“Helene” made landfall in the state of Florida on Thursday evening (local time) as a hurricane in the second highest category with wind speeds of up to 225 kilometers per hour. US media spoke of the strongest hurricane ever to reach the Big Bend region. Helene later weakened into a tropical storm and continued north over the Appalachian Mountains. There were severe floods and landslides there.
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Many of the dead were killed by falling trees, NBC reported. Firefighters were among the victims, CNN reported. Several people drowned. The storm is expected to dissipate on Monday. But its consequences are still a danger. More than 2.5 million households were still without power on Sunday night, data from the website Poweroutage.us showed.
Many roads impassable
Western North Carolina was particularly affected. After heavy rain, many roads there were impassable. Strong winds brought down trees, power lines and cell towers across the region. Aid supplies had to be brought to cut-off towns by air, as the state’s governor, Roy Cooper, announced. He spoke of a “historic” storm in the region. More than 200 people were rescued from the floods. Hundreds are housed in emergency accommodation.
CNN reported 62 deaths in the states of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia as a result of the storm. Other US media have already reported slightly higher figures. The death toll is expected to continue to rise.
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In an Appalachian region hit particularly hard by flooding, Buncombe County in North Carolina, authorities said they knew of additional deaths. However, they were unable to report this initially because they wanted to inform the relatives first, but this was not yet possible due to the collapsed communication network.
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Image: CHANDAN KHANNA (AFP)
Source: Nachrichten