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Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday urged residents impacted by Hurricane Helene to pay heed to local authorities as the storm continues to wreak havoc on a significant swath of the southeast.

“The storm continues to be dangerous and deadly, and lives have been lost and the risk of flooding still remains high,” Harris said at the start of a campaign speech in Douglas, Arizona. “So, I continue to urge everyone to please continue to follow guidance from your local officials until we get past this moment.”

Electric vehicles can catch fire if they are inundated by saltwater, so owners who live in the path of a major storm like Hurricane Helene should take precautions.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been researching this problem since it was first seen after Hurricane Sandy struck the Northeast in 2012. But no one seems to have detailed statistics on just how often this happens.

Two years ago, Hurricane Ian compromised the batteries of as may as 5,000 electric vehicles, and 36 of them caught fire. Several more electric vehicles caught fire in Florida last year after Hurricane Idalia.

It happens often enough that Florida officials were worried about the possibility before Hurricane Helene arrived because they were expecting a potentially devastating storm surge up to 20 feet deep in the northwestern part of Florida.

These fires do seem to be linked specifically to saltwater because salt can conduct electricity. Similar problems haven’t been reported after freshwater flooding in California that was driven by heavy rains early this year.

▶ Read more about electric vehicles catching fire from flooding

A weather TV reporter in Atlanta interrupted his live report about Hurricane Helene on Friday to rescue a woman from a vehicle stranded by rising floodwaters.

Standing in the rain with the submerged vehicle behind him, Fox reporter Bob Van Dillen described how the woman drove into a flooded area.

In the footage, he said he called 911 and she can be heard screaming as he tries to assure her that help was on the way.

Then, he told the camera, “It’s a situation. We’ll get back to you in a little bit. I’m going to see if I can help this lady out a little bit more you guys.”

▶ Read more about the reporter’s water rescue

The death toll from Hurricane Helene in South Carolina is 19 people, with many of the deaths happening from falling trees as the storm moved through early Friday, authorities said.

In Saluda County, two firefighters were killed when a tree fell on their truck while they were answering a call, the Highway Patrol said.

Five people were killed in Spartanburg County, according to Coroner Rusty Clevenger who planned to release details about the deaths later.

In Greenville County, four people were killed by falling trees, Senior Deputy Coroner Shelton England said.

Four people were also killed in Aiken County by trees falling on homes, including a 78-year-old husband and his 74-year-old wife, Coroner Darryl Ables said.

Two people died in Anderson County when trees fell on their houses, the Coroner’s Office said.

And in Newberry County, a married couple died when their car slid on a wet highway and ran into a tree, Coroner Laura Kneece said.

Helene is the deadliest tropical storm in South Carolina since Hurricane Hugo killed 35 people when it came ashore just north of Charleston in 1989.

Recent major hurricanes that made landfall in the U.S. have left hundreds dead and caused billions of dollars in damages.

Since 2020, not including Helene, there have been seven major destructive hurricanes: Laura, Delta, Zeta, Ida, Ian, Idalia and Beryl.

Hurricane Beryl was the first of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Exceptionally warm ocean temperatures caused it to strengthen into a Category 5 storm rapidly in early July.

When hurricane Beryl hit Texas, it had dropped to a Category 1 storm. Beryl has been blamed for at least 36 deaths. The storm caused an estimated $28 billion to $32 billion in damages, according to AccuWeather’s preliminary estimates.

▶ Read more about recent destructive hurricanes

The windswept beauty of what residents claim is one of Florida’s longest stretches of undeveloped coastline was left deeply scarred after Hurricane Helene crashed ashore in rural Taylor County along the state’s Big Bend.

It’s a part of the state where salt marshes and pine flatwoods stretch unspoiled into the horizon, a region that has largely avoided the crush of condo developments, strip malls and souvenir shops that has carved up so much of Florida’s coastlines. It’s a place where Susan Sauls Hartway and her four-year-old Chihuahua mix Lucy could afford to live within walking distance of the beach on her salary as a housekeeper.

At least until her home was carried away by Helene.

“I knew it would be bad, but I had no idea it was going to be this bad,” she said. “This is unbelievable.”

Friday afternoon, Hartway and Lucy wandered around their street near Ezell Beach, searching for where the storm may have deposited her home.

“It’s gone. I don’t know where it’s at. I can’t find it,” she said.

Born and raised in Taylor County, Hartway said there is nowhere in the world she would rather be, even after Helene. But she’s watched as wealthier residents from out of state have bought up second homes here. She wonders how many of them will sell out — and what will happen to the locals who have nowhere else to go.

“There’s so many people down here, they don’t have any place to go now. This was all they had,” Hartway said. “Some people, they’ll just make do down here. Rough it.”

Insurance data provider A.M. Best on Friday estimated that insurers will pay $5 billion or more to cover losses from Hurricane Helene.

That’s not the total amount of loss, some of which is uninsured and some of which may be repaid with federal aid. Instead, it’s the amount that insurance companies are on the hook for.

A.M. Best said insurers paid $2.5 billion to $4 billion in losses for Hurricane Idalia last year, and it expects losses from Helene to be more severe given its broader wind field and a path that hit more urban areas inland.

Officials in a western North Carolina town have issued a curfew due to safety risks from flooded streets and downed power lines from what remains of Hurricane Helene.

“It’s very dangerous out there,” Asheville Police Chief Mike Lamb said. “If you don’t have to be out, don’t go out.”

Lamb said the curfew would occur over a 12-hour period starting at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

No fatalities have been reported, although officials said any death count won’t be released until family notifications have been made.

Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder said hundreds of residents were forced to seek safety at shelters.

The county’s 911 center received more than 3,300 calls over an eight-hour period Friday, and more than 130 swift-water rescues have been conducted, said county Emergency Services Assistant Director Ryan Cole. He said it took crews more than four hours to reach several homes that were hit by a mudslide.

“This is something that we’re going to be dealing with for many days and weeks to come,” Cole said. “So please be patient.”

More than 1 million customers remained without power in South Carolina several hours after the remnants of Hurricane Helene left the state and the sun started to come out.

Utility officials warned power could be out for many for a long time. Crews were still assessing the damage and in some cases needed to cut their way through debris just to determine what was left standing.

“You will be frustrated. Tomorrow it’s going to be 86 degrees and clear. You’re going to say ‘Why can’t I watch the football game? Why can’t my life be back to normal?’ Life’s not going to be back to normal until probably the middle of next week,” Dominion Energy South Carolina President Keller Kissam said Friday.

The 1.2 million South Carolina customers without power represent more than 40% of homes and businesses in the state.

Gov. Henry McMaster said the storm moved east of where it was forecast and gave the state a bigger blow than expected.

“We urge everybody to be patient and keep your neighbors in your prayers,” McMaster said.

Taylor County, Florida has had a rough couple of years.

Since August of 2023, the rural community along Florida’s Big Bend has taken direct hits from three hurricanes — and seen the closure of its local paper mill, which for decades had been one of the economic lifelines for a county where one in six residents lives below the poverty line.

“The word that just keeps coming to my mind is just devastated,” said Aaron Portwood, publisher of Perry Newspapers, which is based in the county seat of Perry. “You get hit with one thing. And you think, ‘This is bad’. And you recover from that. And then another one hits, and you’re like, ‘ok that stings’. But after about four or five, it starts to feel pretty overwhelming.”

Portwood’s house in Dekle Beach on the county’s long undeveloped coastline was gutted by Hurricane Helene, though the structure still stands. Beyond his own home, Portwood said he’s worried about the future of this county that is steadily having its tax base wiped off the map.

Georgia Power Co. is making an emergency release of water from a northeast Georgia dam following heavy rains from Hurricane Helene.

Georgia Emergency Management Director Chris Stallings said no residents who live near Lake Rabun in the state’s mountainous northeast corner were in danger of being flooded. But he said the water release would likely flood roads and bridges that some residents use to access their homes.

“If they don’t leave now, they’re going to be stuck there for at least a day or multiple hours,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp told reporters at a morning news briefing. The dam is the third in a series owned by Georgia Power along the Tallulah River, which cuts a deep gorge through part of the area.

“We’ve got to get water out so it doesn’t cause dam failure,” Stallings said. He was unable to say how long the water release would last, saying that would be up to technical experts.

Georgia Power didn’t immediately respond to phone calls, emails and texts seeking information.

Dozens of people were being rescued by helicopter from a flooded Tennessee hospital inundated by Helene.

Some 54 people were moved to the roof of the Unicoi County Hospital while water rapidly flooded the facility, according to Ballad Health.

The company said on social media that county officials had ordered an evacuation of the hospital Friday morning due to rising water in the Nolichucky River, including 11 patients.

Boats ordered up by the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency were unable to safely evacuate the hospital, which was taking on flood water, the company said.

As of midday, Ballad reported that an additional seven people remained in rescue boats as the hospital was engulfed by “extremely dangerous and rapidly moving water.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday that even communities hardest hit by Hurricane Helene would get back on their feet, though it won’t happen overnight.

The governor said it’s extremely difficult when someone loses a home with photos and family keepsakes that don’t have a dollar value. But he vowed, “We are going to bounce back.”

“It’s tough and we understand that. We also understand that this is a resilient state,” DeSantis said at a news conference in storm-damaged St. Pete Beach, not far from where he grew up in Dunedin, Florida.

“We’re going to get people back on their feet,” DeSantis said. “It’s not easy to go through this. It’s not going to be easy in the immediate future, but there’s going to be a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Tropical Storm John made its second landfall along Mexico’s Pacific coast Friday, while in its wake authorities in the resort city of Acapulco called for help from anyone with a boat to deal with the flooding.

John came ashore near Tizupan in Michoacan state with sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kmh) after making its initial landfall farther east on the coast on Monday as a Category 3 hurricane.

It blew tin roofs off houses, triggered mudslides and toppled scores of trees. After weakening inland, it reemerged over the ocean, reforming as a tropical storm Wednesday and eventually regaining hurricane strength.

At least eight people have died as a result of the storm.

A “dangerous rescue situation” was unfolding in northeast Tennessee on Friday as 54 people were moved to the roof of the Unicoi County Hospital while water rapidly flooded the facility, according to Ballad Health.

The company said on social media that county officials ordered an evacuation of the hospital Friday morning due to rising water in the Nolichucky River, including 11 patients.

Boats ordered up by the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency were unable to safely evacuate the hospital, which was taking on flood water, the company said.

As of midday, Ballad reported that 54 people were relocated to the roof and seven remained in rescue boats as the hospital was engulfed by “extremely dangerous and rapidly moving water.”

“The situation at the hospital is very dangerous and TEMA and National Guard resources are engaged in what can only be described as a dangerous rescue operation,” Ballad wrote, asking for prayers.

Some bridge lanes connecting barrier island communities on Florida’s Gulf Coast started reopening on Friday.

The northbound lanes of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge connecting the St. Petersburg area to the Bradenton area were opened Friday afternoon, though southbound lanes remained closed for cleaning up debris and assessing damage, according to the Florida Department of Transportation.

Southbound lanes of the Howard Frankland Bridge connecting the Tampa area with the St. Petersburg area also were opened to traffic, while northbound lanes were still being inspected and cleared of debris.

The Courtney Campbell Causeway connecting Hillsborough and Pinellas counties remained closed because of debris.

The bridge “took on heavy debris, washout, and roadway damage,” the agency said in a statement. “Bridge inspectors and maintenance clean-up crews are still on-site doing their best to clear the roadway and open it back up to motorists.”

An electrical utility group is warning of “catastrophic” damage to Georgia’s utility infrastructure by Hurricane Helene.

The Georgia Electric Membership Corp., which represents the state’s electric cooperatives, says that the hurricane damaged more than 100 high-voltage transmission lines and that more than 60 substations were out of service Friday morning.

Without transmission lines and substations, the cooperatives can’t feed electricity to homes and businesses. The group warned Friday that “there will be extensive delays in total restoration” and told customers, especially those who rely on electric power for medical needs, to make temporary arrangements.

Of the more than 1 million Georgia electricity customers without power on Friday afternoon, more than 400,000 were customers of cooperatives. Restoration for customers of those utilities in rural areas can take much longer because customers are far apart.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice was thankful Friday that several days of rain, including Friday’s arrival of the remnants from Hurricane Helene, helped reduce the risk of autumn forest fires during an exceptional drought in much of the state.

“I’m tickled to death that we finally have gotten this amount of rainfall,” Justice said during his weekly news briefing. “This will surely, surely assist us in many, many ways in regard to this terrible potential that we had for forest fires.”

A residential street near the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta and the parking lot of a shopping center across the street is completely flooded. Flooding in the area is expected to get worse.

John Swalm, 17, lives part-time with his dad whose house is on the flooded street. His dad is not in the state and his house is on stilts, but Swalm anticipates “devastating” damage to the house’s yard and wooden patio.

He also believes his dad’s cars are submerged and his kayaks have floated away.

Even as Helene’s wind and rain move northward, air travel snarls remain at many airports in the southeast.

The airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, a major hub for American Airlines, saw nearly 400 inbound and outbound flights canceled through 1 p.m. Thursday, with another 500 inbound and outbound flights delayed, according to flight tracking software FlightAware. That’s nearly half of all flights to the airport.

The larger Atlanta Airport saw nearly 200 inbound and outbound flights canceled, while more than 400 were delayed. That’s nearly a quarter of all the flights at that airport.

Problems also lingered at airports in Florida including in Tampa, Tallahassee and Jacksonville, while smaller airports in Asheville, North Carolina and Augusta, Georgia saw a majority of flights canceled.

Five people have died in Pinellas County in Florida after Helene blew through the area overnight, county officials said Friday.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said the deaths all occurred in neighborhoods where residents were told by authorities to evacuate, but many chose to stay and then found themselves trapped by 8 feet of storm surge — an unprecedented event in the county.

Gualtieri said survivors told them they didn’t believe the warnings after other residents told them the surge wouldn’t be that bad. He said people wound up hiding in their attics to get away from the water.

“We made our case, we told people what they needed to do and they chose otherwise,” Gualtieri said. He added that his deputies tried overnight to reach those who had been trapped, but it just wasn’t safe.

“I was out there personally. We tried to launch boats, we tried to use high-water vehicles and we just met with too many obstacles,” Gualtieri said. He said the death toll could rise as emergency crews go door-to-door in the flooded areas to see if anyone remains.

At least six people died in South Carolina as Hurricane Helene tore through the western part of the state early Friday.

Four people died overnight in Aiken County, said Coroner Darryl Ables who planned to release more details later.

In Anderson County, the coroner’s office said two people were killed when trees fell on houses.

The storm brought wind gusts to near hurricane force across much of the state west of Columbia. At the storm’s peak, power was out for 45% of the 2.9 million homes and businesses in the state.

Nearly everyone was without power right after the storm passed through in several counties, including Greenville and Spartanburg where more than 900,000 people live.

Utilities companies urged patience, saying it could take at least days to restore power.

Appalachian State’s home football game against Liberty in Boone, North Carolina, scheduled for Saturday has been canceled due to severe weather in the area from Tropical Storm Helene, the school announced Friday.

Heavy rains in the North Carolina mountains brought flooding to Boone and the town was placed under a state of emergency Thursday.

The nonconference game was scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. EDT kickoff and will not be rescheduled, the school said.

App State also canceled a home field hockey game against Bellarmine that was slated for Friday.

Tropical Storm John has caused a total of eight deaths in southern Mexico, and five days of heavy rains have generated severe flooding and mudslides in the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco.

John, in its second incarnation, was lingering off the Pacific coast just short of a second landfall early Friday. It hit further east on the coast Monday as a Category 3 hurricane.

The flooding is so bad in Acapulco — which still hasn’t recovered from Hurricane Otis last October — that the head of the municipal civil defense agency said authorities were starting to use boats inside the city to rescue people from low-lying neighborhoods. Residents posted videos and photos of cars floating away in floodwaters, and people rescued from raging waters using lifelines.

“We are getting boats to start carrying out more effective evacuations,” Efrén Valdez, civil protection coordinator for Acapulco, told the Milenio Television station. “The situation is very complicated.”

Atlanta Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Ronald Slatton said rescue efforts Friday morning helped about half a dozen people who didn’t feel safe in their homes in Hanover West, a neighborhood in north Atlanta. A creek behind some of the residences had risen to about four or five feet, he said.

“We’re just here standing by if they need us,” he said of his expectations for the rest of the day.

In downtown Valdosta, Georgia, Hurricane Helene ripped the sheet metal roof from a large brick building that houses a furniture and antiques store and blew out the back wall. Bricks, plywood and twisted metal covered the grass outside, exposing old lamps, cabinets and other knickknacks in the store’s inventory.

Many shops and businesses along the tree limb-covered sidewalks of the downtown area appeared unscathed. But a few had shattered storefront windows and mangled awnings.

Electricity was out across the city and traffic moved slowly on many roads, with stoplights blacked out and trees blocking several streets.