(Cedar Key, Washington) Millions of Americans are still without electricity on Saturday after Hurricane Helene passed through the southeast of the United States, which left at least 53 dead.
Posted at 10:32 a.m.
Updated at 3:52 p.m.
Gerard MARTINEZ with Lucie AUBOURG
Agence France-Presse
Emergency teams are working to restore power and deal with the consequences of massive flooding that has destroyed homes, roads and businesses across several states.
PHOTO CHANDAN KHANNA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The rubble of buildings destroyed during the passage ofHelene in Horseshoe Beach, Florida.
At least 22 people died in South Carolina, 17 in Georgia, eleven in Florida, two in North Carolina and one in Virginia, according to a report compiled by AFP from statements by local authorities.
“I am deeply saddened by the loss of life and devastation caused by the hurricane Helene “, US President Joe Biden said on Saturday. “The road to recovery will be long,” he added.
PHOTO MIKE CARLSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Only the front of this house survived the hurricane in Tampa, Florida.
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 this,” Gabe Doty, a municipal employee, told AFP. “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. »
PHOTO CHANDAN KHANNA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A woman cleans a flooded house during Helen’s passage in Cedar Key, Florida.
Helene made landfall in northwest Florida Thursday evening as a category 4 hurricane on a scale of 5, with winds blowing at 225 km/h.
The storm continued its path through several American states, causing torrential rains before gradually weakening.
Gradual improvement
“Conditions will continue to improve on Saturday, following the catastrophic flooding of the past two days,” wrote the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
But the storm leaves behind vast areas destroyed by landslides and intense floods, as far as Asheville in North Carolina.
“This is one of the worst storms in modern history for parts of western North Carolina,” state Governor Roy Cooper said at a news 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 across several states, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us.
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 ofHelene », Underlined climatologist Andra Garner for AFP.
By warming sea waters, climate change makes rapid intensification of storms more likely and increases the risk of more powerful hurricanes, scientists say.
