martinez, Ga.
11.13 inches at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta airport, Ga.
7.35 inches in Columbia, S.C.
5.62 inches in Charlotte, N.C.
David Knowles
Just 4% of Americans have flood insurance, Bloomberg reports
A sobering data point on what is facing homeowners impacted by Helene's fury over the past 24 hours is that the vast majority do not have flood insurance.
"Roughly 4% of Americans have flood insurance, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), with the majority of those policies issued under the government’s National Flood Insurance Program," Bloomberg reported. That number is even lower in inland parts of the country like those experiencing flash flood emergencies stemming from Helene's heavy rains.
Read more from Bloomberg.
David Knowles
North Carolina flooding from Helene worse than Great Flood of 1916
The extreme rainfall that accompanied Helene's arrival in North Carolina has resulted in the state's worst flooding on record, according to North Carolina State Climatologist Kathie Dello.
"Today's flooding from #Helene is worse that the Great Flood of 1916, the flood of record in Western North Carolina," she wrote in a message posted to X on Friday.
Today's flooding from #Helene is worse than the Great Flood of 1916, the flood of record in Western North Carolina.
Please, keep the good people of Western North Carolina in your thoughts. They will be recovering from this generational storm for a long time. #NCwx pic.twitter.com/Q2VUgvXy6Z
— Kathie Dello (@KathieDello) September 27, 2024
David Knowles
Dam near Newport, Tenn., did not fail, state officials say
Despite earlier reports that the Walters Dam in Waterville, N.C., had experienced a "catastrophic failure" Friday afternoon as heavy rains from Helene pounded the area, officials with the state's Emergency Management Agency said hours later that the dam had not given way.
Evacuations continue to be underway in neighboring Newport, Tenn, whose downtown remains under several feet of water.
David Knowles
1.1 million people now facing flash flood emergencies, NWS says
A record number of Americans now find themselves under flash flood emergencies, the National Weather Service said, many of which extend into Friday evening.
That designation is the highest level of threat, representing what are considered catastrophic flooding levels, that the NWS reports in nationwide warnings. The spate of warnings currently posted span multiple states, including Tennessee, South Carolina and Virginia.
David Knowles
Conditions begin improving in North Carolina
Hit hard by heavy rain and winds as Helene passed through the state, conditions in North Carolina have begun looking a bit better as evening approaches.
"Conditions continue to improve across central NC with just a few lingering showers/storms moving across the northern Piedmont over the next few hours," the National Weather Service said in a post to X. "Gusty winds will relax into the evening hours. Creeks, streams, and rivers will run high and fast over the next few days."
415 pm: Conditions continue to improve across central NC with just a few lingering showers/storms moving across the northern Piedmont over the next few hours. Gusty winds will relax into the evening hours. Creeks, streams, and rivers will run high and fast over the next few days. pic.twitter.com/vS56YxZPZk
— NWS Raleigh (@NWSRaleigh) September 27, 2024
As of 4:30 p.m. local time, however, 884,556 customers were also still without power, according to Poweroutage.us.
