Update on Hurricane Helene: The outage map shows that millions of people remain without power

After Hurricane Helene’s deadly attack on the eastern United States, millions of Americans are without power

South Carolina was the hardest-hit state, with 1,089,535 outages as of early Saturday, according to PowerOutage.us, a service that tracks outages. In Greenville County in South Carolina alone, 258,688 outages were recorded.

Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida on Thursday as a strong Category 4 storm. Meteorologists warned of “a catastrophic and deadly storm surge.” According to The Weather Channel, it was the strongest hurricane ever to make landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida.

Some 787,428 outages were recorded in Georgia, 728,427 in North Carolina, 527,945 in Florida, 224,841 in Ohio and 141,407 in Kentucky. There were another 72,962 in Indiana, 70,991 in West Virginia and 62,091 in Tennessee, for a total of 3,705,627.

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster called it quits

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned that power outages could last long and recommended that anyone using generators place them at least 20 feet away from doors, windows and garages to avoid deadly carbon monoxide poisoning.

“Helene intensified rapidly today as it approached landfall in the Florida Big Bend,” the NHC said in a forecast discussion earlier Thursday. “It should be emphasized that Helene is at the upper limit of hurricanes in terms of storm size and impacts are and will occur far from the center.”

Helene strengthened into a tropical storm on Tuesday, becoming the strongest hurricane of the season as it made landfall.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) urged those in Helene’s path to “take immediate action to protect themselves as the storm approaches,” noting the “risk of dangerous flash flooding and flooding in Alabama.” , Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina”.

An update from the NHC late Friday warned of “record-breaking” flooding in the southern Appalachians, but said conditions would improve Friday evening and Saturday “after the catastrophic flooding of the last two days.”

The agency said deadly hazards could remain after the system ends, including downed power lines and flooded areas.

Tennessee House of Representatives candidate Brad Batt shared an image with X (formerly Twitter) that appeared to show about three dozen people seeking refuge from floodwaters on the roof of a hospital.

A review from The Associated Press and a British newspaper The Guardian showed that Helene – now classified as a post-tropical cyclone by the NHC – killed more than 40 people.

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