The death toll from Hurricane Helena rose to 64 people Saturday evening as the powerful storm caused widespread destruction across the Southeast.
The dead included three firefighters, a mother and her one-month-old twins and an 89-year-old woman who was struck by a tree that slammed into her house.
Eleven of the confirmed deaths were from Florida, including nine people who drowned in their homes in a mandatory evacuation zone in Gulf Coast Pinellas County, officials said.
The total death toll is only expected to rise as recovery efforts continue: Rescuers intensified the search Saturday after the monstrous storm was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone.
Dozens of other municipalities have reported deaths but have not released details, citing destroyed cell towers that have hampered efforts to contact next of kin.
Thousands of other survivors were left stranded and homeless. Millions more are without electricity.
“It looks like a bomb went off,” Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said Saturday, after observing from the air shattered homes and debris-covered highways.
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Hundreds of water rescues have already been carried out in Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, including the dramatic helicopter rescue of 18 patients and staff from a hospital roof .
Western North Carolina has been isolated due to landslides and the worst flooding in a century that forced the closure of Interstate 40 and other roads. Gov. Roy Cooper called the situation “catastrophic” as search and rescue teams from 19 states and the federal government came to help.
Helen is the deadliest tropical cyclone to hit South Carolina since Hurricane Hugo, which killed 35 people in 1989.
The megastorm also broke records in Atlanta, Georgia, with a height of 11.12 inches in 48 hours, the most the city has seen over two days since record-keeping began in 1878.
Helene’s total losses will be between $95 billion and $110 billion, according to an AccuWeather estimate, taking into account damage to homes, businesses, roads, vehicles and the effects of power outages, lost wages , flight delays, supply chain impacts and much more. .
Airlines were recovering after massive delays and widespread cancellations Friday. There were 1,300 flight delays and 135 cancellations in the United States as of midday Saturday, according to tracking service FlightAware.
Helene’s losses could make it one of the most destructive storms to hit the United States.
Helene, which made landfall in Florida on Friday, is expected to hover over the Tennessee Valley through Sunday, extending the risk of intense flooding.
Remnants of the storm fell as light rain over the New York area on Saturday and are expected to continue through the start of the work week.
With pole wires
