Hurricane Helene Death Count at 43 and Rising. Damage from Helene Leaves the Southeast Looking Like a War Zone. More ‘Life-Threatening Extreme Rainfall’ Is Forecast.
Hundreds of flights were delayed and cancelled at Charlotte Douglas International Airport on Friday
Dozens have been reported dead after Hurricane Helene made landfall last night at 11:10 p.m. near Perry, Florida, just east of the Aucilla River’s mouth. With winds in excess of 140 mph (225 km/h), the storm ranks among the most powerful to ever hit the United States. Heavy rains caused numerous mudslides and a dam collapse in the region.
The official death count stood at 43 at 6:30 p.m. EDT but official caution that more bodies will arise after the flood waters recede.
“Helene will continue to bring catastrophic and life-threatening extreme rainfall and flooding threats through today for the southern Appalachians where upslope flow should increase rain totals and varying terrain is likely to lead to landslides,” the National Weather Service said in a late afternoon statement on Friday. “Tornadoes will be possible this afternoon across parts of the Carolinas and southern Virginia.”
The remnants of the massive storm, one of the largest to hit the United States in size, is currently moving through Tennessee and progressing into Kentucky on Friday while bringing “historic and catastrophic flooding” to the southern Appalachians.
The storm resulted in the cancellation of hundreds of flights, mostly those in and out of airports in Florida, and 5,637 flights were delayed within, into, and out of the United States, many because of the storm.
In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy, one of the largest and most devastating storms on record, ravaged the coastal mid-Atlantic states as a Category 3 storm. Sandy caused the death of over 200 people and spawned tropical-storm-force winds over 1,000 miles (1,609 km).
Storm surge, the deadliest part of any tropical storm, is the abnormal rise of water over and above the predicted tides, and multiple records were broken, with most of the new records higher than even the height of the tallest human in recorded history, Robert Wadlow, who towered over others in the United States from 1918 through 1940 at a height of 8’ 11” (272 cm).
The National Weather Service office in Tallahassee said that storm surge levels in parts of Taylor and Dixie counties were estimated to be in excess of 15’ (457 cm).
Cedar Key, which in 2023 set a record for storm surge of 6.89’ (210 cm), experienced storm surge of 9.3’ (283 cm), East Bay, whose previous record for storm surge, also in 2023, was 4.56’ (139 cm), experienced 7.19’ (219 cm), and Clearwater saw its 1993 record of 4.02’ (123 cm) get smashed, was on the receiving end of 6.67’ (203 cm) of storm surge. Finally, St. Petersburg’s 1985 record of 3.97’ (121 cm) was easily surpassed by Helene with a record 6.83’ (208 cm) of storm surge.
Across St. Petersburg, unsettling images emerged early Friday morning of flooding unlike previous storms. In Shore Acres, water levels had nearly reached stop signs, and in downtown St. Petersburg, bay waters kissed The VinoyGolf & Resort Club. Meanwhile, in Gulfport, a small seaside town, the downtown area was awash with debris from tidal flooding.
Residents were telling local television news and posting on social media that they had never seen floodwaters so high before.
In St. Petersburg, residents in the northeast part of the city are being asked not to flush their toilets or take showers now that power at the Northeast Sewer Treatment was shut off to protect the plant from “unprecedented storm surge.” Any use of water could cause sewage to back up into homes and businesses, city officials said.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
