Tropical Storm Helene morphed into a Category 3 Hurricane on Thursday night. The storm hit Florida bringing with it death and destruction. 

The hurricane-force winds extended outward up to 25 miles from the center and tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 345 miles from the center.

Hurricane Deaths

As of 3 pm CST Helene’s death toll was 30. It will likely rise across 4 states.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said there have been at least at least eight deaths in Florida. Five of those deaths occurred in Pinellas County near Tampa.

“I can’t think of a time Pinellas County has ever experienced the kind of surge we experienced last night,” Gualtieri said in a morning news conference.

In Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp’s spokesman reported that “11 people have died so far from causes related to Hurricane Helene,” according to The Associated Press.

Falling trees killed two people in Anderson County in the northwest part of South Carolina, 

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said there had been two storm-related deaths in his state. And they are expecting to find more victims.

“The priority now is saving lives,” Cooper said. He urged residents to stay off the roads unless they were seeking higher ground.

Tropical Storm Helene hits Florida

Late Thursday off the Florida coast 30-foot waves caused coastline flooding.

The storm made landfall in Southeast Florida, where winds were recorded at 107 mph at the West Tampa Buoy in the Gulf of Mexico. As the storm moved inland through Alma, Georgia winds were measured at 100 mph.

National Weather Service reports on Friday morning that at least 4 of their 56 river gauges are showing record-setting flooding numbers. 

According to PowerOutage.US more than 4 million customers without power. The Hurricane Center warns that "Power outages will last weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months." 

Ongoing Search and Rescue 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference from the State Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee.

“Search and rescue operations were conducted to help people in distress and transport people to safety. These missions continue, but we’ve had thousands of missions successfully completed in the overnight hours throughout the state.” 

Around 1,500 emergency workers are currently involved in search and rescue efforts.

Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management said “As those sorts of rescue missions happen today, and continue, please do not go out and visit the impacted areas. I beg of you, do not get in their way.”

Crews will continue to help people amid flooding and widespread power outages, DeSantis added.

With 4.3 million customers without power, Helene has created as many power outages as the 2021 freeze in Texas. In 2017, 7.6 million users lost power when Hurricane Irma hit.