People walk in the wind and rain next to Tampa Bay as Hurricane Helene churns offshore on September 26, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Florida. Photo:
Joe Raedle/Getty
New details have emerged about the victims of Hurricane Helene, which made landfall as a Category 4 storm late on Thursday, Sept. 26.
Among those killed in the storm include first responder Vernon “Leon” Davis, an assistant chief with the Blackshear Fire Department, who had been responding to calls and helping to clear out downed trees and power lines when a tree fell on his truck around 1:30 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 27, according to NBC News, First Coast News and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC).
Blackshear Police Chief Christopher Wright described Davis to NBC News as “one of the greatest folks that Blackshear had,” adding, “We’re all better for having known him. He would do anything for anybody.”
A 4-year-old girl, identified as Luna Jade Gaddis, was also killed in North Carolina after her family’s car collided with another car around 8:10 a.m. amid “heavy rain conditions” caused by Hurricane Helene, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol told NBC News and The Charlotte Observer.
A 2-year-old toddler and a 12-year-old also in the vehicle were hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, the outlets reported.
Hurricane Helene approaches Florida.
Joe Raedle/Getty
Other deaths, which have yet to be identified, include a 78-year-old husband and his 74-year-old wife who were killed in Aiken County, S.C., due to a tree falling down on their home, Coroner Darryl Ables told the Associated Press.
A 27-year-old mother and her two-month-old twins — who were not identified by name — were killed in Georgia, when a tree fell onto their mobile home while they were in bed, McDuffie County Coroner Paul Johnson told the AJC, The New York Post and the AP.
Elsewhere, a 7-year-old boy and 4-year-old girl, who have yet to be identified, were also killed when a tree fell on their burning home, according to 13 WMAZ and WRDW.
Over 40 people have died in the storm, The New York Times and The Weather Channelreported — marking a death toll that has steadily risen.
Hurrican Helene tracker shows the eye of the hurricane.
NOAA GOES Image Viewer
Helene was a Category 4 storm when it made landfall around 11:10 p.m. local time near Perry, Fla., and has since been downgraded to a tropical storm, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Before Helene made landfall, the National Hurricane Center warned it could bring “life-threatening storm surge, damaging winds and flooding rains” to much of Florida and parts of the southeastern U.S.
