CRAWFORDVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Emergency crews rushed Friday to rescue people trapped in flooded homes after Helene roared ashore as a powerful Category 4 hurricane in Florida, generating a massive storm surge and knocking out power to millions of customers in several states. At least 21 people were reported dead in four states.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said dozens of people were still trapped in buildings damaged by Helene. Authorities were “having a hard time getting to places” so teams with chainsaws were “working to free up roads,” Kemp told a news conference.
The storm made landfall late Thursday in a sparsely populated region with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph in the rural Big Bend area, home to fishing villages and vacation hideaways where Florida’s Panhandle and peninsula meet. But the damage extended hundreds of miles to the north, with flooding as far away as North Carolina, where a lake used in scenes from the movie “Dirty Dancing” overtopped a dam. Multiple hospitals in southern Georgia were without power, and one in Tennessee was closed.
“Thank God we’re both alive to tell about it,” Rhonda Bell said after a towering oak tree outside her home in Valdosta, Georgia, smashed through the roof.
Video on social media sites showed sheets of rain coming down and siding coming off buildings in Perry, Florida, near where the storm arrived. One local news station showed a home that was overturned, and many communities established curfews.
“It’s really heartbreaking,” said Stephen Tucker, after the hurricane peeled off the brand-new roof at her church in Perry, Florida. It had to be replaced after last year’s Hurricane Idalia.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the damage from Helene in the area appears to be greater than the combined damage of Idalia and Hurricane Debby in August. “It’s demoralizing,” he said.
President Joe Biden said he was praying for survivors as the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency headed to the area. The agency has deployed more than 1,500 workers, and they helped with 400 rescues by late morning.
Many of the stranded in places like Tampa could be reached only by boat, with officials elsewhere warning that the water could contain live wires, sewage, sharp objects and other debris.
“If you are trapped and need help please call for rescuers – DO NOT TRY TO TREAD FLOODWATERS YOURSELF,” the sheriff’s office in Citrus County, Florida, warned in a Facebook post, while raising concerns that the tide could bring another surge of up to 10 feet (3.05 meters).
More than 4 million homes and businesses were without power Friday morning in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports.
Kemp said at least 11 people in his state were killed. At least six others died in South Carolina, two in in Florida and two in North Carolina.
Among the dead was one person killed in Florida when a sign fell on their car. Two others were reported killed in a possible tornado in southern Georgia as the storm approached.
The hurricane came ashore near the mouth of the Aucilla River on Florida’s Gulf Coast. That location was only about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of where Idalia hit last year at nearly the same ferocity and caused widespread damage.
Cities as far inland as Atlanta were drenched, with just mailboxes and car roofs poking out of the water in some neighborhoods. Kemp mobilized an additional 1,000 National Guard troops, on top of the 500 he mobilized earlier.
