“Helene” made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida on Thursday evening (local time) as a second-highest category hurricane with sustained wind speeds of up to 225 kilometers per hour. This then weakened into a tropical storm and moved further north over the Appalachians. There were severe and still dangerous floods and landslides.
People in the southern Appalachians are struggling with flooding
In western North Carolina, many roads were impassable after torrential rain. Strong winds brought down trees, power lines and cell towers across the region. Relief supplies had to be brought to cut-off towns by air, as the state’s governor, Roy Cooper, announced. He spoke of a “historic” storm in the region. More than 200 people have already been rescued from the floods. Hundreds are housed in emergency accommodation.
Death toll rises
US media reported more than 50 deaths in the states of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia as a result of the storm. The death toll is expected to continue to rise. In an Appalachian region hit particularly hard by flooding, Buncombe County in North Carolina, authorities said they knew of additional deaths. However, they could not report this yet because they wanted to inform the relatives first, but this was not yet possible due to the collapsed communication network.
More than two million households were still without power on Saturday, data from the website “poweroutage.us” showed.
Hurricane season runs until the end of November
Tropical cyclones form over warm ocean water. According to experts, increasing global warming is increasing the likelihood of strong storms. Hurricane season in the Atlantic begins on June 1st and lasts until November 30th.
