ATLANTA, Sept 27 (Askume) – Tropical Depression Helene brought deadly flooding to parts of the southeastern United States on Friday and at least 43 people have died as a result of the storm. The storm flooded many areas, triggered landslides, threatened dams and knocked out power to more than 3.5 million homes and businesses.
Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region Thursday night as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 140 mph (225 kph) before moving north through Georgia toward Tennessee and the Carolinas. It left a chaotic scene: boats overturned in harbor, trees toppled, cars submerged and streets flooded.
The storm was downgraded to a tropical depression by Friday afternoon, with sustained winds of 35 mph (55 kph), the National Hurricane Center said.
But Helene’s heavy rains are still causing severe flooding in many areas, and police and firefighters are working to rescue thousands of people from the affected states.
More than 50 people were rescued from the roof of a hospital in Unicoi County, Tennessee, a rural community about 120 miles (200 kilometers) northeast of Knoxville that was inundated by flooding, state officials said.
The Unicoi County Emergency Management Agency said on social media that ambulances and emergency vehicles were unable to evacuate patients and others due to rising water levels in the Nolichucky River. Emergency teams were conducting rescue operations by boat and helicopter.
Elsewhere in Tennessee, Cocke County Mayor Rob Mathis ordered the city of Newport to be evacuated because a nearby dam could fail. Mathis initially said the Waters Dam had suffered a “catastrophic failure”, but later said the dam had “ruptured” but no major failure had occurred.
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency wrote on social media that the Waters Dam on the North Carolina border had not breached. The agency said it received information from Duke Energy, which operates the dam.
“We are aware of the situation and are in the process of establishing the facts,” Duke Energy spokeswoman Madison McDonald said.
In western North Carolina, Rutherford County emergency officials warned residents near the Lake Lure Dam to immediately move to higher ground, citing a “potential dam failure.”
But by 8 pm (0000 GMT), county emergency officials said engineers had assessed the dam “and determined there was no longer any risk of failure”.
Landslides in nearby Buncombe County forced the closure of Interstates 40 and 26, the county said Friday.
Reports of damage in Florida began coming in after Friday morning.
The National Weather Service said Friday that a storm surge of 8 to 10 feet (2.4-3 meters) high — a wall of seawater driven by winds — washed ashore off the coast of Stanhatchie, Florida, shaking mobile homes. On Treasure Island, a barrier island community in Pinellas County, boats got stuck in front yards.
The city of Tampa tweeted that emergency crews had rescued 78 residents from the water and that flooding had left several roads impassable. The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office rescued more than 65 people overnight.
Officials urged residents living in Helene’s path to heed evacuation orders, and National Hurricane Center director Michael Brennan called the storm surge “unrelenting”.
Some residents live there.
Ken Wood, 58, a state-owned ferry operator in Pinellas County, said he should have heeded evacuation orders instead of facing the storm at home with his 16-year-old cat, Andy.
“I swore I’d never do that again,” Wood said. “It was a traumatic experience. It roared like a train all night. It was terrifying. The house was shaking.”
The storm surge touched down on their homes, and some were flooded with chest-deep salt water. One home caught fire and burned, she said, with flames reaching 30 feet high into the stormy sky.
“Old Andy didn’t care,” Wood said. “He did a great job. But let’s go next time.”
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said rescue crews were unable to respond to many emergency calls from residents the previous night because of the conditions. County authorities found at least five people dead on Friday.
Two more people were killed in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis said. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp’s office reported 15 storm-related deaths in the state, while North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said there were two deaths in the state.
At least 19 people were killed in the storm in South Carolina, the Charleston-based Post and Courier newspaper said, citing local officials.
Forecasters said Helene was unusually large for a Gulf hurricane, though a hurricane’s size does not equate to its intensity, which is based on maximum sustained wind speeds.
According to the National Hurricane Center, just hours before landfall, Helene’s tropical storm-force winds extended 310 miles (500 kilometers) across. By comparison, Hurricane Idalia, which struck the Big Bend, Florida area last year, had tropical storm-force winds 160 miles (260 kilometers) wide about eight hours before making landfall there.
