Florida’s Big Bend region battles with Category 4 hurricane; at least 64 individuals die
Heavy rainfall from strong Hurricane Helene resulted in individuals being trapped, homeless, and in need of assistance, as the recovery efforts commenced from a storm that claimed the lives of at least 64 individuals, caused extensive damage throughout the US Southeast, and left millions without electricity.
Janalea England from Steinhatchee, Florida, a small river town in the rural Big Bend area, expressed that she has never seen such a large number of homeless people before. She converted her commercial fish market into a donation site for friends and neighbors who were unable to insure their homes.
Helene made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida as a Category 4 hurricane on Thursday night, with 140 mph (225 kph) winds.
Also read: Typhoon Yagi leaves 59 dead, hundreds injured in Vietnam
From that point, it rapidly advanced through Georgia, where Governor Brian Kemp observed ruined homes and highways covered in debris from above and commented that it resembled an explosion. After becoming weaker, Helene drenched the Carolinas and Tennessee with heavy rainfall, causing creeks and rivers to overflow and putting pressure on dams.
40 interstate roads closed in Western North Carolina due to landslides
The closure of Interstate 40 and other roads due to landslides and flooding isolated Western North Carolina. The beginning of the East Tennessee State University football game against The Citadel was postponed due to numerous road closures, as it took the Buccaneers 16 hours to travel to Charleston, South Carolina.
Many water rescues have occurred, with one of the most notable being in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where a hospital rooftop was the site of a dramatic helicopter evacuation of dozens of patients and staff on Friday. Rescue operations persisted into the next day in Buncombe County, North Carolina, with a portion of Asheville experiencing flooding.
Emergency Services Director Van Taylor Jones stated that although there have been fatalities in the county, he wasn’t prepared to disclose details yet due to difficulties in reaching out to relatives caused by cell towers being down. Family members are making urgent requests for assistance on social media platform Facebook.
The National Hurricane Center stated that the former tropical cyclone was predicted to linger over the Tennessee Valley over the weekend.
It caused the most severe flooding in North Carolina in one hundred years. Over 2 feet (0.6 meters) of rain fell on the community of Spruce Pine from Tuesday to Saturday.
In Atlanta, the highest amount of rainfall over a two-day period since 1878 was recorded, with 11.12 inches (28.24 centimetres) falling in 48 hours.
President Biden describes Helene’s destruction as “overwhelming”
President Joe Biden described Helene’s destruction as “overwhelming” and committed to providing assistance. He also granted a disaster declaration for North Carolina, enabling federal funds to be accessible to impacted individuals.
Helene is the most fatal tropical cyclone in South Carolina since Hurricane Hugo, which claimed 35 lives in 1989 when it made landfall just north of Charleston, with at least 25 people killed. Fatalities have also been recorded in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia.
