At least 43 people have died and millions were left without power on Friday as Hurricane Helene roared through the south-eastern US.
Officials continued daring rescues with boats, helicopters, and large vehicles to help those stranded in floodwaters – including about 50 workers and patients who crowded on the roof of a flooded Tennessee hospital.
It was the most powerful storm on record to hit Florida’s Big Bend and moved north into Georgia and the Carolinas after making landfall overnight on Thursday.
Although Helene has weakened significantly, forecasters warn that high winds, flooding, and the threat of tornadoes could continue.
Helene, which had been a category four storm, came ashore on Thursday night and remained a hurricane for six hours after it made landfall, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The National Hurricane Center said a storm surge – heightened water levels mostly caused by high winds blowing water towards shore – reached more than 15ft (4.5m) above ground level across parts of the Florida coast.
At least eight people have died in Florida since Friday, including at least five people in the coastal Pinellas County, the county’s sheriff, Bob Gualtieri said.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said one person died after a road sign fell on their car and another when a tree fell on a home.
After hitting Florida, the storm continued on a deadly path north into Georgia – leaving at least 15 dead – including a first responder, Governor Brian Kemp said.
A suspected tornado that spurred in Wheeler County, in central Georgia, left two people dead when the twister picked up and overturned a mobile home, authorities said.
In South Carolina, at least 17 people were killed. Neighboring North Carolina saw at least two fatalities in the storm, one due to a vehicle collision and another when a tree fell on a home in Charlotte, Governor Roy Cooper said.
The state also saw two confirmed tornadoes, which damaged 11 buildings and injured 15 people, the National Service said.
One person was also killed in Virginia, the state’s governor, Glenn Youngkin, said at a news conference on Friday.
Across the southeast, more than three million homes and businesses were without power late Friday, according to tracking site poweroutage.us.
The hurricane is the 14th most powerful to hit the US since records began. At approximately 420 miles (675 km) wide, it is behind only two other hurricanes – Ida in 2017 and Opal in 1996, both of which were 460 miles wide.
