Hundreds of miles from landfall, Hurricane Helene’s ‘apocalyptic’ devastation unfolds
(NEW YORK) — The death toll from Hurricane Helene is still climbing as Americans across the Southeast count the cost of last week’s massive storm.
The storm made landfall Thursday night as a Category 4 hurricane in Florida’s Big Bend region with sustained winds of 140 mph.
Helene intensified as it approached the U.S. coast, bringing with it devastating winds, massive flooding and enormous storm surge.
In North Carolina, extreme floods washed away homes and bridges. At one point, authorities closed 400 roads deeming them unsafe for travel. At least 30 people died and dozens are missing, state authorities said.
“This is an unprecedented tragedy that requires an unprecedented response,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said.
Members of the National Guard and relief teams from 19 states joined search and rescue missions in the state.
William Ray, the director of the North Carolina Department for Public Safety emergency management, said response teams “are working around the clock to make rescues, to access neighborhoods.”
In Asheville, there has been no cell service or water supply for several days. Zeb Smathers — the mayor of Canton, to the west of Asheville — told Good Morning America the situation was “apocalyptic, not just for Canton, but the entire region.”
The area is suffering from a total cell phone “blackout,” Smathers said, meaning residents are unable to check on loved ones or urge those at risk from further flooding to evacuate.
Parts of North Carolina were inundated with up to 30 inches of rain, triggering deadly flash floods and landslides.
In Lake Lure in the west of the state, resident George Carter told Good Morning America: “When you turn the corner and you see your community just full of buildings and trash and floating boathouses and floating homes, it just sort of takes your breath away.”
“It was scary,” he added.
Adam Jackon, from Tyron, North Carolina, said neighbors were trapped by falling trees.
There were “probably 50 trees blocking my neighbors from coming out,” he said. “I started helping them yesterday, the neighbors at the other end of the road. We got us out, but the other neighbors are trapped.”
The Painter family from Asheville, meanwhile, returned home to find 35,000 gallons of water in their basement. “It’s eerie,” Jacob Painter said. “I had a pit in the bottom of my stomach the whole time.”
“You’re stepping on mud and trying not to fall because it’s so thick and slippery,” Ciara Lantz-Painter said.
Randall Houghton spoke with Good Morning America near a devastated motorhome site. His camper was washed away by floodwaters, he said, forcing him to spend the night on the side of the road.
“It’s crazy,” said Houghton. “I anticipated something bad when she said the water is going to come over the top of the parking tables.”
At least two people were killed in Tennessee, though that number may rise as search and rescue efforts continue. More than 70 people are still missing, state officials said.
Among them is Steve Cloyd, whose jeep was found in the aftermath of the storm, according to his family.
His family’s hope, wife Keli told Good Morning America, is that Steve was able to escape the vehicle. “I need that big one, so I can breathe again, so my kids can breathe again,” she said.
“His Minnesota Vikings won today. So I want to sit here and watch those highlights with him.”
ABC New’s Joel Lyons, Dom Proto, Octavio Cadenas, Alex Colletta and Kimberly Randolph contributed to this report.
(BEL AIR, Md.) — At least one person was found dead and two others were injured when an explosion Sunday morning leveled a home and damaged multiple neighboring residences in a suburban Baltimore neighborhood, authorities said.
The blast was reported around 6:42 a.m. on Arthur Woods Drive in the Harford County city of Bel Air, about 32 miles north of Baltimore, according to officials.
A photo posted on X by Harford County Fire and Emergency Medical Services showed firefighters battling a small fire and searching the remains of the home, which was reduced to splintered pieces of wood, insulation and other debris.
“I’ve been on the job for 18 years and this was one of the largest explosions I’ve seen,” Master Deputy State Fire Marshal Oliver Alkire said during a news conference Sunday.
Alkire said firefighters from the Harford County Fire Department were responding to a report of a gas leak in the area when the explosion occurred.
Jeffrey Sexton, a spokesperson for the Harford County Fire and EMS Association, confirmed that one person was found dead in a large debris field caused by the explosion. The name of the deceased person was not immediately released.
Sexton said search-and-rescue crews are still combing the rubble as of mid-morning Sunday.
Alkire said workers from the Baltimore Gas and Electric company had also responded to the area before the explosion to investigate an electrical issue. Alkire said a BG&E worker was injured by the blast.
He said a woman in a neighboring home damaged by the explosion was also hurt and treated at the scene.
Alkire said multiple homes were damaged and that a damage assessment was being conducted. He said no evacuations have been ordered.
Alkire confirmed the house that exploded was for sale.
Residents in the neighborhood reported hearing the loud explosion and feeling their houses shake, authorities said.
The cause of the explosion is under investigation by the Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office, the Harford County Sheriff’s Department and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
ABC News’ Davone Morales contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — On the night he was elected the 110th mayor of New York City, former police Capt. Eric Adams vowed to fight for those “this city has betrayed.”
“This city betrayed New Yorkers every day, especially the ones who rely on it the most. My fellow New Yorkers, that betrayal stops on January 1,” Adams said that night in November 2021.
For the past year, federal authorities have been investigating the possibility of corruption at City Hall, issuing subpoenas for Adams and members of his inner circle.
On Thursday, New York Police Commissioner Edward Caban resigned a week after sources told ABC News the FBI seized his cell phone as part of the federal investigation.
Caban released a statement saying he was stepping down because the “noise around recent developments” had made his primary focus on the NYPD “impossible and has hindered the important work our city requires.” He said he will “continue to fully cooperate with the ongoing investigation.”
Caban’s family has connections to nightlife. Richard Caban, the brother of Edward Caban and a former NYPD lieutenant, owned a now-shuttered Bronx restaurant, Con Sofrito. Edward Caban’s twin brother, James Caban, a former NYPD sergeant, owned a Bronx apartment building that once had a bar on the first floor named Twins.
Meanwhile, Adams has denied any wrongdoing. The mayor has not been charged with any crimes stemming from the investigations.
Federal authorities have not commented on what they are specifically investigating. Sources have told ABC News that one of the probes concerns city contracts and a second involves the enforcement of regulations governing bars and clubs.
“I say over and over again, as a former member of law enforcement, I’m very clear. We follow the rules. We make sure that we cooperate and turn over any information that is needed and it just really would be inappropriate to get in the way of the review while it’s taking place,” Adams said in an interview with CBS New York on Sept. 5.
None of the mayor’s aides who have been subpoenaed, had their homes searched, or their electronic devices seized by investigators have been charged with any crimes.
Here is a timeline of the subpoenas, searches and seizures dogging Adams and his inner circle:
Nov. 2, 2023 – FBI agents search the Crown Heights, Brooklyn, home of Brianna Suggs, a campaign consultant and top fundraiser for Adams. Federal agents also search the New Jersey home of Rana Abbasova, the mayor’s international affairs aid. That same day, Adams unexpectedly returned to New York from Washington, D.C., to “address the matter,” despite planned meetings with White House officials and other big city mayors on immigration. The investigation involves a construction company, KSK Construction Group, based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, sources told ABC News. KSK donated about $14,000 to Adams’ 2021 campaign. Suggs has not been charged with any crimes connected to the probe.
Nov. 6, 2023 – The FBI seizes Mayor Adams’ electronic devices, including an iPad and a cell phone, as part of a federal probe. Sources told ABC News that the investigation was seeking to determine whether the mayor’s campaign received illegal foreign donations from Turkey with a Brooklyn construction company as a conduit.
Nov. 15, 2023 – Adams launches a legal defense fund intended to defray expenses in connection with inquiries by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York into his mayoral 2021 campaign committee.
Jan. 15, 2024 – Vito Pitta, Adam’s longtime campaign compliance lawyer, releases a statement saying the mayor’s legal defense fund had raised $650,000 in just two months.
Feb. 29, 2024 – The FBI, investigating Adam’s fundraising, searches the Bronx home of Winnie Greco, the director of Asian affairs for Adam’s administration. The probe also involves a construction company, KSK Construction Group, sources tell ABC News.
April 5, 2024 – ABC News reports that the FBI is investigating whether Adams received free upgrades on Turkish Airlines, Turkey’s national carrier.
July 2024 – Federal prosecutors in New York serve Adams grand jury subpoenas as part of what sources tell ABC News is an ongoing corruption investigation involving whether his campaign sought illegal donations from Turkey in exchange for pressuring the fire department to rush an inspection of the new Turkish consulate in New York City. The subpoenas seek communications and documents from the mayor, according to sources. In an interview with ABC New York station WABC, Adams says, “Like previous administrations that have gone through subpoenas, you participate and cooperate. You see a subpoena, and you respond. At the end of the day, it will show there is no criminality here.”
Sept. 4, 2024 – The FBI conducts searches at the homes of two of Adams’ closest aids. Federal agents search the upper Manhattan home of First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, who is engaged to Schools Chancellor David Banks. Agents also search the Hollis, Queens, home of Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks. The FBI seized evidence, including electronics, as part of the searches, sources told ABC News. David and Phil Banks are brothers and both have known Adams for years.
Sept. 5, 2024 – ABC News reports that federal investigators subpoenaed the cell phones of four high-ranking New York Police Department officials, including NYPD Commissioner Caban. The subpoenas are part of the same investigation that sent the FBI to search the homes of Deputy Mayors Wright and Banks, sources told ABC News. Tim Pearson, a close adviser to Adams, also receives a subpoena for his cell phone, sources said. The subpoenas, according to sources, are connected to an undisclosed investigation separate from one into whether Adams allegedly accepted illegal donations from Turkey in exchange for official favors.
Sept. 10, 2024 – Adams declines to say at a news conference if he remains confident in Police Commissioner Caban amid news reports claiming Caban is under pressure to resign. When asked if he was confident in Caban’s leadership, Adams says, “I have the utmost confidence in the New York City Police Department.”
Sept. 12, 2024 — Commissioner Caban resigns. His attorneys, Russell Capone and Rebekah Donaleski, release a statement saying they have been informed that Caban is “not a target of any investigation being conducted by the Southern District of New York” and that he “expects to cooperate fully with the government.” Caban says in a statement, “My complete focus must be on the NYPD — the Department I profoundly honor and have dedicated my career to serving. However, the noise around recent developments has made that impossible and has hindered the important work our city requires. I have therefore decided it is in the best interest of the Department that I resign as Commissioner.”
Adams confirms he accepts Caban’s resignation and announces he has appointed former FBI agent and former New York Homeland Security Director Tom Donlon as interim commissioner. “I respect his decision and I wish him well,” the mayor says of Caban. “Commissioner Caban dedicated his life to making our city safe, and we saw a drop in crime for the 13 of the 14 months that he served as commissioner.”
(NEW YORK) — Two people were flown to George Regional Hospital in Utah on Monday after being struck by lightning while visiting the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, according to the National Park Service.
In a statement released on Tuesday, authorities said that two women — aged 22 and 23 years old, one from the Netherlands and one from Australia — “sustained injuries” in the lightning strike while standing near the rim of the famed Horseshoe Bend, along the Colorado River in Arizona.
“Classic Air Medical and City of Page Fire Department quickly responded to assist National Park Service Rangers with on scene patient care,” the statement said. “Both victims were flown to St. George Regional Hospital in Utah by Classic Air Medical helicopters.”
The Glen Canyon National Recreation Area straddles the Utah-Arizona state border. The National Park Service warned that thunderstorms “are most frequent and severe” during the monsoon season for both states, typically mid-June through September in Arizona and July through September in Utah.
“If you hear thunder, you are at risk of getting struck by lightning and should immediately seek shelter in a vehicle or building,” the National Park Service said. “Visitors are advised to use caution while visiting exposed outdoor areas and be aware of changing weather conditions.”