Storm Helene leaves at least 53 dead in the United States

Millions of Americans are still without power on Saturday after Hurricane Helene struck the southeastern United States, which left at least 53 dead.

Rescue teams are working to restore power and deal with the consequences of massive flooding that has destroyed homes, roads and businesses in several states.

At least 22 people died in South Carolina, 17 in Georgia, 11 in Florida, two in North Carolina and one in Virginia, according to a report compiled by theAFP based on declarations from local authorities.

I am deeply saddened by the loss of life and devastation caused by Hurricane HeleneUS President Joe Biden said on Saturday. The road to recovery will be longhe added.

On Cedar Key, an island of a few hundred inhabitants on the west coast of Florida, the roofs of houses were torn off and the walls gutted.

It breaks my heart to see thissaid to theAFP Gabe Doty, a municipal employee.

Many houses have disappeared, the market has disappeared. The post office has disappeared. This is a true tragedy and it will be difficult to rebuild.

Helene made landfall in northwest Florida on Thursday evening as a Category 4 hurricane on a scale of 5, with winds blowing at 225 km/h.

It then weakened to a tropical storm over Georgia early Friday after making landfall overnight in northwest Florida.

Several states affected

The storm then continued its path through several American states, causing landslides and heavy flooding as far as Asheville, North Carolina.

Conditions will continue to improve on Saturday after the catastrophic flooding of the last two dayswrote the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

However, the storm left behind large areas destroyed by landslides and heavy flooding.

One of the worst storms in modern history for parts of western North Carolinadeclared the governor of this state, Roy Cooper, during a press conference Friday evening.

Emergency services are continuing their rescue operations, his office said.

More than a million customers were still without power Saturday afternoon in South Carolina as well as 730,000 in Georgia and several hundred thousand more in several states, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us.

By warming ocean waters, climate change makes the rapid intensification of storms more likely and increases the risk of more powerful hurricanes.

After forming in the Gulf of Mexico, Helene moved over particularly warm waters.

It is likely that these very warm waters played a role in the rapid intensification of Heleneunderlined climatologist Andra Garner at theAFP.