Helene wreaking havoc across Southeast; 22 dead; 4.4M in the dark: Live updates

While tornadoes don’t typically get the same attention as hurricanes’ ferocious winds or perilous storm surge, twisters are always one of the clear and present dangers as storms make landfall and trek inland.

“Hurricanes can produce tornadoes for two or three days after they move inland,” said Roger Edwards, a lead forecaster at the Storm Prediction Center, who specializes in tornadoes. The highest risk warning the center has ever issued for a tornado situation related to a hurricane was for the third day after Hurricane Ivan made landfall in Alabama in September 2004. Forecasters were confident there would be a lot of super cells in Virginia, Maryland and even in the southern Pennsylvania area.

NOAA posted a tornado watch at 8:05 a.m. for portions of North Carolina, Eastern South Carolina, Southern Virginia and coastal areas nearby until at least 6 p.m. Friday. The tornado threat from Helene would shift northward, through an area about 110 miles on either side of a line from 40 miles west-southwest of Florence, South Carolina to 20 miles northeast of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, the agency said.

Severe thunderstorms with hail were also possible, the agency said.

– Dinah Pulver, USA TODAY

Coastal Florida town slammed by hurricane – again

Before Friday morning’s light showed boats in yards, homes shredded and docks thrown from the river into roads, 22 members of the Florida State Guard Special Missions Unit were wading through the mud on the south side of Steinhatchee River’s banks, looking for anyone who needed rescuing.

Hurricane Helene struck Thursday evening, making landfall not far away in Perry. In Steinhatchee on Friday, what was dry land only hours earlier was submerged in 40 to 50 inches of water, said Jordon Bowen, commander of the unit, as he gazed down a road that now looked more like a river.

“We have four different skiffs cruising through the neighborhood,” Bowen said, scanning the southeast side of Steinhatchee. “We’re searching all the area to make sure no one’s out there.”

So far, no one needed help. The search effort also included the National Guard, the Coast Guard, Taylor County sheriffs and Florida Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 2. However, the overall situation looks bleak, according to Bowen.

“It’s destroyed,” Bowen said, indicating an area that’s about the size of 27 football fields. “Not accessible, debris, lots of hazards, downed power lines, houses cut in half.”

– Anne Geggis, Palm Beach Post

Over 4.4 million homes and businesses across the eastern U.S. were in the dark early Friday as Helene pummeled the region with powerful winds and heavy rain.

Below are the outage totals from Florida to Virginia as of 9:30 a.m., according to a USA TODAY power outage tracker.

• South Carolina: 1,391,621
• Florida: 1,127,650
• Georgia: 1,079,409
• North Carolina: 692,705
• Virginia: 57,299
• Tennessee: 51,536
• Kentucky: 16,632

Florida power outage map: Track widespread outages from Helene in the state

Outside Perry, Florida, longtime resident Donna Parker, 80, watched as her grandson cut up a toppled palm tree with a chainsaw.Parker has lived in her house since 1985 and has never left for a hurricane, the names of which she can still rattle off.“The wind, it was bad. But I’ve had worse. We’ve really had worse. I’ve had it where my whole front yard was a lake,” she said.“A lot of prayers, I tell you, when the wind come up. But the good Lord looked after us.”

While Helene was smashing into Florida, a new hurricane was coming to life in the Atlantic. Hurricane Isaac formed Friday morning far out in the ocean, almost 1,000 miles from Bermuda, the hurricane center said. 

Although the hurricane is moving east across the open Atlantic far from land, swells generated by Isaac are affecting portions of the coast of Bermuda and could spread into the Azores by this weekend. These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.

Elsewhere, forecasters were also watching a weather disturbance in the central Atlantic Ocean, one that has a 90% chance of becoming a named storm within the next couple of days. “A tropical depression or storm could form today while the system moves generally westward to west-northwestward at 10 to 15 mph,” the National Hurricane Center said. “The system is then forecast to slow down and turn north-northwestward by this weekend.”

If it gets a name, it would be called Tropical Storm Joyce. As of Friday morning, the system poses no threat to any land areas.

Finally, ominously, forecasters were also turning their attention back to the Caribbean Sea, where yet another system appears to be brewing in a similar location to where Hurricane Helene formed. “Environmental conditions are expected to be conducive for slow development while the system moves generally northwestward, potentially entering the Gulf of Mexico by the end of next week,” the hurricane center said.

That system, if it strengthens to a storm, would be called Tropical Storm Kirk.

– Doyle Rice, USA TODAY

In Sanibel, Florida, a U.S. Coast Guard Air Station crew rescued a man and his dog after his sailboat became disabled and started taking on water off the Florida coast.

Crews found the disabled boat 25 miles off the island’s coast after a mayday call came in Thursday.

A photo posted on X shows the Coast Guard rescuing the pair near a disabled vessel as high waters swirl around them.

Officials said the boater and the dog were airlifted to Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers.

The storm came the closest to the barrier island around 3 p.m. Thursday, the National Weather Service reported.

– Natalie Alund, USA TODAY

Theme park-goers awaited official updates Friday morning announcing what parts of Walt Disney World may be closed.

Walt Disney World in Orlando was open Thursday, but a few parts of the massive theme park were closed because of to Hurricane Helene, including the Typhoon Lagoon water park and miniature golf course. Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party was also canceled for Thursday, the Fort Myers News-Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.

Disney World has closed less than a dozen times for hurricanes and national emergencies since its opening in 1971, according to the News-Press.

In Tampa Bay, residents said they saw vanished beaches, boats that ran into homes and businesses on fire.

“Complete devastation and loss here,” Vikki Hudson, who lives in Largo about three miles from the coast, told USA TODAY on Friday. “The beaches are gone. Everything is under water. Boats pilled on top of houses and yards.”

Hudson said Gulf Boulevard, which runs the St. Petersburg coastline from Pass-A-Grille historic district north to Clearwater, was “completely under water.”

Hudson, who lives about 20 minutes from Treasure Island Beach where her two businesses are − The Island Girl Tiki Bar and The Island Girl Beach Rentals − said she has not been able to check on either because bridges are closed because of widespread flooding.

“We don’t know anything yet, we cannot get to any of the barrier islands,” Hudson said.

– Natalie Alund, USA TODAY

Authorities in communities up and down the west coast of Florida said they were conducting water rescues on Friday as storm surge continued to inundate coastal areas.

In Pasco County, communications manager Tambrey Lane, said state and local agencies working together had rescued at least 135 people from rising waters as of 7:30 a.m. Friday, though she added that number might be as high as 200 or more.

Crews were still out as of 8:30 a.m. and rescues were ongoing, Lane said, and some areas remained inaccessible to rescue crews. More than 54,000 homes were under a mandatory evacuation order west of Interstate 19 and about 4,000 more homes east of the highway.

“It’s really bad,” said Michelle Welsh, an emergency communications officer with the county. “I think it’s the worst I’ve seen.”

Welsh, who’s lived in the area since 2007, said her single-wide trailer had no power, but her home, fortunately, was intact.

– Phaedra Trethan, USA TODAY

Residents in a section of St. Petersburg, a city of 261,000, were told not to flush toilets or take showers after the city shut off power at a sewer treatment plant.

The city said it made the “difficult decision” in order to “protect the plant from unprecedented storm surge,” in a statement released Friday morning.

“Impacted residents/businesses should not drain water, take showers, do laundry or flush toilets,” the city said. “Draining water will cause sewage to back up into homes/businesses.”

Still-dangerous Helene downgraded to tropical storm in Georgia

At least four people have died from Helene, which made landfall as a Category 4 and was downgraded to a tropical storm Friday morning.

Dawn broke Friday morning over a battered and sudden Big Bend region of Florida after hurricane Helene roared ashore overnight.

The sharp smell of pine filled the air, an artifact of the hundreds of snapped trees lining roads between St. Marks and Perry. Emergency workers flooding into the area, wove around downed trees along U.S Highway 98 as sheriff deputies, limited access, and patrolled for possible looting.

In the tiny community of St. Marks, about 20 miles south of Tallahassee, floodwaters had reached the front of the U.S Post Office building, about 3/10 of a mile from the St. Marks River, which flows into the Gulf a few miles downstream.Some residents had planned to ride out the storm in their homes or aboard fishing boats tied up at the marina. They could not be immediately reached Friday morning, although cellphone service in the area was working.

Authorities in the Atlanta metro area conducted rescues early Friday as Helene raced through the state, drenching a vast swath of the Southeast in multiple inches of rain.

About 25 people were rescued from a flooded apartment complex north of downtown Atlanta, multiple outlets reported, citing the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department.

Nearby Peachtree Creek entered major flood stage, reaching a height of more than 23 feet. Flood watches and warnings were active across the state of Georgia, where all counties are under a state of emergency declared by Gov. Brian Kemp.

About 4-6 inches of rain have fallen throughout north-central Georgia, including Atlanta and its surrounding counties, according to the weather service in Peachtree City, south of Atlanta. Forecasters say an additional 2 inches could fall throughout the morning hours.

Amber Handlin sat in front of her Lab mix Duckey in a makeshift shelter at the Leon High School gym. They were among the 546 people and 60 pets were in Leon County shelters Thursday afternoon.

Handlin lives in her car and has no friends or family nearby, and with several counties in the area under mandatory evacuation orders, she and the dog were both anxious as the storm approached.

Sydney Walter, Jacob Walsh and 1-year-old Graylan live near Florida State University’s campus. “We’re like nope, we are not even going to try it,” Walter said. “I said, I have a baby so I’m not risking anything.”

The family, which is expecting a new member, decided to shelter at Leon’s gym, citing its proximity to their home, the security it offers − and the most persuasive push, the mom said, was Gov. Ron DeSantis’ encouragement.

– Alaijah Brown, Tallahassee Democrat

Read the full story: Public schools sheltering local evacuees from Helene

In Mitchell and Avery counties in western North Carolina, officials declared a flash flood emergency warning residents of “catastrophic flooding.”

Officials reported major flooding throughout both counties as rainfall in excess of 7 to 10 inches closed roads, flooded bridges, inundated homes and businesses. Water rescues were ongoing throughout the region, according to the weather service.

“This is a PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION. SEEK HIGHER GROUND NOW! Life threatening flash flooding of low water crossings, small creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses,” said the weather service in nearby South Carolina.

As Helene pummeled northwest Florida with over 100 mph winds and surges of water several feet high, Philip Tooke managed to punch out a terse but frantic message from his phone as he sat riding out the storm – not in his house, but on his boat. 

“Lost power,” he wrote from St. Mark’s, 30 miles south of Tallahassee and 20 miles away from where Hurricane Helene hit the mouth of the Aucilla River. But, he adds: “Still floating.”

Tooke, the 63-year-old owner of a local seafood market, and his brother remained aboard their fishing boats as Helene lashed the area. The pair are among the Floridians who took to the water for their survival. They did so despite evacuation orders made ahead of the Category 4 hurricane and grisly warnings that foretold death for those who stayed.

Read the full story here: Floridians ride out Hurricane Helene

– Michael Loria, Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY

It’s too early yet for detailed damage reports from the counties that Helene ripped across. But the National Hurricane Center says Category 4 storms threaten well-built framed homes with “severe” damage, potentially losing both roofs and walls. Most trees are snapped or uprooted and power poles are downed.

“Power outages will last weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months,” the hurricane center says of Category 4 storms.

The governors of Georgia and the Carolinas have declared states of emergencies as the fast-moving storm barrels through the Florida coast.

“We will likely avoid the brunt of this storm, but it is still expected to bring flooding, high winds and isolated tornadoes,” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said. “Take proper precautions and monitor local forecasts.”

– Doyle Rice

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell will visit Florida on Friday to assess the impacts of the storm and report back to Biden. 

Criswell said she would fly as close as she could to Tallahassee and meet with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his team. The FEMA leader said she would like to take an aerial tour if possible so she can see the damage for herself. Afterward, she is prepared to move up to Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, also expected to be heavily affected by Helene. 

“Me being on the ground helps me validate some of the damage more quickly, so we can get major declarations in place faster,” she told reporters at a White House briefing Thursday, adding the agency has the resources it needs to respond to this disaster.

Criswell said FEMA has aggressively deployed resources in advance of Helene’s arrival and advised those likely to be impacted to do the same, both in Florida and across inland locations far from the storm’s landfall. Parts of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and the Appalachians could get up to 20 inches of rain and experience widespread flooding.

“Take the storm seriously,” Criswell said. “People in Hurricane Helene’s path, you need to listen to your local officials. If they tell you to evacuate, please do so, and if they tell you to shelter in place, then that’s what you should do. They’re going to give you the best information that you can do for your specific situation. Those decisions can save lives.”

− Francesca Chambers

Contributing: Tallahassee Democrat; Reuters