Hurricane Helene death toll surges to 64 across southeast

The death toll from Hurricane Helen jumped to 64 on Saturday evening as the powerful storm caused widespread damage across the Southeast.

The dead included three firefighters, a mother and her one-month-old twins, and an 89-year-old woman who was hit by a tree that hit her home.

Officials said 11 of the confirmed deaths were from Florida, and nine of them drowned in their homes in the Pinellas County mandatory evacuation zone on the Gulf Coast.

The death toll is expected to rise further as recovery efforts continue, and rescue teams intensified search efforts Saturday after the superstorm was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone.

Dozens of other municipalities have reported deaths, but have not released details because cell phone towers have collapsed, making it difficult to contact next of kin.

Thousands of other survivors are left stranded without shelter. Millions of other people have no power.

“It looks like a bomb went off,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Saturday after viewing destroyed homes and debris-covered highways from above.

Hundreds of water rescues have already been carried out in Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, including a helicopter rescue of 18 patients and staff from a hospital roof. It also includes things like.

Western North Carolina has been isolated by landslides and the worst flooding in a century, forcing the closure of Interstate 40 and other roads. Gov. Roy Cooper said search and rescue teams from 19 states and the federal government came to the rescue, calling it “devastating.”

Helen was the deadliest tropical storm to hit South Carolina since Hurricane Hugo killed 35 people in 1989.

This superstorm also broke records in Atlanta, Georgia. The 11.12 inches recorded in 48 hours was the highest the city has seen in two days since record-keeping began in 1878.

According to one report, total losses from Helen are expected to be between $95 billion and $110 billion. AccuWeather estimatesconsidering impacts such as damage to homes, businesses, roads and vehicles, power outages, lost wages, flight delays and supply chain impacts.

Airlines are recovering after Friday's massive delays and widespread cancellations. As of midday Saturday, there were 1,300 delayed flights and 135 cancellations across the U.S., according to tracking service FlightAware.

Damage from Helen could make it one of the most destructive storms to hit the United States

Helen, which made landfall in Florida on Friday, is expected to remain over the Tennessee Valley until Sunday, with the potential for severe flooding lingering.

Remnants of the storm fell as light rain in the New York City area on Saturday, and were expected to continue into the beginning of the week.

with post wire