LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The National Hurricane Center says the winds have weakened, but what was Hurricane Helene remains a very dangerous storm. It smacked into the Gulf Coast of Florida late last night as a Category 4 hurricane, with winds of up to 140 miles per hour and a 20-foot storm surge. NPR's Frank Morris joins us now from St. Petersburg, Fla. Hi, Frank.
FRANK MORRIS, BYLINE: Hi, Leila.
FADEL: So the winds have weakened, but this is still a massive, powerful storm. What kind of toll has it taken?
MORRIS: Well, we know at least six people are dead. One person was killed by a falling road sign in Florida. Another person in Florida died when a tree crashed onto their home. Two people in Georgia reportedly died when a mobile home flipped over in a possible tornado. And two other people died in North Carolina - unrelated incidents. A child died in a storm-related crash, and another person died when a tree collapsed onto their house. It's not clear how many injuries we're talking about, but there is some good news. The eye of the storm hit right between a state park and Flint Rock Wildlife Management Area, so east of Tallahassee, missing the beach communities that line much of the coast. Still, 140-mile-an-hour winds tore some buildings apart, sent roofs sailing and snapped a lot of power poles.
FADEL: So snapped power poles - that must have taken a toll.
MORRIS: Oh, yeah. Well over 2 1/2 million households - millions of households lost power, mainly in Florida, but also in Georgia and the Carolinas. And the numbers are rising fast this morning. The storm surge inundated coastal towns with water up to the rooflines in places. Rescue crews worked through the storm. Thousands of electrical crews have been hard at it restoring power this morning. And Governor Ron DeSantis says the state's emergency effort is ramping up this morning.
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RON DESANTIS: Florida Department of Transportation standing by - 307 cut-and-toss crews to get the roads cleared - 120 bridge inspectors to get the bridges back open.
MORRIS: Yeah, and of course, none of this is going to happen immediately 'cause Helene came ashore in Florida's Big Bend region, where there's dense tree cover, including lots of big, old live oaks and big pines. So clearing the trees is going to be a major chore.
FADEL: How are the people in the way of the storm holding up?
MORRIS: Well, we haven't talked to a lot of people. Almost 5,000 people in Florida spent the night in shelters, but many just rode it out in their homes. An 85-year-old guy named James Judy weathered the storm at home, though he says his place is close to the water and prone to flooding.
JAMES JUDY: They're telling everybody to leave, you know? Ain't no other place we need to go. I just hate to leave home.
MORRIS: Others fled to higher ground. Kevin Collins bought his dream house in Hernando Beach last year. It's a one-story place right off the water. He sandbagged the doors and put his electrical stuff on tables. But Collins is expecting to see huge losses when he returns to the house this morning.
KEVIN COLLINS: The insurance is so high. We don't have it, you know? We just got regular liability. And it's crazy. It's crazy. It's cheaper to just pay for the stuff than have insurance - what's going to get ruined. You know what I mean?
MORRIS: So there is a lot of rebuilding ahead.
FADEL: Yeah, people's homes gone. I can totally understand not wanting to leave, but the dangers - right? And now this storm is moving into Georgia and the Carolinas. What are people in the Southeast facing this morning?
MORRIS: Well, fortunately, the wind is tapering off. Georgia is still reporting wind up to 70 miles an hour. The current threat is flooding - the National Hurricane Center calls catastrophic, life-threatening flooding. And we've got flash flooding emergencies from Georgia to the Carolinas. The Swannanoa River got record flood stage today. And the remnants of Helene are likely to be dumping torrential rain across the center of Georgia, through the Carolinas, up into Virginia, and that'll be falling on ground that's already completely soaked. It's been downpouring for days in advance of the storm. And by the time it's over, some places could see more than 2 feet of rain.
FADEL: That's NPR's Frank Morris joining us from St. Petersburg, Fla. Thank you, Frank.
MORRIS: Thank you, Leila.
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