Latest on Helene: Helene soaking, flooding Southeast

Helene slammed into Florida’s Big Bend last night as a strong Category 4 hurricane and its remnants are now producing flooding deluge in the southern Appalachian, Ohio, Tennessee and central Mississippi valleys. This will continue through the weekend.

Helene, now a tropical depression and will continue to lose its tropical characteristic tonight and Saturday, will continue to pinwheel across the South and into the Tennessee Valley. Even as it weakens, Helene will still bring danger in its path.

Here are the latest threats:

Storm Surge

This has diminished but the damage left behind by a surge that was 15 feet near where Helene made landfall left devastation in its wake.

The video below shows surge during the height of the storm.

Flooding

This is now the biggest concern as Helene moves further inland. This large system is packed with tropical moisture that will be wrung out over Southeast and southern Appalachians.

Extensive flooding has already been reported with even more likely from the southern Appalachians westward into Tennessee and central Mississippi valley. These areas have already received more than a foot of rain, which will take time to runoff.

An additional 5 to 10 inches of rainfall will accumulate, with many places in the southern Appalachians seeing even higher amounts. Rivers and creeks aren't able to manage the quick deluge and significant flooding will continue to occur. Landslides have been reported in the western North Carolina mountains with more possible as the heavy rain makes the ground sludgy and soupy.

Wind damage

Reports of toppled trees and downed powerlines extend from Florida to Ohio. Although the number of outages in Florida and Georgia are lower compared to Friday morning, when each had more than 1.1M outages, there are still several million with power in a broader area covering 10 states.

Additional power outages are likely this morning as wind gusts of 35 to 50 mph likely push over trees that are sitting in water-logged ground too soft to keep them rooted. The rate of power outages will be lower though.

Tornado

The outer rainbands often produce rapidly developing and quick-moving tornadoes. These twisters often are wrapped in downpours, so they are hard to see. A tornado Watch has been posted for northeastern South Carolina, eastern North Carolina and southern Virginia. If a warning is issued, act quickly.

Weather & Radar meteorologists will continue to monitor Helene’s movements today and provide up to minute updates. Our on-the-ground reporter Jonathan Petramala will be providing frequent video reports. This information is available on the daily blog.