Rescue teams are working hard to restore power and address the consequences of massive flooding that has destroyed homes, roads, and businesses across several large regions of the United States.
At least 19 people have died in South Carolina, 15 in Georgia, seven in Florida, two in North Carolina, and one in Virginia, according to a tally compiled by AFP from statements by local authorities.
“Conditions will continue to improve on Saturday, following the catastrophic flooding of the past two days,” wrote the National Hurricane Center (NHC). Helene made landfall in northwest Florida on Thursday evening as a Category 4 hurricane on a scale of 5, with winds blowing at 225 km/h.
In Cedar Key, an island of a few hundred residents on the west coast of Florida, roofs were torn off and walls were demolished.
“It breaks my heart to see this,” said Gabe Doty, a municipal employee, to AFP. “Many homes are gone, the market is gone. The post office is gone. It’s a real tragedy, and it will be difficult to rebuild.”
The storm then continued its path through several U.S. states, causing landslides and intense flooding, reaching Asheville in North Carolina.
“This is one of the worst storms in modern history for some parts of western North Carolina,” said the state’s governor, Roy Cooper, at a press conference on Friday evening.
Evacuating the Area
Rescue operations are ongoing, his office stated. The National Weather Service (NWS) has also warned that a dam located in eastern Tennessee was about to fail and urged downstream residents to “move immediately to higher ground.”
Nearly four million customers were still without power across ten states in the early hours of Saturday, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us.
By warming the waters of the oceans, climate change makes rapid intensification of storms more likely and increases the risk of more powerful hurricanes. After forming, Helene moved over particularly warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico. “It is likely that these very warm waters played a role in the rapid intensification of Helene,” emphasized climatologist Andra Garner to AFP.