(Reuters) – Southeastern U.S. states started a massive cleanup and recovery effort on Sunday after winds, rain and storm surges from Hurricane Helene snuffed out power, destroyed roads and bridges and caused catastrophic flooding from Florida to Virginia.
The storm caused at least 60 deaths, according to state and local officials in South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. Officials feared still more bodies would be discovered across several states.
Damage estimates ranged from $15 billion to more than $100 billion, insurers and forecasters said over the weekend. Property damage and lost economic output will become more clear as officials assess the destruction.
Days of driving rain followed Helene slamming into Florida’s Gulf Coast on Thursday night. More than 3 million customers faced power outages over the weekend after unprecedented storm surges, ferocious winds and perilous conditions that extended hundreds of miles inland.
Some of the worst rains hit western North Carolina, which saw almost 30 inches (76 cm) fall on Mount Mitchell in Yancey County, the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center reported.
State transportation officials said more than 400 roads remained closed in the state, where the governor reported two deaths on Saturday.
Waters washed over Lake Lure Dam in Rutherford County and people in and around Chimney Rock described the village’s downtown as washed out. Images showing inches of mud and sediment, uprooted trees and snapped telephone poles and buildings turned into debris.
Just to the south in eastern Tennessee, Greene County officials worried the Nolichucky Dam was on the brink of failure but the Tennessee Valley Authority reported late Saturday that the dam was stable and secure.
“The devastation we’re witnessing in Hurricane Helene’s wake has been overwhelming,” President Joe Biden said on Saturday. “Jill and I continue to pray for all of those who have lost loved ones and for everyone impacted by this storm.”
South Carolina recorded the highest death toll, with local authorities count 24 fatalities so far from Helene, with falling trees contributing to many of them.
Seventeen people, including children, died in Georgia due to Helene, Governor Brian Kemp said after viewing damage in Valdosta.
A total of 11 people died in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis said on Saturday, speaking in Perry on Florida’s Gulf Coast, which saw 15-foot storm surges, larger than those seen in hurricanes in recent years.
In coastal Steinhatchee, a storm surge – a wall of seawater pushed ashore by winds – of eight to 10 feet (2.4-3 meters) moved mobile homes, the weather service said.
The nearby tiny community of Spring Warrior Fish Camp was surveying the damage Saturday and still waiting for any emergency or first responder aid.
“No one thinks of us back here,” said David Hall, as he and his wife dug through the sea grass and dead fish in the office of the hotel they owned. Many of the homes in there are built on stilts because of a local ordinance and survived heavy damage.
(This story has been refiled to restore a dropped word in paragraph 2)
(Reporting by Octavio Jones in Florida, Jonathan Allen in New York, Doina Chiacu and Heather Timmons in Washington; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
