TAYLOR COUNTY, Fla. – Eleven people died in Florida as Hurricane Helene made landfall as a powerful Category 4 storm in the Big Bend region late Thursday night, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Saturday morning during a news conference in Taylor County covered by News 6 partner News4JAX.
The deaths included traffic fatalities and people directly impacted by the storm surge.
Helene made landfall at Dekle Beach in Taylor County with maximum sustained winds of 140 miles per hour. There were no storm-related fatalities in this county.
“As you look around here, we see some homes that are now just rubble,” DeSantis said Saturday. “There’s a lot of damage that we’re seeing here.”
Storm surges were “historic” according to DeSantis, exceeding those seen during Hurricane Idalia, particularly in Tampa Bay and the Big Bend region.
Residents were urged not to visit impacted areas and to stay off the roads to allow search and rescue personnel to do their jobs.
Florida Fish and Wildlife and other agencies were actively conducting search and rescue efforts Friday morning, and the Hope Florida line is available for non-emergency assistance.
DeSantis said there were thousands of successful rescue missions after people called 911 through the night.
As of Saturday morning, 457,858 Floridians were still without power, and 1,945,127 accounts had been restored, according to DeSantis.
Counties with over 30% power outages included Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Nassau, Pinellas, Polk, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, Wakulla, and many others.
Restoration efforts are ongoing and significant progress is expected throughout the day.
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) began cut-and-toss operations at 3 a.m. Friday and cleared over 2,000 miles of roadway.
Officials said crews completely cleared Intestate 10 in under six hours of the storm making landfall.
Moreover, more than 800 crews were active in the field and have cleared over 12,000 miles of roadway.
All airports have reopened as of Saturday morning. Travelers were encouraged to check with their airlines directly on the specific status of flights.
The Disaster Legal Hotline is open to assist and refer callers at 833-514-2940.
Watch DeSantis’ news conference again in the video player below or by clicking here.
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