Hurricane Helene’s grim death toll: 23 dead, 4 million without power

(DAILY MAIL U.K.) – Hurricane Helene has left four million people without power and 23 dead as it battered Georgia and moved into the Carolinas early on Friday. The storm was updated to Category 4 earlier in the evening, and hit the Florida’s Big Bend region just after 11pm with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph.

But the damage extended hundreds of miles to the north, with flooding as far away as North Carolina, where a lake used in scenes from the movie ‘Dirty Dancing’ overtopped a dam.

Helene had already spurred warnings and several states of emergencies, not only Florida, but all the way to Georgia and the Carolinas. More than 60million Americans in 12 states are under some form of advisory. The danger of the storm was highlighted as Floridians who decided not to evacuate were told to write their names on their bodies so they could be identified if they died in the storm.