2024-09-28 18:05:03
Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend late Thursday night before weakening into a tropical storm and continuing its northward movement, the National Hurricane Center said, triggering millions of power outages across multiple states Thursday night and Friday morning.
The storm weakened to a tropical storm early Friday morning, and weakened again to a tropical depression Friday afternoon, as it barreled through Georgia, producing “historic and catastrophic flooding” over portions of the Southeast and southern Appalachians. Continued weakening is expected and Helene is forecast to become extratropical Friday, the NHC said.
Helene has brought widespread power outages and flooding to portions of the Southeast, including Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.
Here’s what to know about power outages in North Carolina and South Carolina as Helene moves through the area.
Helene live updates:Helene tearing through Georgia; 4 dead; 3.5 million without power
Helene tracker:See projected path as hurricane weakens to tropical storm
South Carolina power outage map
As of 2:55 p.m. ET, there were over 1.1 million power outages reported across South Carolina, mainly along the western portion of the state.
According to the USA TODAY power outage tracker, there were over 260,000 outages reported in Greenville County, over 180,000 outages reported in Spartanburg County, and over 100,000 outages reported in Anderson County.
Other hard-hit areas include Oconee County and Greenwood County, with each reporting over 20,000 power outages.
North Carolina power outage map
As of 2:55 p.m. ET, there were over 950,000 outages reported across North Carolina, according to PowerOutage.Us.
The western portion of the state appears to be the area most heavily affected, with over 100,000 outages reported in Mecklenburg County and over 69,000 outages reported in Henderson County. Buncombe County is also reporting over 150,000 power outages.
Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari or email him at [email protected].
