Hurricane Helene kills at least 40 people in Florida

began in the Gulf of Mexico picking up intensity as it moved towards the Florida coast yesterday the storm made landfall in Northwestern Florida as a category 4 storm just after 11:00 local time last night large suedes of Florida's western coastline were placed on alert with concerns a major storm surge could threaten lives and property near where the weather system crossed the coast well the storm has continued to weaken as it moves further inland bringing rain and wind speeds of up to 30 m an hour towards the large metropolitan areas of Atlanta and Nashville Sky us

correspondent Martha Kelner reports in the seaside town of Ceda ke they don't know how much more of this they can take Helen was the third hurricane to strike here in just over a year this the worst one yet however bad we imagined it would be when we were fighting this thing in the darkness it's so much worse in the daylight overnight Winds of 140 mph but it was the 10t storm surge that did the damage here homes restaurants a whole town swallowed oh my goodness residents haven't been allowed to return to CED the key yet

when they do get here this is what they'll find it must have been utterly terrifying for those who didn't evacuate as a wall of water came towards them 3 miles away from the coast this is seawater that's how far it traveled it's mostly subsided now the water came up this high but the memory of riding out this storm in their RV will stay now this is six one we' been through while we were been in this Campground why do you think the hurricanes are so bad at the moment it's natural weather change that that's what

I believe it's just it we just bad luck the heft of Helen is most striking Treasure Island is hundreds of miles from the point of impact but look at this five people died in this area at least two from drowning a hellish scene unfolded through the night old and young caught out anybody in your house most had evacuated Emergency Services rescuing others one man and his dog saved when their boats failed 25 mil offshore but T's impact has gone far beyond Florida Georgia isn't usually affected by hurricanes this is different and in tenness staff and

patients evacuated to the roof of a hospital engulfed by flood water Helen may have been downgraded on the hurricane scale but numbers don't tell the story here this is historic flooding it's widespread and it's not over yet