“BIGGEST FLOOD”
The storm flooded homes and roads in Florida, where residents had been warned of “unsurvivable” storm surge.
Tampa Bay resident Matt Heller told CNN his home had been submerged in four feet 1.2m of water within a half hour of the storm hitting, as he took refuge in a kayak in his flooded living room.
“This is definitely the biggest biggest flood we’ve ever had,” he said.
US President Joe Biden and state authorities had urged people to heed official evacuation warnings before Helene hit, though some chose stay in their homes to wait out the storm.
“I am going to hunker down” and ride out the hurricane, said Patrick Riickert, as he did in 2018 when deadly Hurricane Michael, a Category 5 mega storm, blew through the Florida panhandle.
He had refused to budge from his small wooden house in Crawfordville, a town of 5,000 people a few miles inland.
Most residents had bolted, but Riickert, his wife and five grandchildren were “not going anywhere,” the 58-year-old told AFP.
In Taylor County, officials had asked residents who did not act on mandatory evacuation warnings to write their names on their bodies with permanent marker, to aid in identification if they are killed.
