Hurricane Helene brought heavy rainfall, intense winds, damaging debris, and flooding to several Southern states on Thursday and Friday.
Hurricane Helene made landfall late Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane in the Florida Big Bend, leaving flooding, damage, and destruction along Florida's Gulf Coast before speeding north, causing damage and power outages in Georgia and threatening dam breaks Friday in Tennessee as a downgraded tropical depression.
Helene made landfall with 140 mph winds in Taylor County, Florida, just east of the mouth of the Aucilla River, about 10 miles west-southwest of Perry, Florida.
According to the USA TODAY power outage map, there were 372,227 total outages reported in Florida on Saturday afternoon.
Another hard-hit state was North Carolina. In many areas, like Chimney Rock and Asheville, residents saw heavy rain. The highest reported rainfall was 29.5 inches in Busick Raws, Yancey County, North Carolina’s Gov. Roy Cooper’s office said. The state reported 635,887 total outages on Saturday.
As states begin to pick up the pieces of Helene's destruction, relief efforts and funds are being created to help.
Here are some organizations you can donate to if you want to help those who were impacted by Hurricane Helene.
Hurricane Helene: What are some organizations I can donate to help?
American Red Cross
The Red Cross offers food, shelter, supplies, and emotional support to victims of crisis. It already has hundreds of workers and volunteers in Florida and has opened dozens of shelters for evacuees. You can contribute to the national group's Helene relief efforts.
The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army provides food, drinks, shelter, emotional and spiritual care and other emergency services to survivors and rescue workers. You can donate to Helene's efforts online.
United Way
Local United Way organizations are accepting donations to help relief efforts for both short-term and to to continue helping residents later. You can find your local chapter on the organization's website.
GoFundMe
Hurricane Relief Fund "was created to provide direct relief to people in need after a hurricane," the fundraising platform said.
World Central Kitchen
When there is a disaster, Chef José Andrés is there with his teams to set up kitchen facilities and start serving thousands of meals to victims and responders. You can help by donating on their website.
There are also many other organizations providing specialty care and assistance:
All Hands and Hearts
This volunteer-based organization works alongside local residents to help by rebuilding schools, homes, and other community infrastructure. It has a Helene fund started.
Americares
Americares focuses on medical aid, helping communities recover from disasters with access to medicine and providing personal protective equipment and medical supplies. To help Hurricane Helene victims, Americares has set up a donation page.
Operation Blessing
This group works with emergency management and local churches to bring clean water, food, medicine, and more supplies to people with immediate needs in disaster areas. Donate to their Helene fund on their website.
Save the Children
This organization works to get child-focused supplies into the hands of families hardest hit by the storm including hygiene kits, diapers, and baby wipes as well as classroom cleaning kits to schools and assistance in restoring child care and early learning centers. Donate to the Children's Emergency Fund.
From Florida to North Carolina, Hurricane Helene caused widespread destruction this week, bringing deadly floods, mudslides, and tornadoes as it tore across the Southeast and its remnants reached all the way to the mountain areas of Appalachia.
Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region late on Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane, with 140-mile-per-hour winds and record-breaking storm surges. The strongest storm to ever hit the region, the storm caused “complete obliteration of homes” in some parts of the state, said Gov. Ron DeSantis at a Saturday news conference.
It continued to move through the Southeast on Friday and Saturday, bringing rain, floods, and mudslides through cities and towns in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee, and claiming dozens of lives. For many survivors, the struggle of cleanup and recovery had just begun.
Pieces of homes scattered in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., in the wake of catastrophic storm surge and powerful winds as Hurricane Helene made landfall.
Debris was scattered in all directions in the aftermath of Helene in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., making the cleanup work ahead a daunting challenge.
Search and rescue crews looked for people amid the ruins in Keaton Beach, Fla.
Homes and businesses were partially damaged or destroyed as Helene roared through Keaton Beach, Fla.
Overturned chairs were piled up inside the Blue Creek Baptist Church in Keaton Beach, Fla., after the hurricane brought storm surge to the area.
Cinder blocks and other pieces of structures were scattered on the ground in Keaton Beach, Fla.
Coastal areas in Florida took a direct hit from the eye of Hurricane Helene.
Fish died on land after the storm surge had passed through Keaton Beach, Fla.
Cleanup efforts had started after flood damage in Asheville, N.C., on Saturday.
Pieces of wood and tree branches, much of it dragged from Chimney Rock, N.C., piled up by a bridge where Broad River flows into Lake Lure.
In the island community of Cedar Key, Fla., blown-out windows, warped roofing and piles of debris stood in stark contrast to the eerie stillness on Saturday morning.
People had to move through floodwaters in Yankeetown, Fla.
The storm surge ripped through homes in Gulfport, Fla., a community in the Tampa Bay area.
Danny McSorley sat to rest, exhausted after yet another bout with a storm, which has been on the path of a series of hurricanes in Shore Acres, Fla.
A fire that ignited during the storm, destroyed Nancy Otto’s home in Shore Acres, Fla.
Dozens of pastel homes were reduced to rubble by high winds and fast-rising water late on Thursday in the normally sun-drenched community of Dekle Beach, Fla.
Men work to remove downed trees from a road leading to Dark Island, near Keaton Beach, Fla., on Friday.
Anthony Altman surveys the damage and a flooded store, Fishhook Outfitters, in Crystal River, Fla.
Floodwaters from Hurricane Helene are cleared out from Explorida, an outdoor adventure store in Crystal River.
Widespread flooding in Siesta Key, Fla.
Laurie Lilliott, 50, is comforted by her friend Christine Lamb, 39, after discovering their destroyed home in Dekle Beach, Fla.
A road floods as Tropical Storm Helene strikes, on the outskirts of Boone, N.C., on Friday.
Power crews work on the lines in Crystal River.
Homes were crumpled under the weight of trees left sodden by several feet of storm surge in Steinhatchee, Fla.
Nearly 100,000 households were without power in the Atlanta area on Friday.
Steinhatchee, a small fishing village along the coast of Florida’s Big Bend, is still recovering from Hurricane Idalia, which battered the region last year.
A building with partially collapsed roof in Perry, Fla., after Hurricane Helene passed through the area.
Dozens of homes were reduced to rubble by high winds and fast-rising water late Thursday in the normally sun-drenched community of Dekle Beach.
Hurricane Helene’s shift eastward late on Thursday largely spared Atlanta, which had been bracing for the hurricane’s eye-wall to pass directly over the city.
Damage in Perry, Fla., near where the storm made landfall.
The hurricane-force winds that moved through the region toppled part of a gas station outside Perry.
Cedar Key, a small community on a collection of tiny islands jutting into the Gulf of Mexico, was emerging as one of the most-devastated areas.
Historic Fourth Ward Park in Atlanta was partially underwater on Friday.
A downed traffic light danced in the wind in Tampa.
The International Space Station captured video of Hurricane Helene on Thursday as it approached Florida.
Businesses in Old Town, Fla., were boarded up.
A sail boat was buffeted by winds and pushed close to a road in Palmetto, Fla., on Thursday.
A small coastal community, Dark Island, was surrounded by rising tidewaters.
Marine deputies in Lee County deployed boats and a swamp buggy on flooded streets in preparation for rescues near Fort Myers Beach on Thursday.
Streets were flooded in the Shore Acres neighborhood of St. Petersburg, Fla., on Thursday.
James and Maddie Burmeister boarded up their business in Carrabelle, Fla., on Thursday.
A traffic camera showed waves crashing over highways near Tampa.
Residents filled sandbags in Clearwater, Fla., on Wednesday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Hurricane Hunter team flew through Helene on Tuesday.
Recovery efforts are ongoing in the Southeast as communities grapple with Hurricane Helene's devastation that left dozens dead, entire neighborhoods underwater, and millions without power. The deadly storm's stubborn leftovers continue to cause widespread disruption on Saturday.
The Category 4 storm, which made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region with 140 mph winds, claimed at least 54 lives across five states. Hundreds have been rescued from the widespread flooding and property damage caused by the storm's relentless rains and winds.
As of Saturday, power outages persisted across more than a dozen states, affecting over 3 million customers – a slight improvement from the peak of the storm, when 4.7 million were without power.
In this aerial view, power crews work on the lines after Hurricane Helene passed offshore on September 27, 2024 in Crystal River, Florida.
(Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
Devastating storm surge, near 100 mph wind gusts slam Florida
Helene's storm surge caused catastrophic damage along Florida's Gulf Coast, where nearly a half million still remain without power Saturday morning. The Big Bend region experienced surges exceeding 15 feet, while Clearwater Beach and Tampa saw their highest levels in decades.
Florida barrier islands experience storm surge with 'insurmountable' impacts
FOX Weather Meteorologist Michael Estime reports from Davis Island, where more than 3 feet of storm surge swept over the Tampa community. Sept. 28, 2024.
The small barrier island of Treasure Island was particularly devastated, with widespread flooding and property damage.
Wind gusts measured as high as 99 mph in Perry, Florida as Helene made landfall.
Following landfall, the storm quickly moved through Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee, uprooting trees, splintering homes, and overwhelming rivers and dams.
A catastrophic flood threat was narrowly avoided Saturday along the Nolichucky River in East Tennessee as the remnants of Helene unleashed torrential rainfall, pushing the river to the brink of a critical emergency.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a dire Flash Flood Emergency late Friday as the Nolichucky Dam in Greeneville was feared to be teetering on the verge of collapse, threatening imminent danger to communities downstream. However, the dam survived the onslaught, and the waters, while still several feet above record flood stage, are starting to recede.
Swollen river pours over Tennessee's Nolichucky River Dam.
The swollen Nolichucky River sweeps over a dam in eastern Tennessee after 1-2 feet of rain fell in the nearby mountains. (Video courtesy: Tennessee Valley Authority)
This comes after a record-breaking 28 Flash Flood Emergencies were issued across the Southeast, including Georgia, western North Carolina, parts of South Carolina, and Virginia. Friday saw the most Flash Flood Emergencies issued in a single day nationwide.
Even as the storm weakened to a post-tropical cyclone, its devastating effects continued to be felt.
Helene's life-threatening floods inundate Boone, North Carolina
FOX Weather continues to follow the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, as over 200 reports of flooding have poured in from across the Southeast. Boone, North Carolina, is currently under a Flash Flood Warning, with life-threatening flooding inundating the area on Friday. Meteorologist Jane Minar is reporting live from Boone with the latest on the situation there.
Dozens of water rescues as record floods slam western North Carolina, Atlanta
In North Carolina, the storm's torrential rains caused catastrophic flooding, particularly in the Asheville area. At least 50 water rescues were reported, and tragically, 19 lives were lost. The flooding was so severe that parts of the state remained underwater days after the storm passed.
Blue Ridge Mountains bear brunt of North Carolina's historic flooding
FOX News' Chelsea Torres is live from Asheville providing the latest updates on the devastation and cleanup efforts in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
One group of friends in Boone canoed the flooded South Fork New River for 32 minutes, landing at a washed-out road on Friday.
"We saw trailers floating by, and cars toppled over", one of the friends said.
Friends talk after having canoed the flooded South Fork New River for 32 minutes and landing at a washed-out road on September 27, 2024, in Boone, North Carolina.
(Melissa Sue Gerrits / Getty Images)
Atlanta experienced its first-ever Flash Flood Emergency, breaking a 138-year-old rainfall record with 11.18 inches in two days. This caused severe flooding that submerged entire neighborhoods.
Rescue crews worked tirelessly to save stranded individuals, including a woman who was rescued by FOX Weather Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen. Hearing her cries for help while reporting nearby, Van Dillen immediately jumped into action to save her from the rising floodwaters.
FOX Weather's Bob Van Dillen rescues woman from Atlanta floodwater
FOX Weather Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen bravely rescued a woman who had driven into floodwaters in Atlanta early Friday morning.
Helene, which is now post-tropical, will continue to bring flooding rains over the weekend as a breakdown in the weather pattern will allow the system to meander across the East, the FOX Forecast Center said.
Around 2-4 inches of additional rain is likely from Western Tennessee into Ohio. Additional rain is expected in the Northern Appalachian Mountains. Helene's lingering effects should finally exit the Northeast late Tuesday into Wednesday.
NOAA announced it has ordered two advanced hurricane hunter aircraft that are expected to enter service by 2030.
The agency said it awarded the contract to Georgia-based Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, which will produce the specialized C-130J Hercules aircraft.
According to a budgetary report, the total cost of a new plane will be cheaper to operate and maintain than the currently used P-3D Orion aircraft.
"NOAA is continuing to make critical investments to help protect lives and property," NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, said in a statement. "These new aircraft will be filled with state-of-the-art technology developed by NOAA and our partners, greatly enhancing our ability to gather critical data on hurricanes, atmospheric rivers, and our changing climate."
Next-generation Hurricane Hunter aircraft
(FOX Weather)
The new C-130Js are scheduled to replace the aging WP-3D Orions, which have been in service since the mid-1970s.
"As demand for specialized weather data continues to grow, modernizing NOAA’s aircraft fleet is deemed essential for meeting future operational and scientific needs," the agency stated.
During Hurricane Helene, a combination of aircraft from NOAA and the United States Air Force flew dozens of missions over the Gulf of Mexico to investigate the hurricane and the surrounding atmosphere.
The missions led to the cyclone being upgraded to a Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale before its landfall southeast of Tallahassee.
Forecasters say data collected by aircraft helps improve forecast tracks by 15-20% and intensity forecasts by 10-15%, which can lead to longer lead times for emergency management agencies.
"Both new aircraft will be customized with the same Multi-Mode Radar as the P-3s, as well as new automated drop sonde launchers, high-speed internet connectivity, vertically scanning doppler radar and instrument ports for a variety of research instruments for surface winds, waves, and oceanographic sensing. The C-130Js will also be able to launch and control uncrewed aircraft systems that expand the reach of the aircraft into new and under-measured areas of the storm environment," the agency stated.
The new planes will be based at NOAA’s operations center in Lakeland, Florida, and will be used to investigate a variety of weather events outside of hurricane season.
In addition to its own planes, NOAA often requests flights be conducted by the Air Force’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron based in Biloxi, Mississippi.
The Air Force currently has 10 WC-130J aircraft that provide data on tropical cyclones and winter storm systems off both coasts of the United States.
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, it expects to purchase additional C-130Js once congressional funding is approved.
NOAA Hurricane Hunters fly into the eye of Hurricane Helene
On a mission Wednesday, NOAA's Hurricane Hunters flew into the eye of Hurricane Helene in the Gulf of Mexico. Helene is forecast to become a major hurricane before it makes landfall in the United States.
For movement in the new cycle
Massive rains from powerful Hurricane Helene left people stranded, without shelter, and awaiting rescue, as the cleanup began from a tempest that killed at least 64 people, caused widespread destruction across the U.S. Southeast, and knocked out power to millions of people.
“I’ve never seen so many people homeless as what I have right now,” said Janalea England of Steinhatchee, Florida, a small river town along the state’s rural Big Bend, as she turned her commercial fish market into a storm donation site for friends and neighbors, many of whom couldn’t get insurance on their homes.
Helene blew ashore in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane late Thursday with winds of 140 mph (225 kph).
From there, it quickly moved through Georgia, where Gov. Brian Kemp said Saturday that it “looks like a bomb went off” after viewing splintered homes and debris-covered highways from the air. Weakened, Helene then soaked the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains, sending creeks and rivers over their banks and straining dams.
Western North Carolina was isolated because of landslides and flooding that forced the closure of Interstate 40 and other roads. All those closures delayed the start of the East Tennessee State University football game against The Citadel because the Buccaneers’ drive to Charleston, South Carolina, took 16 hours.
There have been hundreds of water rescues, none more dramatic than in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were plucked by helicopter from a hospital rooftop Friday. The rescues continued into the following day in Buncombe County, North Carolina, where part of Asheville was underwater.
“To say this caught us off guard would be an understatement,” said Quentin Miller, the county sheriff.
Asheville resident Mario Moraga said it was “heartbreaking” to see the damage in the Biltmore Village neighborhood and neighbors have been going house to house to check on each other and offer support.
“There’s no cell service here. There’s no electricity,” he said.
While there have been deaths in the county, Emergency Services Director Van Taylor Jones said he wasn’t ready to report specifics, partially because downed cell towers hindered efforts to contact next of kin. Relatives put out desperate pleas for help on Facebook.
The storm, now a post-tropical cyclone, was expected to hover over the Tennessee Valley on Saturday and Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said.
It unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. One community, Spruce Pine, was doused with over 2 feet (0.6 meters) of rain from Tuesday through Saturday.
And in Atlanta, 11.12 inches (28.24 centimeters) of rain fell over 48 hours, the most the city has seen over two days since record-keeping began in 1878.
President Joe Biden said Saturday that Helene’s devastation has been “overwhelming” and pledged to send help. He also approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina, making federal funding available for affected individuals.
With at least 25 killed in South Carolina, Helene is the deadliest tropical cyclone for the state since Hurricane Hugo killed 35 people when it came ashore just north of Charleston in 1989. Deaths also have been reported in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.
Moody’s Analytics said it expects $15 billion to $26 billion in property damage. AccuWeather’s preliminary estimate of the total damage and economic loss from Helene in the U.S. is between $95 billion and $110 billion.
Evacuations began before the storm hit and continued as lakes overtopped dams, including one in North Carolina that forms a lake featured in the movie “Dirty Dancing.” Helicopters were used to rescue some people from flooded homes.
Among the 11 confirmed deaths in Florida were nine people who drowned in their homes in a mandatory evacuation area on the Gulf Coast in Pinellas County, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said.
None of the victims were from Taylor County, which is where the storm made landfall. It came ashore near the mouth of the Aucilla River, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) northwest of where Hurricane Idalia hit last year at nearly the same ferocity.
Taylor County is in Florida’s Big Bend, went years without taking a direct hit from a hurricane. But after Idalia and two other storms in a little over a year, the area is beginning to feel like a hurricane superhighway.
“It’s bringing everybody to reality about what this is now with disasters,” said John Berg, 76, a resident of Steinhatchee, a small fishing town and weekend getaway.
Climate change has exacerbated conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones sometimes in a matter of hours.
Helene was the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average season this year because of record warm ocean temperatures.