Helene lands: 3 dead, more than 2 million without power

Hurricane Helene made landfall near Perry, Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, bringing devastating storm surges, high winds and heavy rain. At least three people died. Click here to see our coverage of yesterday’s approach to the storm.

Here’s the latest as the storm moved inland:

(5:00 a.m. ET) North Carolina flood emergency

(4:30 a.m. ET) 2.2 million plus without power

According to PowerOutages.us, approximately 1.2 million homes and businesses are without power in Florida alone. Georgia and South Carolina account for another 650,000 and 240,000 outages, respectively. Before Helene, the authorities had warned of longer power outages of up to a week in some of the most affected places.

(4:00 p.m. ET) Deaths confirmed in Florida and Georgia

Authorities have confirmed a storm-related death in Tampa, Florida, when a falling sign hit a car. Two more deaths occurred in Wheeler County, Georgia, when a mobile home was overturned by the storm.