Updated 5:17 PM CDT, September 27, 2024
Where is the storm right now?
By Friday afternoon, Hurricane Helene, had diminished to a tropical depression over the Carolinas with gusts as high as 30 mph (48 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center.
As it continues to travel north, the storm will get weaker. Helene was centered about 2 p.m., around 205 kilometers (125 miles) southeast of Louisville, Kentucky.
After reaching landfall close to the mouth of the Aucilla River late on Thursday, Helene wavered as it moved closer to Florida's coast, with maximum sustained winds estimated to be 140 mph (225 kph). That place was just around 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of the spot where, Hurricane Idalia made landfall and inflicted extensive damage almost exactly a year ago.
In certain parts of Western North Carolina, evacuations started on Friday. Moving westward from Asheville, the Haywood County Sheriff's Office announced that it was assisting with evacuations in the lower-lying areas of Waynesville as well as Cruso, Clyde, and Canton.
How about airports?
Florida airports that were closed, as a result of Hurricane Helene were reopened on Friday. This covered the airports at Tallahassee, Lakeland, Tampa, and St. Petersburg.
As of Friday afternoon, FlightAware reported that 130 flights had been canceled, at Tampa International Airport in the previous 24 hours.
Airports in Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina, were open on Friday, although there were a lot of cancellations, and significant delays, according to reports. Nearly 400 flights to or from Charlotte, a significant American Airlines hub had been canceled by 2:00 p.m. FlightAware reports that there were about 580 additional delays, either to or from Charlotte.
FlightAware reports that at the larger Atlanta airport, 175 flights were canceled, and over 500 were delayed.
How about bridges and roads?
Inspectors were out inspecting causeways, and bridges around Florida's Gulf Coast on Friday morning in an effort to promptly re-open them to travel, according to Perdue.
In addition, Perdue stated at a press conference in Tallahassee, that debris had been removed from 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) of roadway throughout Florida.
"We need to check and make sure that all of the causeways are safe to pass because some of them were submerged," stated Perdue. "The west coast saw a great deal of storm surge. Many of our roads were under water.
What number of people lack electricity?
According to poweroutage.us, as of 2:30 p.m. on Friday, 4.2 million people across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee lacked electricity.
With, more than a million outages apiece, North and South Carolina saw the majority of the disruptions, and more than 840,000 people in Florida, & about 950,000 in Georgia were without electricity.
In South Carolina, almost 45% of residences, businesses lacked electricity on Friday. With winds gusting close to hurricane force & entire counties lost power. Every main route entering Greenwood, a city of roughly 22,000 people located 65 miles (105 kilometers), west of Columbia, was blocked by trees or other debris, according to posts made on social media by Greenwood County officials.
Lineman crews were positioned all across the area, prepared to start the process of reestablishing power as soon as Helene's winds subsided.
What about storm surge?
Long before Hurricane Helene made landfall, flooding was reported along Florida's shoreline, with fast rising waters being recorded, as far south as Fort Myers on the state's Gulf shoreline.
Tampa's Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies were used a big ATV early on Friday to rescue residents who had become stuck by rising floods.
Many homes, motels, and businesses in Cedar Key, an ancient Florida-style island off the Gulf Coast, were submerged under water. Even the city's fire rescue facility was not exempt.
Source:-
