September 28, 2024
VALDOSTA, Ga. (AP) — Gov. Brian Kemp said at least 11 people were killed and dozens are still trapped in homes damaged by Helene as it tore through Georgia early Friday morning. One of the victims in Georgia was a firefighter who died when a tree struck his truck.
At least 33 others died in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
The Category 4 hurricane knocked out power to some hospitals in southern Georgia, and Kemp said authorities had to use chainsaws to clear debris and open up roads.
“Thank God we’re both alive to tell about it,” Rhonda Bell said after a towering oak tree outside her home in Valdosta, Georgia, smashed through the roof.
More than 4 million homes and businesses were without power Friday morning in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports.
In Georgia, an electrical utility group warned of “catastrophic” damage to utility infrastructure, with more than 100 high voltage transmission lines damaged. And officials in South Carolina, where more than 40% of customers were without power, said crews had to cut their way through debris just to determine what was still standing in some places.
The hurricane came ashore near the mouth of the Aucilla River on Florida’s Gulf Coast. That location was only about 20 miles northwest of where Hurricane Idalia hit last year at nearly the same ferocity and caused widespread damage.
As the hurricane’s eye passed near Valdosta, a city of 55,000 near the Florida line, dozens of people huddled early Friday in a darkened hotel lobby. As the wind howled outside, water dripped from light fixtures in the lobby dining area.
Fermin Herrera, 20, his wife and their 2-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.
Helene is the third storm to strike the city in just over a year. Tropical Storm Debby blacked out power to thousands in August, while Hurricane Idalia damaged an estimated 1,000 homes in Valdosta and surrounding Lowndes County a year ago.
Atlanta received a record 11.12 inches of rain in 48 hours, the most the city has seen in a two-day period since record keeping began in 1878, Georgia's Office of the State Climatologist said on the social platform X. The previous mark of 9.59 inches was set in 1886. Some neighborhoods were so badly flooded that only car roofs could be seen poking above the water.
