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Hurricane Helene, which made landfall as a Category 4 storm in Florida's Big Bend late Thursday night, has left a trail of destruction as it moved inland. By Friday, the storm's remnants reached Tennessee, heading towards Kentucky, and causing severe flooding in the southern Appalachians.

Helene landed near Perry, Florida, around 11:10 p.m. EDT on Thursday and traveled through Florida and Georgia before progressing northwards. The storm has taken a significant toll on life, with at least 30 fatalities reported across four states. Tragically, the casualties include two firefighters in South Carolina, according to The New York Times.

The impact on utilities has been extensive, with over 4 million residents left without power. In Florida alone, 1 million people are affected by outages, with similar numbers reported in Georgia. North and South Carolina combined report nearly 2 million people without electricity. Tennessee and Kentucky have around 100,000 outages each, while Virginia has about 200,000 affected. West Virginia and Ohio have not been spared either, with 65,000 and 35,000 outages respectively.

Tampa International Airport, which closed at 2 a.m. EDT Thursday in anticipation of the storm, managed to reopen on Friday morning. Although the airport itself was spared significant damage, the storm's disruption led to the cancellation and delay of hundreds of flights. Major airports like Charlotte Douglas International, Greenville-Spartanburg International, and Asheville Regional were notably impacted.

Helene marks the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, following closely on the heels of Hurricane Francine, which made landfall as a Category 2 storm in Louisiana on September 11. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had anticipated an exceptionally busy storm season, expecting up to 25 named storms and 13 hurricanes. However, the season has not been as active as initially predicted, despite the severe impact of storms like Helene.