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After making landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, Helene is continuing to track inland as a weakened tropical storm, bringing flooding and leaving millions without power in the Southeast.Update September 29
There have been at least 44 reported fatalities from the storm across five states after catastrophic flooding and storm surge that left destruction in their wake, according to The Associated Press.
Deaths have been confirmed in Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.
Multiple deaths have been attributed to drowning, while some were the result of trees falling. State officials say dozens more are still trapped inside their homes, The Associated Press reports.
In Florida, crews have been working to rescue people stuck in floodwaters with some areas experiencing up to 9 feet of flooding. Crews are also dealing with downed powerlines and other hazards from the storm.
As Helene barreled through Georgia, wind gusts over 90 mph were reported with sustained winds at 60 mph. Headed toward the Carolinas, there are flood warnings across the Southeast, including North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and southern Illinois and southern Indiana.
In Western North Carolina, significant flooding and road closures were reported with the Lake Lure Dam in Rutherford County at imminent risk of failure. Those in the area were being advised to evacuate immediately.
The flash flood emergency remains in place until 2 a.m. Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.
Rising floodwaters and a mudslide washed out the interstate near the North Carolina-Tennessee state line. The closure occurred around 12:30 p.m. Friday and is expected to reopen by 5 p.m. Saturday, NewsNation local affiliate WJZY reports.
Millions have also been left without power thanks to the storm.
More than 595,000 people in Florida are left without power, along with 860,000 outages reported in Georgia, more than 1.16 million in South Carolina and more than 812,000 in North Carolina.
As the weakened system makes its way north, power outages are following. Virginia is reporting more than 220,000 without power, while Ohio has more than 315,000.
At least 64 dead and millions without power after Helene's deadly march across the SoutheastUpdate September 30
Massive rains from powerful Hurricane Helene left people stranded, without shelter and awaiting rescue Saturday, as the cleanup began from a tempest that killed at least 64 people, caused widespread destruction across the U.S. Southeast and left millions without power.
"I've never seen so many people homeless as what I have right now," said Janalea England, of Steinhatchee, Florida, a small river town along the state's rural Big Bend, as she turned her commercial fish market into a storm donation site for friends and neighbors, many of whom couldn't get insurance on their homes.
Helene blew ashore in Florida's Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane late Thursday with winds of 140 mph (225 kph).
From there, it quickly moved through Georgia, where Gov. Brian Kemp said Saturday that it "looks like a bomb went off" after viewing splintered homes and debris-covered highways from the air. Weakened, Helene then soaked the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains, sending creeks and rivers over their banks and straining dams.
The number of storm-related deaths climbed past 100 across the Southeast on Sunday as authorities rushed to airdrop supplies, restore power and clear roads after massive rains from the powerful Helene left people stranded and without shelter.Update October 1
Helene left at least 116 people dead, CBS News has confirmed, and caused widespread destruction.
Thirty fatalities were reported in Buncombe County, North Carolina — in one of the states hit hardest by the storm.
Helene knocked out power to several million customers. More than two million still had no electricity early Monday, according to utility tracker Find Energy.
But But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday night that 99% of the state's homes and businesses had had power restored.
At least 133 people have died as Hurricane Helene continues to devastate the United States causing widespread flooding along its south east coastline.Update October 2
Flood-stricken North Carolina has suffered significant damage, with reports of 30 people having been killed in the mountain city of Asheville.
President Biden has said he will travel to North Carolina on Wednesday.
There are fears the death toll may continue to rise as rescuers and emergency workers continue to explore areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure, and widespread flooding.
During a briefing Monday, White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall suggested that as many as 600 people haven't been accounted for, noting that some of them might be dead.
Climbing death toll: At least 182 people have died across six states and officials fear the death toll could rise following Hurricane Helene.Update October 3
Many more remain missing, perhaps unable to leave their location or contact family where communications infrastructure is in shreds.
Power and infrastructure outages: Hundreds of roads remain closed, especially in the Carolinas, hampering the delivery of badly needed supplies. Some areas are so inaccessible supplies are being delivered by mules and by air. More than 1.2 million customers are without power, according to PowerOutage.us, most in the Carolinas, where "major portions of the power grid... were simply wiped away."
Hurricane Helene's death toll reached 200 on Thursday and could rise higher still, as searchers made their way toward the hardest to reach places in the mountains of western North Carolina, where the storm washed out roads and knocked out electricity, water and cellular service.
Officials in Georgia and North Carolina added to their states' grim tallies, padding an overall count that has already made Helene the deadliest storm to hit the U.S. mainland since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
"You say some people want to boost the budget [by taxing tobacco]. Trust me, nobody does. Everyone in this chamber will vote for and support your initiative," he promised.The legislation tabled by the left-leaning New People faction means the legal smoking age will increase every year, eventually leading to a total prohibition for the entire population.

'Zombie' Hurricane John regains strength in Pacific, flooding parts of Mexico's southwestern coastUpdate September 30
Towns along Mexico's southwestern coast are dealing with torrential rain, flooding and landslides after tropical storm John strengthened back into a Category 1 hurricane on Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
John is considered a "zombie" storm - a term referring to systems that dissipate before strengthening back into a storm. After slamming into Mexico as a deadly Category 3 hurricane on Monday night, it dissipated before returning as a hurricane, battering Mexico's Pacific coast. Even after initially dissipating, remnants of the storm continued to move along the coast, bringing continuous rainfall.
In the resort city of Acapulco, which still hasn't fully recovered from the destruction of Hurricane Otis last year, several neighborhoods were flooded and residents in at-risk areas were told to evacuate to temporary shelters. Parts of the city have received over 500mm of rain this week, and 431mm over just the past 24 hours.
Hurricane John, which made landfall in Mexico twice last week, claimed 29 lives in three Pacific coast states, including more than 20 in Guerrero, according to news reports.
The EFE news agency and other media outlets reported that the death toll from John rose to 29 on Sunday after authorities confirmed four additional hurricane-related fatalities in Guerrero.
The hurricane made landfall for the first time last Monday as a powerful Category 3 storm, slamming into the coast of southern Guerrero near the state's border with Oaxaca.
After weakening and drifting offshore, John regained strength in the Pacific Ocean before making landfall for a second time last Friday as a tropical storm on the coast of the neighboring state of Michoacán.
According to reports, 23 of the 29 fatalities linked to Hurricane John occurred in Guerrero. Five deaths reportedly occurred in Oaxaca — where at least 80 landslides were reported — and one fatality was reported in Michoacán.
Some of the victims were killed in mudslides while others were swept away by raging floodwaters. The storm also caused significant damage to homes, commercial establishments and other structures, including bridges.
The author devoted six years of research to the project, which was based upon a thousand personal interviews and access to an enormous number of official documents previously unavailable. As suggested by the title, his primary focus was Israel's long history of assassinations, and across his 750 pages and thousand-odd source references he recounts the details of an enormous number of such incidents.
That sort of topic is obviously fraught with controversy, but Bergman's volume carried glowing cover-blurbs from Pulitzer Prize-winning authors on espionage matters, and the official cooperation he received is indicated by similar endorsements from both a former Mossad chief and Ehud Barak, a past Prime Minister of Israel who himself had once led assassination squads. Over the last couple of decades, former CIA officer Robert Baer has become one of our most prominent authors in this same field, and he praised the book as "hands down" the best he had ever read on intelligence, Israel, or the Middle East. The reviews across our elite media were equally laudatory.
Unusually heavy snowfall caused major disruption on South Africa's roads Saturday with people still stranded at midday after spending the night stuck in their vehicles.Update September 22
The key N3 highway linking Johannesburg and the east coast city of Durban was one of the worst affected and several portions were closed, with even detours impassible, officials said.
Emergency services were working to reach people in their vehicles but it was still not clear how many were affected and in what condition they were, N3 Toll Concession operations manager Thania Dhoogra told the ENCA broadcaster.
"Emergency services have been working flat out through the night. They have been attempting to reach as many roads users as they can," Dhoogra said.
Blankets and meals had been delivered to some stranded motorists, the government of the KwaZulu-Natal province said in a statement at midday.
Trucks had been parked on the side of the road since Friday, Road Traffic Management Corporation communications officer Simon Zwane told AFP. "Buses travelling between provinces have been stuck at petrol stations for around seven hours," he said.
Motorist Muhammad Goolam told the Newzroom Afrika channel that he had spent the night in his car with his children outside the town of Harrismith, around 270 kilometres (170 miles) southeast of Johannesburg.
"Over 13 hours, food supplies out, I don't see us managing to drive out of here without any assistant from emergency personnel," he said.
Some areas had seen up to two metres (six feet) of snowfall, the Arrive Alive road safety campaign said in a post on X.
At least two people died from hypothermia after they were trapped in the heavy snow on the N3 in KwaZulu-Natal over the weekend.
During a briefing on Sunday afternoon, KZN acting Premier Thembeni Madlopha-Mthethwa said while some motorists still remain trapped, many have been rescued.
This comes after road users spent two nights in their cars as they were unable to move due to the heavy snow.
Comment: This time. As if a deep stater like Wray will ever 'come clean'. The more alarming aspect of this fake FBI assassination plot is that the Feds may have intended to link Crooks to this idiot, and thus Iran, thereby channeling American public outrage into support for war against Iran.