Severe Weather

RODANTHE, N.C. (AP) — From Florida to New England, people trying to enjoy some of the last hurrahs of summer along the East Coast have been met with rip-current warnings, closed beaches and in some cases already treacherous waves as Hurricane Erin inches closer. Forecasters expect the center of the monster storm to remain far offshore. But the outer edges are likely to bring high winds, large swells and life-threatening rip currents. The biggest swells along the East Coast could come as early as Wednesday. Authorities are prohibiting people from swimming in beaches in New York City, Long Island, New Jersey and Delaware.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Forecasters say Erin has exploded into a major hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean just north of the Caribbean. The National Hurricane Center says Erin reached Category 5 strength before weakening somewhat and becoming a Category 4 with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph. The hurricane center said that while Erin was “undergoing structural changes,” it remained “formidable.” The storm’s center was north-northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Saturday night. And its rains and winds were buffeting Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Forecasters warned that flooding and slides were possible. Powerful rip currents could affect the U.S. East Coast next week.

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Residents in the Southeast U.S. are no strangers to hot weather in the summertime, but the sweltering heat this week set at least one record, and forecasters urged residents to limit being outside if possible and to hydrate. The all-time high temperature record at Tampa International Airport was broken on Sunday when the thermometer hit 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The previous record had been 99 degrees Fahrenheit set in June 2020. The National Weather Service said Tuesday that the prolonged heat wave was expected to peak in the southeast U.S. at mid-week.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina election officials are taking steps to tighten up voter registration records in a pivotal swing state. On Thursday, the State Board of Elections launched an online database of 103,000 voters who need to add their driver’s license numbers or partial Social Security numbers to the state records. Requirements for the numerical identifiers have been in place since 2004, but an outdated voter registration form helped lead to missing information. The state board is seeking to collect the ID information in part to address a lawsuit by President Donald Trump’s Justice Department. Critics worry the process could disenfranchise voters.

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Snowy roads led to hundreds of crashes throughout Virginia and North Carolina, including a series of crashes on an interstate highway involving more than 50 vehicles. Officials continued to ask people to avoid travel on Thursday to allow crews to work on the roads. The North Carolina State Highway Patrol says it responded to nearly 1,200 collisions statewide on Wednesday. Virginia State Police reported early Thursday that there had been nearly 500 crashes statewide since the storm began, including at least 45 involving injuries. An Arctic air mass is bringing widespread, record-breaking cold to the central United States and forecasters expected some locations to experience their coldest temperatures on record this late in the season.

A new study says hurricanes in the United States are hundreds of times deadlier in the long run than the government calculates. In fact, the researchers say they contribute to more American deaths than car accidents or all the nation’s wars. Wednesday’s study says the average storm hitting the U.S. contributes to the early deaths of 7,000 to 11,000 people over a 15-year period. That dwarfs the average of 24 immediate and direct deaths that the government counts in a hurricane’s aftermath. Study authors said even with Hurricane Helene’s growing triple digit direct death count, far more people will die in future years in part because of Helene’s effects.

SWANNANOA, N.C. (AP) — Rescuers are scouring the mountains of western North Carolina for anyone still unaccounted for since Hurricane Helene’s remnants caused catastrophic damage across the Southeast. The death toll Tuesday reached 166 people. Residents in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina have been lining up for water and food and hunting for cellular signals after the storm deluged the region. In Augusta, Georgia, people waited in line for more than three hours to try to get water from one of five centers set up to serve more than 200,000 people. President Joe Biden plans to survey storm damage on Wednesday.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — The death toll after Hurricane Helene left a trail of destruction across the U.S. Southeast has reached at least 133. A crisis is unfolding in the mountains of western North Carolina, where water, food and other supplies are being airlifted into places cut off by mudslides and washed-out roads. Officials worry the death toll will rise further as searchers reach isolated areas. Nearly three dozen people have died in the county that includes the tourism hub of Asheville. The city’s water system has been severely damaged. Forecasters are keeping a close eye on Tropical Storm Kirk, which is expected to become a powerful Atlantic hurricane this week.

Hurricane Helene was big, strong and fast, making it a near-perfect storm to bring widespread death and destruction to the American South. The fast-moving Category 4 storm killed at least 64 people and potentially left thousands homeless throughout the southeastern United States as it hammered its way north. Florida, Georgia and both Carolinas all suffered multiple deaths. In Florida, most drownings were caused by storm surge. In Georgia and South Carolina, falling trees were the primary killers. In North Carolina, massive flooding has cutoff Asheville and the surrounding communities.

PERRY, Fla. (AP) — Massive rains brought by Hurricane Helene have left many people stranded or homeless as the cleanup begins from the monster tempest that killed at least 56 people. Helene has caused billions of dollars in destruction across a wide swath of the southeast U.S. More than 3 million customers were without power Saturday, and some face a continued threat of floods. Helene blew ashore in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane late Thursday and then quickly moved through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, uprooting trees, splintering homes and sending creeks and rivers over their banks and straining dams. Deaths from the storm have occurred in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.