More than 60 dead from storm Helene

The death toll from the destructive Storm Helene has climbed to at least 63, authorities reported on Saturday .

Rescuers, facing challenges from collapsed bridges and roads littered with debris, conducted house-to-house searches for survivors in hard-hit areas across several southern and eastern US states, News.Az reports.

According to the latest updates from local officials and media reports compiled by AFP, at least 24 people lost their lives in South Carolina, 17 in Georgia, 11 in Florida, 10 in North Carolina, and one in Virginia.

Helene slammed into Florida late Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane and surged north, gradually weakening but leaving a path of destruction.

Federal emergencies were declared in six states – Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee – with more than 800 personnel from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) deployed to assist local officials.

Repair crews were already at work Saturday, and the National Weather Service said conditions would “continue to improve today following the catastrophic flooding over the past two days.”

But it warned of possible “long-duration power outages.”

More than 2.7 million customers were still without electricity across 10 states from Florida in the southeast to Indiana in the midwest as of Saturday night, according to tracker poweroutage.us.

News.Az