Social media users have posted pictures showing the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene, the storm that has flooded and destroyed roads and buildings across Florida and Appalachia.
After making landfall in Florida, where tidal storm surges battered buildings, it then traveled north, hitting Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee, as well as impacting parts of Virginia, West Virginia, Illinois, Ohio and Kentucky.
At least 64 people have been killed by the storm, according to The Associated Press.
Meteorologist Chris Gloninger posted satellite footage on X, formerly Twitter, that showed “before and after” views of various places in Florida, highlighting how the storm surge swept entire homes away on a narrow strip of land with ocean on either side.
The storm made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region as a powerful Category 4 hurricane with catastrophic 140 mile per hour winds and torrential rain. Footage showed houses swept away by the ocean.
Another X user, @EvonDesign, posted a photograph of Chimney Rock, North Carolina, from nine days before the storm, showing Highway 9 with cars parked outside businesses on the side of the road. Alongside it is footage taken after the storm, showing raging brown floodwater.
“Chimney Rock, North Carolina obliterated by flash flood from remnants of Hurricane Helene. Highway 9 Before and After,” the user wrote.
Another different user, @RowanBrightonB, also posted photographs of North Carolina, where they said their family home was badly damaged.
“I don’t usually get personal here, but the hurricane took out part of my family’s home, trapped my grandparents on their farm with no power or service, and completely wiped off the map the town where I *just* got married,” the user wrote. “Please don’t forget Appalachia when talking about Helene.”
In North Carolina, heavy rains caused severe flooding and mudslides in the western part of the state, among other destruction. State official Ryan Cole described it as “the most significant natural disaster that any one of us has ever seen in western North Carolina.”
Multiple sections of Interstate 40 running between Tennessee and North Carolina were closed because of mudslides and are washed out, according to the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
Throughout the Southeastern United States, millions of Americans have been left without power, with South Carolina the worst hit state.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said on X that work was underway to clear roads and restore power, but he added that this would “take some time, many days in some places.”
Read the full article here
