Helene Knocks Out Power for Millions, Storm Winding Down Today

Hurricane Helene raced inland last night after making landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida as a category four hurricane. Helene is now a tropical storm centered along the northern end of the SC/GA border. Maximum winds are down to 60 mph. Weakening will continue today as the center moves NE into Tennessee. There will still be additional heavy rain and strong wind gusts today, especially in the high terrain on western NC, where flooding and landslides will continue.

As expected, power outages and downed trees have been widespread across Georgia and South Carolina into western North Carolina. There are over a million customers without power in Georgia, and also over a million customers without power in South Carolina. Western North Carolina is also hard hit. You can track power outages real time on poweroutage.us. Click on the individual states and counties for the current numbers. Here are recent maps for each state. The darker red the county, the higher percentage of people without power. Many counties are virtually totally out.

Along the coastal counties of South Carolina, there have been numerous tornado warnings. That threat will lift north into North Carolina by about noon today.