Photos show flooding and destruction as Hurricane Helene slams Florida, leaving over 3 million homes and businesses without power

Hurricane Helene hit Florida as a Category 4 storm on Thursday, causing severe flooding, power outages, and widespread damage across multiple states.

Hurricane Helene barreled into Florida’s Big Bend region on Thursday as a powerful Category Four storm.

These photos show the affected areas as people evacuated flooded streets and sought shelter.

The storm weakened to a Category One on Friday but continued to sweep its way across Georgia, NBC News reported.

Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida on Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane.

A vessel capsized along a beach in St. Petersburg, Florida 

The storm made landfall near the Aucilla River around 11:10 p.m. ET with 140 mph winds, the Associated Press reported Friday, citing the NOAA National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Florida residents were urged to shelter in place as Hurricane Helene approached.

A family from Wakulla, Florida, inside a hurricane evacuation shelter at a local middle school.

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida urged residents to seek shelter indoors and stay off the roads.

“It just shows you that it’s very dangerous conditions out there. You need to be, right now, just hunkering down,” DeSantis said on Thursday.

Michael Brennan, the director of the NOAA National Hurricane Center in Miami, warned on Thursday evening of “unsurvivable conditions” in some coastal areas.

Hurricane Helene’s powerful storm surge flooded streets in coastal areas like St. Pete Beach.

Vehicles drive along a flooded road as Hurricane Helene makes landfall in St. Pete Beach, Florida.

Gov. DeSantis said during a press conference late Thursday that he had had a report of a fatality in Tampa after a sign fell on a car.

“We know that travel on the roads can be hazardous, and we typically, unfortunately, will have fatalities in every storm from that,” said Desantis. “When Floridians wake up tomorrow morning, we’re going to be waking up to a state where very likely there’s been additional loss of life.”

Over a million homes and businesses were left without power in Florida.

A store owner in Tarpon Springs, Florida, fortifying a window with plywood in preparation for Hurricane Helene

Around 1.2 million homes and businesses in Florida lost power, according to poweroutage.us, a utilities-tracking website.

As of 8 a.m. ET on Friday, more than 3 million customers across Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and Virginia were without power, per the site.

Major airports, including Tampa International and St. Pete-Clearwater, shut down on Thursday, while Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports stayed open but faced hundreds of delays and cancellations, CBS News reported.

Many schools, such as those in Broward and Monroe Counties, and universities like the University of Florida and Florida State University, canceled classes through Friday.

Businesses across Florida, including Tampa’s city offices, closed as well, with plans to reopen once it is safe, CBS News reported Thursday.

Emergency services will step up to restore power and render emergency support once it is safe, DeSantis said.

An empty road in St. Pete Beach, Florida, on Thursday. 

During a press conference Thursday night in Tallahassee, DeSantis said that Southwest Florida and the Tampa Bay area had experienced significant flooding and that emergency services were on standby to help restore the city services once the storm clears.

Tallahassee Police said in a Friday X post that they have increased staffing levels and activated chainsaw crews to assist with emergencies as Hurricane Helene impacts the area.

The storm swept across Georgia on Friday night, with three hurricane-related deaths reported in the state.

A gas station employee in Georgia wraps fuel pumps in preparation for Hurricane Helene.

Sixteen Georgia counties remain on tornado watch as of press time, according to the National Weather Service on Friday.

Two people died after a suspected tornado overturned their mobile home in Wheeler County, Georgia, ahead of Helene’s landfall, Fox affiliate WGXA News reported.

Meanwhile, a firefighter died in Pierce County after his car was struck by a falling tree, according to NBC affiliate First Coast News.

The governors of Georgia, Alabama, the Carolinas, and Virginia have all declared states of emergency, the AP reported Friday.