Hurricane Helene death toll rises to 44 amid major rescue operation across the southern U.S

Rescue efforts continue in the southeastern U.S. as the death toll from Hurricane Helene has now risen to 44 lives lost across five states Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

The Hurricane Helene crashed into Florida’s sparsely populated Big Bend region, bringing storm surge and high winds across the state’s Gulf Coast communities before ripping into southern Georgia.

The storm hit just east of the mouth of the Aucilla River around 11:10 p.m. EST about 10 miles west-southwest of Perry, according to the National Hurricane Center. Officials have forecast storm surges of up to 20 feet (6 meters) and warned they could be particularly “catastrophic and unsurvivable” in Florida’s Apalachee Bay. Over one million home and businesses in Florida alone are without power as of Friday night.

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The first lives claimed by the storm was in Tampa on Thursday night after a driver was crushed by a falling road sign and two people were killed in Georgia when winds reportedly hit a mobile home.

From Florida all the way up to Tennessee and North Carolina, Helene has left it's death and destruction all over the southern U.S. Helicopters have been dispatched to help rescue stranded patients stuck on the roof of a Tennessee hospital due to flooding.

The water around the hospital, which had also begun intruding inside the hospital, became extremely dangerous and impassable and prevented the boats from safely being able to evacuate the hospital, and due to high winds, no helicopters could safely fly in an effort to help evacuate the hospital, the hospital system said.

Among people who have died in Georgia are a 27-year-old mother and her two 1-month-old twins, who were killed when trees fell on their house in Thomson, just west of Augusta, said McDuffie County Coroner Paul Johnson.

The coroner said an 89-year-old woman was killed when trees fell on her house elsewhere in the same county.

In South Carolina alone 19 people have been killed according to local authorities. In Saluda County, two firefighters were killed when a tree fell on their truck while they were answering a call, the Highway Patrol said.

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Recent major hurricanes that made landfall in the U.S. have left hundreds dead and caused billions of dollars in damages.

Since 2020, not including Helene, there have been seven major destructive hurricanes: Laura, Delta, Zeta, Ida, Ian, Idalia and Beryl.

Hurricane Beryl was the first of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Exceptionally warm ocean temperatures caused it to strengthen into a Category 5 storm rapidly in early July.

When hurricane Beryl hit Texas, it had dropped to a Category 1 storm. Beryl has been blamed for at least 36 deaths. The storm caused an estimated $28 billion to $32 billion in damages, according to AccuWeather’s preliminary estimates.