The remnants of Hurricane Helene dissipated Saturday but millions remain without power across the Southeast and officials warned that record-breaking river flooding is ongoing in parts of southern Appalachia. The storm has been blamed for at least 44 deaths across five states, including 19 people in South Carolina. But officials fear the death toll could rise as authorities continue to take stock of Helene’s devastation.
The hurricane roared ashore Thursday night as a Category 4 storm on Florida’s Gulf Coast and then quickly moved Friday through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, uprooting trees, splintering homes and sending creeks and rivers over their banks and straining dams. Tropical Storm John made along Mexico’s Pacific coast Friday, while in its wake authorities in the resort city of Acapulco called for help from anyone with a boat to deal with the flooding. It has since dissipated over Mexico.
Follow AP’s coverage of tropical weather at . Here’s the latest: Locals grateful no one was killed in Tampa neighborhood that saw unprecedented storm surge TAMPA, Fla. — Davis Islands, the Tampa neighborhood that star athletes like baseball’s Derek Jeter and football’s Tom Brady have called home, was cleaning up Saturday after Helene’s chest-high storm surge tore through its streets the day before.
The two islands sit just off the city’s downtown and are home to about 5,000 people. The neighborhood had never seen storm surge like it had Friday. No one die.
