Helene leaves at least 90 dead

Hurricane Helene largely missed Alabama; but left $20 billion in direct damages in six states and left at least 90 people dead over the last three days. The economic disruption caused by the storm is projected at $80 billion. That death toll is expected to rise as the flood waters recede. Over 2 million customers were without power on Sunday – over 790,000 of them in South Carolina and another 430,000 of them in North Carolina.

Helene his the Big Bend area of Florida as a Category 4 hurricane.

The hurricane developed suddenly, gained strength very quickly, and then strayed hundreds of miles to the east of its projected path. South Carolina and North Carolina were devastated by the hurricane that had been projected to hit west Georgia and east Alabama before going to Tennessee.

I-40 between Asheville, North Carolina and Knoxville, Tennessee is out of commission. The storm destroyed two eastbound lanes when the bridge over the Pigeon River collapsed. A portion of i-26 is also impassible.

Asheville is largely cut off by floodwaters and power and cell phone service are both out of commission.

The storm hit first in Taylor County Florida with 140 mile per hour winds.

Hundreds of roads are out – some washed away – by the flooding across the region.

Hundreds of people have been rescued from the floodwaters by first responders and the National Guard.

Eastern Tennessee has also been devastated by the flooding.

The widespread cell phone and power outages mean that many families are unable to contact their loved ones to find out if they are ok (or not). Crews are working on restoring power and cellphone service.

The Governor of North Carolina is asking for residents to not drive, because motorists are causing delays in the resumption of road and utility repairs.

"I know there are a lot of people who are concerned about relatives and friends they cannot get in touch with,'' Gov. Cooper said. "It's one of the reasons we're pushing so hard to get communications back up because we know a lot of these people are just simply out of communication and are OK."

Gas stations are closing in Asheville as they are running out of fuel and can't get resupplied any time soon because of the road outages. Even where the gas stations are open residents are having to pay in cash only as communications are down preventing customers from paying by credit and debit cards.

In Florida nearly 16-miles of S.R. 789 were impacted by HurricaneHelene. Once the storm passed Bradenton Beach, Crews were deployed at daybreak on Saturday to clear the stretch of highway covered in mounds of sand and debris. Working around the clock to get the job done.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was in Suwanee, Florida on Sunday.

"This storm Helene brought major impact to Florida," said Gov. DeSantis. "We had all kinds of rescues. Thousands of people being brought to safety."

DeSantis said that the state is watching other storms in the Atlantic and are preparing if another storm hits in the coming weeks.

FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell visited Georgia on Sunday and will go to North Carolina on Monday, the White House said. The administration is promising to speed support to the survivors and deploy more search and rescue teams to North Carolina.

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