IN PICTURES | Rescue efforts are underway after the deadly passage of Hurricane Helene in the United States

Some four million Americans are still without electricity on Saturday after Hurricane Helene hit the southeastern United States, which left at least 44 dead.

• Also read: ‘It’s like a nuclear bomb exploded’: Hurricane Helene hits Florida hard

• Also read: Palm trees at 45 degrees and green lightning: “I have never heard wind like that,” says a Quebecer in Florida

• Also read: Hurricane “Helene”: unprecedented, testify from Quebecers

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.

At least 19 people died in South Carolina, 15 in Georgia, seven in Florida, two in North Carolina and one in Virginia, according to a report compiled by AFP from statements by local authorities.

“Conditions will continue to improve on Saturday, following the catastrophic flooding of the past two days,” wrote the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

“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.

“Real tragedy”

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. “It’s a real tragedy, and it will be difficult to rebuild.”

The storm then continued its path through several American states, causing landslides and intense flooding, 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.

The United States Weather Service (NWS) also warned that a dam in eastern Tennessee was about to fail and asked residents downstream to “immediately move to higher ground.”

Nearly four million customers were still without power in ten states in the early hours of Saturday, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us.

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

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

“It is likely that these very warm waters played a role in the rapid intensification of Hélène,” said climatologist Andra Garner for AFP.

“New normal?”

In Steinhatchee, a small town on the west coast of Florida, Curtis Drafton, a former soldier, came to help.

This 48-year-old man also came to help during the hurricane Idalialast year.

“We didn’t expect to have to come back,” he told AFP. “Is this going to become the new normal? Is this going to happen every year? We talk about storms that only happen once in a lifetime, but we had a similar one last year…”

According to state Governor Ron DeSantis, who traveled along the coast by helicopter, the hurricane Helene was “much worse thanIdalia“. “If you look at Keaton Beach, I think almost every house was destroyed,” he described Friday.

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

After being trained, Helene moved over particularly warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico – more than 30°C, according to climatologist Andra Garner. “It is likely that these very warm waters played a role in the rapid intensification ofHelene», Underlined the expert.

“We also know that the phenomenon of marine flooding linked to hurricanes is getting worse, because ocean levels are rising as we warm the planet,” she told AFP.

Rescues

Many of the deaths are linked to trees falling on homes.

In Georgia, one of the people who died was part of a rescue team, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said Friday. Two firefighters also died in South Carolina, that state’s governor said.

“We have made almost 600 rescues,” Deanne Criswell, head of the federal agency responsible for responding to natural disasters (Fema), said Friday morning on CNN.

“The threat is not over” and the situation “is still dangerous,” she added, highlighting the risk of flash flooding, particularly in the large city of Atlanta, Georgia.

Vice-President and Democratic candidate for the White House Kamala Harris assured Friday evening that she continued to “monitor the situation closely” with President Joe Biden, adding that the administration had mobilized 1,500 people to help to those affected.