MIAMI (EFE).— “Helene,” which entered as a powerful category 4 hurricane on the coast of northwest Florida the night before last, has already claimed the lives of 41 people so far, a count that could rise, and is leaving a trail of destruction in the southeastern United States.
The cyclone caused the death of seven people in Florida, 15 in Georgia and another 17 in South Carolina, two of them firefighters, as confirmed yesterday by the governor of the latter state, Henry McMaster.
In North Carolina, two fatalities have been confirmed so far, one of them a child under four years old.
By yesterday afternoon, more than 4.6 million people were without power in a dozen states, while thousands of workers were removing debris, brush and repairing power lines with a view to restoring electricity.
Almost a thousand flights were canceled in the United States, the vast majority of them with scheduled departures or arrivals at the international airports of Charlotte, North Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia, and Tampa, Florida.
With the first light of dawn, residents of Florida towns such as Cedar Key and Perry, the latter where the cyclone made landfall, discovered before them a Dantesque scene, plagued by flooded streets, debris, and torn-off windows and roofs.
Some towns in this region, such as Steinhatchee, a small fishing town that was still recovering from the onslaught of Hurricane “Idalia” in August last year, saw some homes and businesses destroyed by falling trees or the force of the winds.
The hurricane made landfall just after 11:00 p.m. Thursday night, local time (3:00 GMT Friday), near the town of Perry, in the northwest Florida region known as Big Bend, with maximum sustained winds of 225 kilometers per hour.
Flooding from rain and storm surge, which raised sea levels to more than 3 meters above average, was extensive, with damage generally reaching hundreds of kilometers to the north.
“Helene”, weakened yesterday afternoon to a post-tropical cyclone with sustained winds of 55 kph, still produces floods and emergency situations, as occurred in a hospital in Tennessee, where 54 people had to be rescued by helicopter from the roof of the center of health that was flooded.
In this southern state, about 20,000 residents were ordered to evacuate due to flash floods and the danger posed by a dam near the town of Newport.
In North Carolina, Governor Roy Cooper warned of the risk of dangerous landslides due to torrential rains.
“This is one of the worst storms in modern history for parts of western North Carolina,” he said.
In towns in the west of this state, a curfew was imposed since last night to facilitate the tasks of emergency teams, according to local authorities.
“Isaac” and “Joyce”
Hurricane Isaac was strengthening and Tropical Storm Joyce was becoming better organized in the Atlantic yesterday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported.
Both systems were far from land and there were no coastal warnings or warnings in effect at the moment.
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