Tropical Weather Latest: Millions still without power from Helene as flooding continues

The remnants of Hurricane Helene dissipated Saturday but millions remain without power across the Southeast and officials warned that record-breaking river flooding is ongoing in parts of southern Appalachia.

The storm has been blamed for at least 44 deaths across five states, including 19 people in South Carolina. But officials fear the death toll could rise as authorities continue to take stock of Helene’s devastation.

The hurricane roared ashore Thursday night as a Category 4 storm on Florida’s Gulf Coast and then quickly moved Friday through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, uprooting trees, splintering homes and sending creeks and rivers over their banks and straining dams.

Tropical Storm John made its second landfall along Mexico’s Pacific coast Friday, while in its wake authorities in the resort city of Acapulco called for help from anyone with a boat to deal with the flooding. It has since dissipated over Mexico.

Follow AP’s coverage of tropical weather at https://apnews.com/hub/hurricanes.

Here’s the latest:

Locals grateful no one was killed in Tampa neighborhood that saw unprecedented storm surge

TAMPA, Fla. — Davis Islands, the Tampa neighborhood that star athletes like baseball’s Derek Jeter and football’s Tom Brady have called home, was cleaning up Saturday after Helene’s chest-high storm surge tore through its streets the day before.

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The two islands sit just off the city’s downtown and are home to about 5,000 people. The neighborhood had never seen storm surge like it had Friday. No one died, but homes, businesses and apartments were flooded.

Authorities warned residents to evacuate, and many did, but some stayed behind.

”I don’t think anybody was expecting it,” Faith Pilafas told the Tampa Bay Times. “We’ve kind of gotten accustomed to lots of talk about big storms, and never actually like feeling the effects of it. So for all the people who didn’t leave the island, I feel like they were all just expecting it to be a normal storm, anticlimactic. And wow, were we surprised.”

A 24-year-old restaurant worker, she and her boyfriend watched from their second-floor apartment as the water rose to over 4 feet (1.2 meters). Her boyfriend used his kayak to help people get off the island.

“I mean, just every single business is, like, totally destroyed,” she told the newspaper. “But we don’t know anybody who is seriously injured, and so we’re just really grateful that didn’t happen.”

Debra Ogston returned to her Italian restaurant to find that its heavy coolers had been overturned. She said the job now will be to clean up and reopen.

“We’re resilient,” she told the newspaper. “We’re going to go for progress, not perfection. ... The damage here is annoying, and a little heartbreaking. But it’s stuff. Stuff can be replaced.”

Vice President Harris urges residents affected by Helene to heed local officials

DOUGLAS, Ariz. — Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday urged residents impacted by Hurricane Helene to pay heed to local authorities as the storm continues to wreak havoc on a significant swath of the southeast.

“The storm continues to be dangerous and deadly, and lives have been lost and the risk of flooding still remains high,” Harris said at the start of a campaign speech in Douglas, Arizona. “So, I continue to urge everyone to please continue to follow guidance from your local officials until we get past this moment.”

Dam near North Carolina-Tennessee border not experiencing ‘catastrophic failure,’ officials say

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said Friday that a “catastrophic failure” was not taking place at Walters Dam, also known as the Waterville Dam, which sits in North Carolina close to the Tennessee border.

A local mayor had urged residents to evacuate due to the dam potentially breaking, but TEMA said in a statement that the “dam has not failed” after talking to Duke Energy, which owns the nearly 100-year-old dam.

Dozens rescued by helicopter from a flooded Tennessee hospital

NASHVILLE — There have been hundreds of water rescues due to Helene, but perhaps none more dramatic than in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were plucked by helicopter from the roof of a hospital that was surrounded by water from a flooded river.

Some 54 people were moved to the roof of the Unicoi County Hospital while water rapidly flooded the facility, according to Ballad Health.

Ballad Health said on social media that county officials had ordered an evacuation of the hospital Friday morning due to rising water in the Nolichucky River, including 11 patients.

After other helicopters failed to reach the hospital because of the storm’s winds, a Virginia State Police helicopter was able to land on the roof. Three National Guard helicopters with hoist capabilities were sent and Ballad Health assisted with its own helicopter, officials said. After about four hours, all of the staff and patients had been rescued.

▶ Read more about Friday’s dramatic rescue