Hurricane Helene leaves dozens dead, millions without power
Dozens of people have died as a result of damage caused by Hurricane Helene as the storm continues to advance through the continental United States.
Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane near Perry, Florida, late Thursday night. While the storm has now been downgraded to a tropical depression, it continues to leave a wake of destruction in the form of major damage, power outages and lives lost.
At least seventeen people had died as a result of the storm in South Carolina as of Friday afternoon, The New York Times reports.
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Broken down by county, four deaths occurred in Aiken County, four people died in Greenville County and three lost their lives in Spartanburg County. Two deaths apiece occurred in Aiken County, Anderson County and Newberry County. All of the counties where people lost their lives due to damage from Helene are inland locations in the western part of the state that are a long distance from the coast.
In Florida, on the other hand, most of the deaths were limited to coastal counties. The New York Times reports that five people died in Pinellas County, located along the Gulf Coast while a sixth death occurred in nearby Tampa. The seventh person to die from Helene in Florida was based in Dixie County, another county located along the Gulf Coast.
Georgia is reporting 15 storm-related fatalities: two in inland Laurens County, two in inland Wheeler County, one in inland Colquitt County and one in coastal Liberty County. Nine additional people lost their lives, but the exact locations where they died were not clear as of Friday afternoon.
North Carolina, located several hundred miles north of where the storm made landfall, is reporting that two people lost their lives because of the storm, both of whom were located in the Charlotte area. One person died in Charlotte in the south-central part of the state, while the other was in nearby Catawba County.
The website PowerOutage.us, which keeps track of power outages in the U.S., reported more than four million homes without power throughout the southeastern U.S. as of Friday afternoon, nearly 24 hours after the storm made landfall.
South Carolina has the most power outages, which currently exceed 1 million. Georgia currently has over 900,000 people without power, while nearly 900,000 customers are without power in North Carolina.
Florida, the site of Helene’s landfall, still has around 700,000 customers without power. Other states in the storm’s path with more than 100,000 people without power include Virginia and Kentucky, which have more than 200,000 power outages; Ohio, which has more than 150,000; and Tennessee, which has just over 100,000 customers without power.
President Joe Biden has approved emergency declarations in South Carolina, Alabama, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida, enabling the federal government to assist state and local authorities as they seek to facilitate recovery efforts before, during and after the storm.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
