Hurricane Helene has left a path of havoc as it swept across the state of Florida and southeastern USA on friday resulting in 44 deaths in total till now. Among those killed are 3 firefighters, a woman and her 1 month old twins, and an 89 year old woman whose house was struck by a falling tree. The death toll was recorded most in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.
The category 4 hurricane led to power cuts in some hospitals spread across north Georgia, and people had to resort to using chainsaws to clear the debris even and open up roads. The storm had a max wind speed of 225 kilometres per hour making it one of the most dreaded hurricanes in the history of the US when it made landfall.
As per analysts, $15-$16 billion worth of property have been affected by the storm. The wreckage extended up to miles northwards of northeast Tennessee where helicopter rescue missions had to be unfolded due to the increase in the resulting floods. People were evacuated from Newport, amid concerns of flash floods as the city is located near a dam.
Tornadoes struck some areas including one in Nash county, North Carolina injuring 4 people badly. Atlanta received a record 28.24 cms of rainfall in just over 2 days, the most ever recorded since 1878. The data was shared by the Georgia Office of State Climatologist on Twitter.
President Joe Biden said he was praying for those struck by the hurricane and stated that the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was headed to the area. The agency has deployed more than 1500 personnel and have rescued about 400 stranded people.
Boats were being used for rescue operations in Tampa. More than 3 million homes and businesses were without power in the affected regions that included some parts of Ohio and Indiana due to the rapid northward movement of the hurricane.
