Heavy rains from powerful Hurricane Helen killed at least 64 people and caused widespread destruction across the southeastern United States on Saturday, leaving people without shelter as clean-up efforts began after the storm left millions without power. They were stranded waiting for rescue.
“I’m not going to give up,” said Janalea England of Steinhatchee, Fla., a small riverside town along Florida’s rural Big Bend, as she turned her commercial fish market into a storm donation site for friends. And many of the neighbors couldn’t insure their homes.
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Helen made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region late Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 140 mph (225 kph).
From there, it quickly moved through Georgia, where Gov. Brian Kemp said Saturday it looked like a bomb had gone off, seeing destroyed homes and debris-covered highways from the air. A weakened Helen then flooded the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains, sending streams and rivers on both sides and straining dams.
Landslides and flooding isolated much of western North Carolina, closing Interstate 40 and other roads. All of these closures delayed the start of East Tennessee State University football’s game against The Citadel, as the Buccaneers had to drive 16 hours to Charleston, South Carolina.
Hundreds of water rescues have been carried out over the years, but none as dramatic as the one in rural Unicoi County in eastern Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were rescued by helicopter from the roof of a hospital on Friday. Rescue efforts continued the next day in Buncombe County, North Carolina, where parts of Asheville were submerged under water.
To say it caught him off guard would be an understatement, said County Sheriff Quentin Miller.
Asheville resident Mario Moraga said he was heartbroken to see the damage to the Biltmore Village neighborhood and said neighbors have been going door to door to check on each other and offer support.
There is no cell phone service here. There’s no electricity, he said.
There have also been deaths in the county, but Emergency Services Director Van Taylor-Jones said he was not ready to provide details, in part because a downed cell phone tower prevented contacting next of kin. He said it has not been done.
Relatives appealed for help on Facebook. Among those waiting for news was Francine Kavanaugh. Her sister told her she was going to check on the guests at the vacation home because a storm was starting to hit Asheville. Kavanaugh, who lives in Atlanta, has not been heard from since then.
I think people are completely stuck, she said.
The storm is currently only a tropical storm and is expected to remain over the Tennessee Valley Saturday and Sunday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
devastating flood
The worst flooding in North Carolina in 100 years, Gov. Roy Cooper said, was devastating and required search and rescue teams from 19 states and the federal government to help. One community, Spruce Pine, received more than 2 feet (0.6 meters) of rain from Tuesday to Saturday.
Atlanta also received 11.12 inches (28.24 centimeters) of rain in 48 hours, the heaviest amount of rain in two days for the city since record-keeping began in 1878.
President Joe Biden said Saturday that Helen’s plight was overwhelming and promised to send aid. He also approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina, making federal funds available to affected individuals.
At least 25 people have been killed in South Carolina, making Helen the worst tropical cyclone to hit the state since Hurricane Hugo, which made landfall just north of Charleston in 1989, killing 35 people. Deaths have also been reported in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.
Moody’s Analytics predicted property damage would be between $15 billion and $26 billion. AccuWeather’s preliminary estimates put the total damage and economic losses caused by Helen in the United States between $95 billion and $110 billion.
Climate change is worsening the conditions for such storms to form, and rising ocean temperatures can quickly intensify them, sometimes turning them into powerful cyclones within hours.
First Published: September 29, 2024 | 7:09 AM IST