As dawn broke over Florida and the Southeast today, 3.2 million people were without power in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which made landfall as a Category 4 storm at 11:10 p.m. in Florida’s Big Bend area–10 miles west of Perry, in Taylor County–and as one of the most destructive storms on record for the area, with winds of 140 miles per hour and a storm surge of 10 to 20 feet.
Thursday afternoon, the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office told residents in a Facebook post: “If you or someone you know chose not to evacuate, PLEASE write your, Name, birthday and important information on your arm or leg in A PERMANENT MARKER so that you can be identified and family notified.” The Sheriff’s Office also asked that all residents and evacuees “refrain from returning to the area until officially directed by the Emergency Operations Center.”
The storm’s effects had stretched over 200 miles, with severe winds even in Flagler County, where around 2 a.m. today 9,660 customers were without power, and 20,000 had been without power at the storm’s peak force locally, according to Jonathan Lord, the county’s emergency management director.
That figure had fallen to 3,300 by dawn. St. Johns County had over 24,000 customers without power at dawn. The two county’s school districts elected to remain closed today. Damage was very limited in Flagler.
“I think it’s three homes, trees fell into them, and then a bunch of trees down everywhere,” Lord said. “Those were mainly because of the ground being wet. For a very long period of time the last couple of weeks, the ground has been soaked, as very quite evident around the county. But other than that, it looks like we’re pretty good. I’m sure all of the cities, the county’s public crews are all just driving their routes to see if there’s any issues. But we’re not aware of any lingering issues at this point.”
There have been no reports of dune breaches in Flagler County, or of flooding in Flagler Beach or along the Intracoastal. “Now that doesn’t mean that some of those lower yards didn’t flood,” Lord said. “They just didn’t report it because they didn’t make it to the house, or it happened overnight and didn’t make it to the house. No one’s noticed yet.”
Flagler County Emergency Management will send help where it’s needed. “Obviously, as the sun rises in the western side of the state, the northern and western side of the state,” Lord said, “we’ll obviously see what needs are needed, and I know the county, and I’m sure our cities are, but the county for sure, will send whatever help is needed, whether it’s law enforcement or fire or [emergency management] or even public works. I know we’ve been on the receiving end, so we are always willing to go the other direction, too.”
The further north and west, the worse the power outages: 16,000 customers without power in Putnam this morning, 35,000 in Clay, 111,000 in Duval, while counties in and around the path of Helene are experiencing near complete blackouts–Dixie, Taylor, Levy, Gilchrist, Suwanee, Columbia, Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Lafayette. In all, 1.2 million customers were without power in Florida this morning, with nearly 1 million out in Georgia, 850,000 in South Carolina, 264,400 in North Carolina, and 13,800 in Virginia.
In many of the hardest-hit Florida counties, roads were blocked, preventing rescues, while reports of stranded residents who’d not evacuated dribbled in. “I’m worried about a lady called Miss Carol [in] Keaton Beach,” one resident wrote the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office. “I guess she’s in the 55 plus community she stayed in her mobile home with three dogs and some cats. I took a snap thing of the picture of her when somebody was begging for help for her said she was on top of her trailer. I’m trying to find out if the lady is okay. Her partner or husband is in the hospital so she was home alone.”
“There was a senior couple that refused to leave on sea oaks. Perry. No words,” another resident wrote, making a reference to the area of Helene’s landfall. But activity was picking up even in the worst-struck zone: “We live ash street in front of the old hospital we have already seen about 12 cars driving by don’t know what they are doing driving around at this time of morning but I hope it’s just emergency for people,” Thomas Dykes reported. “So sad for our little town,” another Perry resident wrote of the town of 7,000.
At 5 a.m. today Helene had been downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved fast, at 30 miles per hour, just east of Macon, ga, with sustained winds of 70 miles per hour, just under hurricane strength. All Hurricane and Tropical Storm warnings have been discontinued along the Florida east coast south of the Flagler-Volusia county line, and along the Florida west coast south of the mouth of the Suwannee River. But storm surge warnings remained in effect as far south as Tampa Bay, where some residents saw their homes flooded.
“There’s going to be streets that are flooded and will continue to flood all up and down the west coast of Florida,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said late Thursday night. “So it’s hazardous conditions right now. Please, do not be going outside until things settle down.
“It was a harrowing night in Hillsborough County, ” Isabelle Taft reported for The New York Times, “where emergency responders received more than 300 911 calls between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m., mainly about flooding in homes near Tampa Bay. They performed more than a dozen water rescues outside Tampa and had to help two families off the roofs of their houses.” Gulf County was reporting over eight inches of rain Thursday evening already, with more to come.
The extent of the damage will not be known until later Friday, with daylight and overflights. In Flagler County and Palm Coast, after a night of at-times severe winds, calmer conditions had returned this morning, with a forecast of mostly sunny, hot and humid conditions later in the day, with the heat index around 100. Winds will remain stronger than usual, around 15 to 22 mpg, with gusts of 33 mph, according to the National Weather Service in Jacksonville. A high surf advisory remains in effect until 4 p.m. Friday, and a rip current advisory remains in effect through Friday evening.
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