Washington: At least 50 people were killed, many injured, counties flattened and millions left powerless as hurricane Helene ‘exploded’ making a historic landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm at around midnight (ET) Thursday. It was the strongest and one of the largest storms to hit the Gulf of Mexico in the last century.
The hurricane made landfall in a small town called Perry, but what surprised many was the width of the storm that spanned over 350 km and water level rose to over 15 feet in many places.
UNSURVIVABLE
The weather office said Helene had an “unsurvivable” storm surge and it could climb to 20 feet along Florida’s Big Bend. Some counties received over 12 inches of rainfall in just a few hours.
Wind speeds that touched over 225 kmph knocked out electricity, leaving over one million without power. Officials warned that catastrophic wind damage from the storm could cause power outages that will “likely last days, if not weeks.”
While many in the path of Helene were evacuated, there were a few who stayed back at their risk. The Governor of Florida appealed to them to stay hunkered down and not venture out.
Hurricane Helene has pushed water levels at all five Tampa area tide gauges to levels never before observed, with records going back to at least 1950, the weather office said.
TROPICAL DEPRESSION
Helene is now a tropical depression after making landfall. Multiple states have recorded more than a foot of rain, with numerous flash flood emergencies issued in the Southeast, including Atlanta.
The storm’s intensity was fueled by warm waters due to fossil fuel use. It was the strongest hurricane on record to slam into Florida’s Big Bend region.
Approximately 1.1 million people are under at least 14 different flash flood emergencies, the highest level of flash flood warning issued by the National Weather Service that is reserved for catastrophic flooding that presents a severe threat to human life.
These flood warnings are located in the Southern Appalachians of Western North Carolina and adjacent parts of Tennessee, South Carolina and Virginia.
EXTREME RAINFALL
The flooding is the result of multiple days of extreme rainfall resulting from a combination of a slow-moving cold front and the passage of Hurricane Helene, which has brought widespread and record flooding to the region.
While the rain has largely ended over the area, rivers will continue to rise in some locations as the rainfall continues to flow into the rivers and streams, officials said.
Asheville residents described the situation as “complete pandemonium” in their city after Helene brought several feet of floodwater and pushed large debris into streets overnight. There were major concerns of water contamination too.
“A lot of businesses are completely wrecked … I’ve never seen anything like that since I’ve lived here. It’s absolutely a tragedy,” CNN quoted a resident.
Over 50 people were rescued from a Tennessee hospital roof on Friday. Among them were patients who were stranded after rapidly rising waters from Hurricane Helene made evacuation impossible Friday morning.
A MESS
Mayor of Florida’s Cedar Key said the city is in a “multifaceted mess” with no power or water. The devastation in Cedar Key is so widespread it is not safe enough to allow residents or volunteers back into the small community off the Florida coast, city officials said.
Many historical buildings and new homes have been destroyed, roads are blocked by downed wires and “extremely dangerous” debris, officials added.
Helene’s rain has largely come to an end in some of the hardest-hit areas of the Southeast, but it’s still dumping plenty of rain elsewhere.
Steady rain is falling from New Jersey, through northern Ohio and into Indiana while storms capable of producing tornadoes continue to pound the mid-Atlantic.
