At least 52 dead, millions without power as Hurricane Helen leaves a trail of destruction in the southeastern US. today news

Hurricane Helene left at least 52 people dead and billions of dollars in destruction across a wide swath of the southeastern U.S., leaving more than 3 million customers without power over the weekend and some at risk of flooding.

Helen struck Florida’s Big Bend area as a Category 4 hurricane late Thursday with winds of 140 mph (225 kph) and then moved rapidly through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, uprooting trees. They destroyed houses and flooded creeks and rivers to their banks. Stressed dam.

Western North Carolina was essentially cut off due to landslides and flooding, forcing the closure of Interstate 40 and other roads. The video shows underwater parts of Asheville.

Francine Cavanaugh said she has been completely unable to reach her sister, son or friends in the Asheville area.

“My sister contacted me yesterday morning to see how I was in Atlanta,” he said Saturday. “The storm was hitting her in Asheville, and she said it felt really scary outside.”

Cavanaugh said his sister had no idea how bad the storm would be there. She told Cavanaugh she was going out to check on guests at the vacation cabin, and that was the last I heard from her. I’ve been messaging everyone I know with no response. All phone calls go straight to voicemail.

He saw a video of a grocery store near the cabin that was completely flooded.

“I think people are completely stranded, no matter where they are, with no cell service and no power.”

Hundreds of water rescues took place, none more dramatic than in rural Unicoi County in eastern Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were evacuated by helicopter from the roof of a hospital that was surrounded by flooded river water.

The National Hurricane Center said the storm, now a post-tropical cyclone, was expected to loom over the Tennessee Valley on Saturday and Sunday. Multiple flood and flash flood warnings remained in effect for parts of the southern and central Appalachians, while high wind warnings also covered parts of Tennessee and Ohio.

At least 48 people have died in the storm; Among them were three firefighters, a woman and her 1-month-old twins, and an 89-year-old woman whose home was damaged by a falling tree. The deaths occurred in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, according to an Associated Press tally.

In the affluent Davis Islands neighborhood in Tampa, home to star athletes like Derek Jeter and Tom Brady, residents continued cleaning up Saturday from the storm left by Helen.

The neighborhood, located a short distance from downtown Tampa and home to about 5,000 people, had never seen a storm like Friday’s. No one died, but homes, businesses, and apartments were flooded.

“I don’t think anyone expected this,” Faith Pilafas told the Tampa Bay Times. “We’ve become used to talking a lot about big storms, and never really feeling the effects of them. So for all the people who didn’t leave the island, I feel like they were all just expecting it to be a normal storm, anti-climactic. And wow, were we surprised.”