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Hurricane Helene cuts destructive swath across Southeast

PERRY, Florida: Leaving a vast path of destruction, Hurricane Helene has swept the Southeastern United States, destroying homes, knocking out power, snapping oak trees like twigs, and killing at least 115 people so far.

Three firefighters, a woman and her one-month-old twins, and an 89-year-old woman whose house was struck by a falling tree were among those killed. According to an Associated Press tally, with deaths occurring in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. Hundreds more are still unaccounted for with over 600 people reported missing in North Carolina alone, where over 300 roads in the state are now closed due to intense flooding.

The Category 4 hurricane knocked out power to some hospitals in southern Georgia, and authorities had to use chainsaws to clear debris and open up roads. When it made landfall, the storm had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph in Florida’s rural Big Bend area, home to fishing villages and vacation hideaways where the state’s panhandle and peninsula meet.

Moody’s Analytics said it expects US$15 billion to $26 billion in property damage.

The wreckage has extended hundreds of miles northward to northeast Tennessee, where a “dangerous rescue situation” by helicopter unfolded after 54 people were moved to the roof of the Unicoi County Hospital as water rapidly flooded the facility. Everyone was rescued and no one was left at the hospital late on September 28, Ballad Health said.

In North Carolina, a lake featured in the movie “Dirty Dancing” overtopped a dam and surrounding neighborhoods were evacuated. People also were evacuated from Newport, Tennessee, a city of about 7,000 people, amid concerns about a dam near there.

Tornadoes hit some areas, including one in Nash County, North Carolina, that critically injured four people.

Atlanta received a record 11.12 inches of rain in 48 hours, the most the city has seen in two days since 1878. Some neighborhoods were so badly flooded that only car roofs could be seen above the water.

Laurie Lilliott could not see the roof of her home beyond the palm trees when she pulled onto her street in Dekle Beach, Florida after Helene plowed through. It had collapsed, torn apart by the pounding storm surge.

All five who died in one Florida county were in neighborhoods where residents were told to evacuate, said Bob Gualtieri, the sheriff in Pinellas County in the St. Petersburg area. Some who stayed ended up having to hide in their attics to escape the rising water. He said the death toll could rise as crews go door-to-door in flooded areas.

More deaths were reported in Georgia and the Carolinas, including two South Carolina firefighters and a Georgia firefighter who died when trees struck their trucks.

Helene also swamped parts of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, flooding streets and toppling trees as it brushed past the resort city of Cancun this week. It also knocked out power to more than 200,000 homes and businesses in western Cuba.

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