Several people killed as Helene speeds across U.S. southeast after landing as Category 4 hurricane

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.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said at least 11 people in his state were killed. He said authorities believe there are 115 structures with people trapped inside.

At least six others died in Florida and the Carolinas, officials said.

Helene weakened to a tropical storm after it broughta largestorm surge and dangerous winds and rain across much of the southeastern U.S.

The storm, now packing maximum sustained winds of 75 km/h, was about 50 kilometres southwest of Bryson City, N.C., and about 165 kilometres north-northeast of Atlanta, moving north at 52 km/h as of 11 a.m. ET.

'Heartbreaking': Florida town struck for 2nd straight year

The National Hurricane Center said Helene roared ashore around 11:10 p.m. ET Thursday near the mouth of the Aucilla River in the Big Bend area of Florida's Gulf Coast. It had maximum sustained winds estimated at 225 km/h.

Video on social media sites showed sheets of rain coming down in Perry, Fla., near where Helene made landfall, and siding being torn off buildings. One local news station showed a home that had flipped over. The community and much of surrounding Taylor County were without power.

"It's really heartbreaking," said Stephen Tucker, after the hurricane peeled off the new roof at her church in Perry. It had to be replaced after last year's Hurricane Idalia, and the congregation was just weeks away from moving back into the newly renovated sanctuary.

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.

Federal, state and local responses

U.S. 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.

County officials immediately launched boats to reach stranded people, warning that the water could contain live wires, sewage, sharp objects and other debris.

WATCH l Dramatic rescue off Florida's southwest coast:

Man and dog rescued from sailboat as hurricane hits coast

4 hours ago

Duration 0:29

The U.S. Coast Guard on Friday released video showing the rescue of a man whose boat was taking on water off Sanibel Island in Florida. The coast guard said in a post online that the rescue happened Thursday during Hurricane Helene.

Rescuers in Tampa also used boats to reach stranded residents.

"Flooding was what we had warned everyone about," Mayor Jane Castor said.

More than four million homes and businesses were without power Friday morning in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports.

In Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, the sheriff's office rescued more than 300 people overnight from storm surge. Spokesperson Amanda Granit said those included a 97-year-old woman with dementia and her 63-year-old daughter, as well as a 19-year-old woman whose car got stuck as she drove in the rising water.

DeSantis confirmed two deaths in Florida: One person was hit by a falling sign in Tampa's Ybor City neighbourhood and another was killed when a tree fell onto a home in Dixie County.

In south Georgia, two people were killed when a possible tornado struck a mobile home on Thursday night, Wheeler County Sheriff Randy Rigdon told WMAZ-TV. Wheeler County is about 113 kilometressoutheast of Macon.

Trees that toppled onto homes were blamed for deaths in Charlotte, N.C., and Anderson County, S.C.

Deluge in North Carolina mountains

The hurricane's eye passed near Valdosta, Ga., as the storm churned rapidly north into Georgia on Thursday night. The NHC issued an extreme wind warning for the area, meaning possible hurricane-force winds exceeding 185 km/h. At a hotel in the city of 55,000, dozens of people huddled in the darkened lobby after midnight Friday as winds whistled and howled outside.

Fermin Herrera, 20, his wife and their two-month-old daughter left their room on the top floor of the hotel, where they took shelter because they were concerned about trees falling on their Valdosta home.

"We heard some rumbling," said Herrera, cradling the sleeping baby in a downstairs hallway. "We didn't see anything at first. After a while the intensity picked up. It looked like a gutter that was banging against our window. So we made a decision to leave."

Manyheeded mandatory evacuation orders that stretched from the Panhandle south along the Gulf Coast in low-lying areas around Tallahassee, Gainesville, Cedar Key, Lake City, Tampa and Sarasota in Florida.

Among them were Cindy Waymon and her husband, who went to a shelter in Tallahassee after securing their home and packing medications, snacks and drinks. They wanted to stay safe given the magnitude of the storm, she said.

"This is the first time we've actually come to a shelter, because of the complexities of the storm and the uncertainties," she said.

Forecasters expected the system to continue weakening as it moves into Tennessee and Kentucky and drops heavy rain over the Appalachian Mountains, with the risk of mudslides and flash flooding.

Up to 25 centimetres of rain had fallen in the North Carolina mountains, with up to 36 centimetres more possible before the deluge ends, setting the stage for flooding that forecasters warned could be worse than anything seen in the past century.

Helene is the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1.