Hurricane Helene killed and destroyed far and wide - from Tampa to Atlanta to Asheville, North Carolina, its high winds, heavy rains and sheer size created a perfect mix for devastation.
The storm made landfall late Thursday along a largely undeveloped expanse of pine trees and salt marshes on Florida's Big Bend coast, but it immediately displayed its far-reaching power several hundred miles away. As of Sunday morning, at least 64 people were confirmed killed.
Tampa Bay was inundated with a massive storm surge that sent water up to people's attics. Atlanta got more than 11 inches of rain, more than any 48-hour period in recorded history. So many trees were toppled in South Carolina that at one point more than 40 percent of the state lost electricity. In North Carolina, dams were in jeopardy of failing and entire communities are cut off by floods. Floodwaters submerged a hospital in Tennessee so quickly that more than 50 patients had to be rescued from the roof via helicopter.
How did a single storm unleash destruction so far away?
Dan Brown, a specialist at the National Hurricane Center near Miami, said Helene had all the attributes that make a storm widely destructive.
