By Rich McKay, Joseph Ax and Andrew Hay
ATLANTA (Reuters) – Authorities across a wide swath of the southeastern United States on Saturday faced the difficult task of cleaning up Hurricane Helene, one of the most powerful to hit the country, as the death toll continued to rise.
At least 43 deaths were reported late Friday and authorities feared even more bodies would be discovered in several states.
Helene, downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone on Friday night, continued to produce heavy rain in several states, causing life-threatening flooding that threatened to cause dam failures that could inundate entire cities.
In Pinellas County, Florida, near Tampa, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said he had never seen destruction like the one Helene caused. “Having spent the last few hours there, I would simply describe it as a war zone,” Gualtieri said at a news conference.
At least 3.5 million customers remained without power in five states, and officials warned it could take several days before services were fully restored.
Scientists say climate change is helping fuel stronger, more destructive hurricanes.
Before moving north through Georgia and into Tennessee and the Carolinas, Helene hit Florida’s Big Bend region as a powerful Category 4 hurricane Thursday night, packing winds of 140 mph (225 kph). It left behind a chaotic landscape of overturned boats in ports, felled trees, submerged cars and flooded streets.
Police and firefighters carried out thousands of water rescues in all affected states on Friday.
More than 50 people were rescued from the roof of a hospital in Unicoi County, Tennessee, about 120 miles (200 kilometers) northeast of Knoxville, state officials said, after floodwaters inundated the rural community.
Rising waters of the Nolichucky River prevented ambulances and emergency vehicles from evacuating patients and others there, the Unicoi County Emergency Management Agency said on social media. Emergency teams on boats and helicopters carried out the rescues.
Elsewhere in Tennessee, Cocke County Mayor Rob Mathis ordered the evacuation of downtown Newport due to a possible failure at the nearby Walters Dam.
In western North Carolina, Rutherford County emergency officials warned residents near the Lake Lure Dam that it could fail, although they said Friday night that failure did not appear imminent.
In nearby Buncombe County, mudslides forced the closure of Interstates 40 and 26, the county said on X-Day.
WAKE UP TO DISASTER
The extent of the damage in Florida began to become known after dawn on Friday.
Off the coast of Steinhatchee, a storm surge (a wall of seawater pushed ashore by winds) of eight to 10 feet (2.4 to 3 meters) displaced mobile homes, the National Weather Service said on On Treasure Island, a barrier island community in Pinellas County, boats were stranded in front yards.
The city of Tampa posted on X that emergency personnel had completed 78 water rescues of residents and that many roads were impassable due to flooding. The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office rescued more than 65 people.
Authorities had pleaded with residents in Helene’s path to follow evacuation orders, and National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan described the storm surge as “insurmountable.”
Gualtieri, the Pinellas County sheriff, said conditions prevented first responders from responding to several emergency calls. On Friday, county authorities found at least five people dead.
Two more people died in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis said. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s office reported 15 storm-related deaths in that state, while North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said two deaths had occurred there.
At least 19 people died during the storm in South Carolina, the Charleston-based Post and Courier newspaper reported, citing local officials.