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At least six people have died and millions are without power after Helene made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane Thursday (September 26) before weakening to a tropical storm as it continues to move north across Georgia, ABC News reports.
Two people were reported to have died in Laurens County, Georgia, according to local officials, and two more deaths in Wheeler County, Georgia, were confirmed by Gov. Brian Kemp. One person was killed and another injured after a tree fell on a house in Charlotte, North Carolina, the Mecklenburg EMS Agency announced.
One person was killed when a sign fell on a car traveling on I-4 near Tampa, Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis confirmed. More than 3 million customers are currently without power, according to PowerOutage.us.
An estimated 1,239,359 customers in South Carolina; 1,182,921 in Florida; 1,030,511 in Georgia; 465,783 in North Carolina and 27,689 in Virginia were reported to be without power as of 8:20 a.m. local time.
Helene was reported to have made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in the Big Bend region of Florida with sustained winds at 140 MPH Thursday before weakening to a tropical storm over Georgia Friday (September 27) morning. The storm has resulted in significant flooding and more rain is expected for the southeastern region as it continues to move toward Tennessee.