Ports are assessing damage after Hurricane Helene roared into Florida as a Category 4 storm with 140 mph winds.
Helene made landfall Thursday night near Perry, a city of about 6,900 residents. The storm has since weakened to a tropical depression and was moving over the South on Friday, bringing strong winds and rain.
“This has been an absolutely devastating storm across the southeast U.S. We’re going to be dealing with significant impacts including catastrophic flooding over the next 48 hours,” said AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter.
Assessments were underway Friday at Florida’s ports, including Canaveral and Jacksonville.
The Port of Jacksonville conducted facility assessments and found no damage, said spokeswoman Chelsea Kavanagh. The port reopened Friday afternoon.
The Port of Fernandina sustained no extensive damage but remained closed Friday until cleared by the Coast Guard, said public affairs director Jeff Hymas.
Landside operations were open at Seaport Manatee, but the shipping lanes were closed, said spokeswoman Virginia Zimmermann.
Port Canaveral and Port Panama City were open Friday with no restrictions.
The Coast Guard reported that ports in Key West, St. Petersburg and Tampa in Florida were closed Friday. Ports in Mobile, Alabama, and Savannah and Brunswick in Georgia were open with restrictions Friday.
South Carolina ports were monitoring Helene. The empty yard at Inland Port Greer was closed Friday, but crane operations resumed after being suspended due to winds, the port said in an announcement.
Helene should continue to weaken Friday as it moves inland, the National Hurricane Center said. Damaging winds will continue in Georgia and the Carolinas. Catastrophic and life-threatening floods and landslides are expected across southern Appalachia.
“Widespread, significant river flooding is likely, some of which will be major to record breaking,” the hurricane center said.
An additional 8 to 12 inches of rain could drench northern and eastern Georgia, the western Carolinas and East Tennessee, meteorologists with AccuWeather said. The rain is expected to trigger “a catastrophic and historic flooding disaster,” Porter said.
Other areas likely to see extreme rain are Virginia and West Virginia.
At least 20 people died in the storm, local reports said.
About 4 million customers across Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas were without power Friday.
Helene is the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which forecasters predicted would be above average.