Hurricane Helene roared ashore in Florida’s Big Bend late Thursday as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, then raced inland at highway speed, carrying destructive winds and historic rainfall deep into Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee. Millions of customers across the Southeast are without power this morning, and catastrophic flooding is unfolding in the southern Appalachians, hundreds of miles from the coast.

No One Is Out of Reach

Helene is proving that hurricane impacts are not just a coastal problem. Inland communities in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee are seeing record flooding, washed-out roads, and outages that may take weeks to repair in mountainous terrain. Every homeowner in the storm’s path, coastal or inland, is living the same lesson: the grid can fail anywhere.

How to Protect Your Family

• Inspect your standby generator and ensure it starts automatically the moment power is lost.
• Run a test cycle to confirm a clean transfer of power to your home.
• Secure your fuel supply. Natural gas and propane systems should be serviced and fully connected.
• Consider whole-home backup from Generac or Kohler, engineered for exactly these prolonged, widespread outages.

Stay Informed

Follow the National Hurricane Center and your local National Weather Service office for the latest on Helene’s aftermath, and heed all guidance from local emergency officials.