The hurricane, which landed on Florida's Gulf Coast at 11:10 p.m. ET, Thursday, as powerful Category 4 with 140-mph winds, quickly moved north, setting off mudslides in the mountains of Appalachia, according to USA Today.
It reportedly overturned boats, flattened homes and a vista of floodwater several feet deep was revealed at dawn across the storm-weary region. The storm maintained hurricane strength for several hours as it pushed inland across northern Florida and into Georgia. By 11 a.m. ET Friday, the National Hurricane Center said Helene had been downgraded to a tropical storm with sustained winds at 45 mph. The storm was located 30 miles southwest of Bryson City, North Carolina and 105 miles north-northeast of Atlanta.
The weather service issued flood alerts urging people to seek higher ground across parts of the Carolinas and the Atlanta area, where communities have been inundated with up to 10 inches of rain. Hundreds of water rescues were underway across the Southeast amid the torrential rain and continued coastal flooding in western Florida.
County officials immediately launched boats to reach stranded people, 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).
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the damage from Helene in the area appears to be greater than the combined damage of Idalia and Debby last 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.
A day before hitting the U.S., Helene swamped parts of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, flooding streets and toppling trees as it brushed the resort city of Cancun and passed offshore. In western Cuba, Helene knocked out power to more than 200,000 homes and businesses as it brushed past the island.
The storm is now turning northwest, hitting the Tennessee Valley and parts of Kentucky and Indiana. Then it is expected to stall over the Tennessee Valley tonight and through the rest of the weekend, the National Hurricane Center reported.
Helene is tied as the 14th most powerful hurricane to hit anywhere in the U.S. since records have been kept and the seventh most powerful to slam into Florida, according to National Hurricane Center data.
Sheriff's grim warning: "Mark your bodies so we can ID you"
Expecting the worst that could happen, Taylor County sheriff Wayne Padgett has issued a warning to people in the Big Bend region in the northern part of the Sunshine State, where Helene came ashore.
"Mark yourself with your information so officials can identify you later," he said before the hurricane even made landfall. "Take a black Magic Marker, write your name, your Social Security number, everything on your arm so officials can identify residents in worst-case scenarios." (Related: How to secure your home before a hurricane.)
As in other spots in Florida, mandatory evacuations were ordered for Taylor County, but Padgett estimated that as much as half of his population is choosing to stay put.
"It's too late now for them to change their minds and try to head out," Padgett said, who instead told them to hunker down and stay put.
"I don't like telling people that, but it is going on," he said, adding that those in "low-lying areas" face "a death threat" from Helene.
"They're calling for 18- or 20-foot storm surge. We've never had a storm surge like this in this county," he said. "You can kind of hide from the wind, but you can't hide from that water."
Most of the people who have chosen not to evacuate are farther inland and in less threatening situations than those along the coast, he said.
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