Helene’s death toll rises above 100 as Southeast retreats from the storm’s devastation

The number of storm-related deaths rose above 100 in the Southeast on Sunday as authorities rushed to air-drop supplies, restore power and clear roads after massive rains from the powerful Helene left people stranded and without shelter.

Helene has killed at least 116 people, CBS News has confirmed, causing widespread destruction and knocking out power to several million people. Thirty fatalities were reported in North Carolina’s Buncombe County, one of the states hardest hit by the storm.

The storm rolled in The Big Bend area of ​​Florida Thursday evening as dangerous Category 4 storm. Helene was the third hurricane to hit the Big Bend region in the last 13 months.

From there it moved quickly through Georgia, where Gov. Brian Kemp said Saturday it “looks like a bomb went off” after seeing splintered homes and debris-covered highways from the air.

Weakened, Helene then drenched the Carolinas and Tennessee with heavy rainfall, causing creeks and rivers to overflow their banks and put pressure on dams.

The storm was expected to remain over the Tennessee Valley on Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said.

According to utility tracker Find Energy, millions of residents in the region were without power on Sunday afternoon.

But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday night that 99% of the state had power.

At least 116 people in multiple states were killed by Helene, a monster storm that left a path of destruction stretching 600 miles.

In North Carolina, 46 people, ranging in age from 4 to 75, were killed, officials confirmed to CBS News. One person was killed in a crash on a flooded road, Gov. Roy Cooper said, while another was killed when a tree fell on a road. home, according to the Mecklenburg Emergency Medical Services Agency.

At least 25 people have been killed in Georgia, according to a spokesperson for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency. A first responder was among the dead, Kemp said earlier Friday.

In South Carolina, 27 people died from the storm, officials confirmed to CBS News. The deaths include two firefighters and two people who died when trees fell on homes.

In Florida, 13 people were killed, officials confirmed to CBS News, including 10 people who died in Pinellas County. Crews across the state have performed thousands of rescue missions.

“This is an unprecedented tragedy that requires an unprecedented response,” Cooper said at a news conference on Sunday. He added that “we know there will be more” deaths as rescuers reach remote areas.

Four weather-related fatalities were confirmed in Tennessee, one in Johnson County, one in Unicoi County and two in Cocke County.

In Virginia, Governor Glenn Youngkin confirmed at a news conference Friday that one person had been killed.

The National Weather Service reported Helene’s highest precipitation totals for any state on Saturday. The rural area of ​​Busick in northwestern North Carolina has received the highest total rainfall, with a whopping 12 inches (30.78 centimeters) so far.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, who traveled to Florida on Saturday to survey the damage, said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that the “historic flood” in North Carolina has gone beyond what anyone in the area could have planned.

“I don’t know if anyone can be fully prepared for the amount of flooding and landslides they are experiencing right now,” she said.

Asheville, North Carolina, was particularly hard hit as rising waters damaged roads, led to power outages and cut off cell phone service.

On Sunday, Cooper asked residents not to travel on roads in western North Carolina.

“A lot of people are cut off because the roads are impassable,” he said.

President Biden has issued emergency declarations for Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, freeing up federal resources intended for recovery and relief efforts.

More than 800 FEMA personnel have been deployed to the region to assist with the response, the White House said.

Moody’s Analytics expects between $15 billion and $26 billion in property damage. AccuWeather’s preliminary estimate of Helene’s total U.S. damage and economic loss is between $95 billion and $110 billion.

In East Tennessee, flooding was so bad that two dams were in danger of collapsing. As a result, the city of Newport in Cocke County was evacuated, but both dams ultimately held.

“There have been rescues, there have been attempts, some people have been stranded on the roofs of their homes and things like that,” said Cocke County Sheriff CJ Ball.

The Gulf Coast community of Keaton Beach, Florida, was still recovering from Idalia and Debby when Helene appeared to deliver the knockout punch. Taylor County officials estimate that 90% of Keaton Beach homes are gone.

And further south, in Cedar Key, officials say it’s not safe for residents or emergency responders.

In the waters off Florida’s Sanibel Island, a Coast Guard crew performed a daring rescue, rescuing a man and his dog who were stranded on his 37-foot sailboat.

In the Big Bend fishing village of Steinhatchee, storm-weary residents prayed that Helene would miss them, but the docks and waterfront restaurants that once stood here are now gone.

The storm surge pushed buildings off their foundations. Linda Wicker lost the restaurant she owned for 20 years. She seemed more shocked by what she saw all over her village, houses torn apart by the wind and deep water.

“If you let it play with your mind, you just can’t go there,” Wicker said. ‘That’s not possible. It’s terrible.’

In Tampa’s historic Davis Islands, streets were flooded and boats were washed ashore. One home was destroyed by flames. Marie Terry, who lives next door, would have been nearby unless her daughter had insisted she evacuate.

“I’m just in shock,” Terry told CBS News. “It’s just such a beautiful house, and when you see it like that you think, what could have happened?”

In Atlanta, an apartment complex flooded and neighbors had to rescue each other. Sam Oni, 83, was one of them.

“But I thought I would escape it somehow, but I didn’t… and I owe a lot to my neighbors,” Oni told CBS News.

Serena Rodriguez was sleeping in bed in her Atlanta home when she started floating, but it wasn’t a dream.

“It was like everywhere else, the water, it was like an island,” Rodriguez told CBS News. “…Mostly a nightmare. Yes, I was insane. I couldn’t believe it. I was in shock the whole time. I’ve never experienced anything like it.”

Annie Sloan, one of them, told me CBS News Miami: “I decided to come to the shelter because I live alone and actually my son came to take me to Georgia, but we found out that the hurricane was also going to Georgia, and I just decided to come here and shelter because my husband was passed away, and I don’t want to be home alone.”

Most gas stations in the Tallahassee area were closed or out of gas. CBS News senior weather and climate producer David Parkinson described Helene as a “gigantic” storm.

NASA shared a video of the hurricane as seen from the International Space Station, showing the size of the storm as it barreled through the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday afternoon.

Exceptionally warm Gulf water fuels hurricanes

The record warm water in the Gulf almost certainly acted as jet fuel in strengthening the storm. Brian McNoldy, senior research associate at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, recently noted that the heat content of the ocean in the Gulf of Mexico is the highest ever recorded. Hot water is a necessary ingredient to strengthen tropical systems.

The sea surface temperature on Helene’s path was as warm as 89 degrees Fahrenheit – 2 to 4 degrees above normal.

According to Climate Central, these record water temperatures have become significantly more likely due to human-induced climate change. The North Atlantic Ocean as a whole has seen record heat temperatures in 2024, with 90% of the excess heat from climate change produced by greenhouse gas pollution.

Helene is the eighth storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which started on June 1.

Jason Allen and Dave Malkoff contributed to this report.