Helene unleashes flooding and knocks out power to millions

Tropical Storm Helene is unleashing dangerous rain and flooding across the southern United States, where it has killed at least six people and knocked out power to more than 4 million customers after making landfall in Florida as a major hurricane.

More than 5.2 million people face a moderate or high risk of heavy rain Friday as Helene, with winds of 45 miles (72 kilometers) per hour, pushes inland into North Carolina, said Scott Kleebauer, forecaster at the US Weather Forecast Center. The heaviest rain will now move into Tennessee and Kentucky after hitting parts of Georgia and the Carolinas.

The storm is expected to stall in the Tennessee Valley Friday night and remain there through the weekend as it merges with a larger weather system.

Related: Hurricane Helene to become Cat 3, initial estimates put $3-6 billion in insured losses

“This will be one of the most significant weather events to occur in the western portions of the area in the modern era,” the National Weather Service said, as the storm dumped rain in the southern Appalachian Mountains, where rivers have already begun to flood and could reach record heights.

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There were at least six deaths from the storm, according to the Associated Press. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said late Thursday that the first death was in Tampa, where a sign fell into a car on the highway.

Related: Tallahassee, Atlanta dodges a bullet, but thousands of claims are expected

In Atlanta, where a rare flood emergency has been issued, Peachtree Creek is at major flood stage and has risen more than 21 feet since Wednesday. Georgia City has received nearly 8 inches of rain over the past two days and heavy showers will continue through midday.

Helene made landfall Thursday evening as a Category 4 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale with winds of 140 miles per hour near the mouth of the Aucilla River in Florida’s Big Bend region on its west coast. It’s close to where Hurricane Debby hit in August and Major Hurricane Idalia hit in 2023, the US National Hurricane Center said.

The deadly storm has halted transportation, threatened crops and is so massive that rain could fall from Springfield, Illinois to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina — a distance of more than 700 miles. Damage and losses could reach $25 billion, according to Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler at Enki Research.

From Florida to Virginia, nearly 4.4 million customers were without power from Florida to Ohio as of 10:45 a.m. New York time, PowerOutage.us said. The most extensive outages will likely occur in the Appalachians.

“Residents in these areas should be prepared for the possibility of extended power outages,” the hurricane center said.

The Elba liquefied natural gas export plant near Savannah, Ga., is restarting after power outages caused by Helene, operator Kinder Morgan Inc. said.

More than 800 flights to or from the US were canceled on Friday, with Charlotte, North Carolina, Tampa and Atlanta the most affected, according to FlightAware, an airline tracking service.

Cotton crops in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic and corn and soybeans as far north as central Indiana and Ohio are at risk of damage from Helene’s impact, StoneX said in a report.

A few more inches of rain will likely fall in the southern Appalachian Mountains, where high terrain and narrow valleys increase the risk of flash flooding and mudslides by midday, the weather service said. The worst showers will push into Tennessee and Kentucky and parts of the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys, according to Kleebauer.

In addition to the devastation caused by Helene, Tropical Storm John brought nearly a week’s worth of flooding to Mexico’s Pacific coast, including the states of Guerrero, Chiapas, Oaxaca and Michoacan. The storm clung to the coast, dragging heavy rains into mountainous areas inland.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Joyce has formed and is joining Hurricane Isaac far inland, where there will be no immediate threats. This brings the season total to 10 named storms. The Atlantic hurricane season, which ends on November 30, averages 14 storms.

Top photo: Flood waters inundate Main Street after Hurricane Helene made landfall on September 27, 2024 in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Hurricane Helene made landfall Thursday evening in Florida’s Big Bend with winds of up to 140 mph and storm surge. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America.

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