Hurricane Helene devastates the Southeast, killing dozens and leaving millions without power

Hurricane Helene killed at least 42 people and left millions of people without power across the Southeast before weakening as it moved north Friday morning, officials said.

Widespread damage was expected in the Big Bend region of Florida, where Helene made landfall as a Category 4 shortly after 11 p.m. ET on Thursday. It was the strongest storm ever to hit the area connecting Florida’s panhandle and the peninsula.

On Friday morning, Floridians were confronted with the extensive damage caused by devastating flooding, fast winds and heavy rain.

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In some parts of the region, water levels reached more than 15 feet above ground level, the National Hurricane Center said, citing preliminary storm surge models.

In Perry, Florida, where officials asked residents who refused to evacuate to write their identifying information on their bodies, Police Chief Jamie Cruse prepared for the storm’s aftermath as first responders began rescue operations.

“We’re starting to get our first look at what’s actually on the ground and what we’re going to be dealing with,” he told NBC News. “The only thing I regret at this moment is that we were not aggressive enough in notification to tell people to evacuate the areas that are prone to flooding.”

“I just hope that we don’t suffer a huge loss of life when we finally find out what we’re dealing with,” he added.

Officials in Clearwater, further south on Florida’s Gulf Coast, also feared the worst after seeing footage overnight of first responders rescuing elderly locals from knee-deep floodwater.

“Some houses on the island burned to the ground. There were some people we just couldn’t save because of the flooding,” Clearwater Mayor Bruce Rector told NBC’s “TODAY” show.

The storm is blamed for at least 15 deaths in Georgia, including a first responder, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said at a news conference. “One of our finest lost his life trying to save others,” he said.

There were at least seven deaths in Florida, including five reported overnight in Pinellas County, Florida, officials said. The sheriff’s office said two of those deaths appeared to be due to drowning.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters that one person died in Dixie County after a tree fell on a home. Another death was reported after a road sign fell on a car.

There were two storm-related deaths in North Carolina, according to Gov. Roy Cooper. A 4-year-old child died in a car crash during heavy rain in Catawba County shortly after 8 a.m. ET, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol said.

Three other children who were in the cars were hospitalized: a 12-year-old with life-threatening injuries, a 2-year-old with life-threatening injuries and a 4-year-old with non-life-threatening injuries.

Another person died in Charlotte after a tree fell on their home.

Officials said the storm claimed at least 13 more lives in South Carolina. Trees felled by the hurricane caused two of those deaths in Anderson County, officials said.

There was at least one death in Virginia, an official said.

Meanwhile, more than 4.3 million people experienced power outages in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility data.

Florida Power & Light Company said it had restored power to at least 460,000 customers by 6 a.m., accounting for more than 65% of the total number of customers affected

A spokesman said the company would not know how long it might take to restore power to the remaining 214,000 people still in the dark until crews could safely assess the damage.

According to Duke Energy Florida, power was restored to nearly 198,000 customers, while over 402,000 were still experiencing outages. Workers will have to wait for flooding to subside in some of the hardest-hit areas, but full recovery is expected within days, Duke Energy spokeswoman Ana Gibbs said.

“It won’t take weeks,” she said.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Helene, now a tropical depression, is expected to bring damaging wind gusts and catastrophic flooding as it tracks north across the Southeast. The agency said people living in southern Appalachia should prepare for possible long-term power outages.

A flash flood emergency is in effect for the Atlanta metropolitan area, officials said. Twelve million people are at risk of tropical tornadoes in eastern Carolina and southern Virginia, including the cities of Charleston, Wilmington, Charlotte, Raleigh and Norfolk.

According to the National Hurricane Center, as of 2 p.m. ET on Friday, the storm was located 125 miles southeast of Louisville, Kentucky, with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph.

President Joe Biden approved requests for emergency declarations, allowing federal aid to Georgia, Florida, Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina and ordering the deployment of more than 1,500 federal forces to the region.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Deanne Criswell is expected to travel to Florida to assess the damage and meet with state and local officials.