Hurricane Helene 2024

[Meatpie]

Floodwaters from Hurricane Helene in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Friday Sept 27, 2024.

Evacuation underway for 50 people trapped on hospital roof in Tennessee; at least 20 killed by Helene in south-east US – live

Patients and staff at hospital in Erwin, Tennessee are being rescued by helicopter; death toll continues to rise in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas

www.theguardian.com

• So far at least 30 people have been killed by the storm, which made landfall at about 11.10pm Thursday in Florida’s Big Bend. It picked up significant strength in the Gulf of Mexico, and has left a trail of devastation during its rampage across numerous states.
• Many of the fatalities are in Georgia, where Governor Brian Kemp told reporters that a first responder was among 11 confirmed deaths. Dozens of people were rescued as severe flooding affected many areas, including the city of Atlanta, which remains under a flash flood warning.
• In Florida, five people were killed in Pinellas county, at least two of them drowned after they ignored warnings to evacuate, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said. At least two others are dead in Florida, one in a traffic accident and the other when a tree fell on a house, Governor Ron DeSantis said. He credited rescue crews with saving “a lot of lives” during thousands of overnight rescues.
• North Carolina’s governor, Roy Cooper, said Helene was “one of the worst storms in modern history”, and warned the end of the rain was not the end of the threat to his state because of flooding and high wind concerns. At least two people were killed.
• The National Weather Service issued an emergency evacuation order for residents below North Carolina’s Lake Lure dam, which it said was at risk of “imminent failure” after it was overtopped by storm water.
• The National Hurricane Center (NHC), in its most recent advisory, warned of “historic, catastrophic and life-threatening flash and urban flooding” across the south-eastern US continuing into the weekend. Damaging wind gusts could be expected in Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Kentucky on Friday, and “significant flooding” over Ohio and the Tennessee valleys through at least Sunday.
• Early estimates from the NHC’s storm surge unit indicates water levels reached more than 15ft above normal where the storm came ashore near Keaton Beach, Florida. The figure is below the worst prediction of more than 20ft, but is still abnormally high, and the storm’s giant size left flooding far from its core

 

[Meatpie]

Good morning.

Sadly the number of dead from Helene has risen to over 60 across five states.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/28/weather/hurricane-helene-florida-georgia-carolinas/index.html

 

[Meatpie]

Sadly Hurricane Helene will now rank among the deadliest hurricanes to strike the mainland United States in the past 50 years – and the death toll, which is already over 120, will likely continue to climb.

Hurricane Katrina tops the list with at least 1,833 fatalities from the storm and subsequent flooding. Hurricane Ian, which struck southeast Florida in 2022, caused 150 direct and indirect fatalities.

Helene is currently third on the list, already surpassing Hurricane Irma from 2017, which killed 92 in the US, mostly in Florida.

Hurricane Harvey and Superstorm Sandy resulted in between 60-75 fatalities in the US.

 

[Meatpie]

A week after Hurricane Helene made landfall in the US, search-and-rescue teams continue to search for missing people in parts of the south-east that were devastated by the storm, as the death toll continues to rise, and as just under a million people in the region are still without power.

Over 200 were killed and nearly 700 remain missing.

Hurricane Helene: nearly 200 dead as search for missing people continues

Hurricane that made landfall as category 4 last week is described as one of deadliest storms in US history

www.theguardian.com