VIDEO: Shipping container slams into electrical pole during Hurricane Helene; death toll reaches 200

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WFLA) — A shipping container slammed into an electrical pole, while floating debris was split in half, during extreme, rising water in Asheville, North Carolina last week.

According to the Associated Press, Hurricane Helene’s death toll reached 200 after Georgia and North Carolina reported more fatalities.

On Thursday morning, Gov. Ron DeSantis said the death toll in Florida is “probably higher” than the 15 confirmed fatalities from Hurricane Helene. Those deaths are mainly in Pinellas County, with a few in Miami and Jacksonville.

The storm, which made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region a week ago from today, has had devastating impacts not just across Florida, but Georgia, and the Carolinas as well.

The video, taken on Sept. 27, was captured by a resident on the third floor of an apartment building, showing a shipping container colliding with an electrical pole, as it floated down the high, rushing waters of the French Broad River.

“Oh that’s not good,” the man is heard saying as debris floats in the rushing waters.

Another video clip shows a massive siding of a building approaching the apartment building, before narrowly missing the structure. However as it continues floating down the river, that same electrical pole splits the debris in half.

In Pinellas County, crews are struggling to transport debris to landfills in areas hit hard by the hurricane. The county said they are working to open debris removal sites as soon as possible.

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