CRAWFORDVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Emergency crews rushed Friday to rescue people trapped in flooded homes after Helene roared ashore as a powerful Category 4 hurricane in Florida, generating a massive storm surge and knocking out power to millions of customers in several states. More than 20 people were reported dead in four states.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said dozens of people were still trapped in buildings damaged by Helene. Authorities were “having a hard time getting to places,” so teams with chainsaws were “working to free up roads,” Kemp told a news conference.
The storm made landfalllate Thursday in a sparsely populated region with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (225 kph) in the rural Big Bend area, home to fishing villages and vacation hideaways where Florida’s Panhandle and peninsula meet. But the damage extended hundreds of miles to the north, with flooding as far away as North Carolina, where a lake used in …