At least 55 dead after Hurricane Helene hit the South with a deadly tornado, massive flooding and an impending levee breach in Tennessee

Storm Helene, which has now weakened into a post-tropical cyclone, killed at least 55 people in five states as it hit the South with record-breaking storm surges and a tornado.

Helene is hovering primarily over Tennessee and Kentucky, although the edges of the storm are lashing parts of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center.

The center predicted the storm would dissipate “overnight” across the Tennessee Valley.

And as the heavy rain eased, the center announced it would no longer provide hourly updates about Helene.

But devastating images show the terrible damage Helene has caused in recent days. The most pressing problem right now is an overloaded dam in Tennessee.

Initially, authorities were unsure whether the dam would hold

However, according to the Tennessee Valley Authority, the dam is currently intact

About 22 hours ago, more than 30,000 cubic feet of water per second flowed through the Nolichucky Dam in eastern Tennessee, intended to tame the Nolichucky River, according to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).

Based on that number, an Olympic-size swimming pool’s water flowed through the tiny dam every three seconds.

Authorities responded by issuing a flash flood warning for Cocke, Greene and Hamblen counties, an emergency that was extended until noon Eastern Time, according to CNN.

Approximately 5,800 residents and two schools were directly affected by the dam flooding.

In an update Saturday morning, TVA said the river was at its peak and the dam remained intact.

“Right now the water is falling at about a foot per hour. “Our dam safety teams are in the process of assessing the condition of the dam to determine next steps,” the agency announced. “We estimate the water level is 8 feet above record high.”

This is what Helene looked like on the evening of September 27th, a day after it made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida as a Category 4 hurricane

This graphic shows the areas more vulnerable to flooding this weekend

The storm, which made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region on Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane, was responsible for more than 50 reported deaths in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia.

At least 19 people have died in South Carolina, including two firefighters in Saluda County.

George Satcher, 53, and Landon Bodie, who was just 18, were responding to a call Friday morning and were killed when a tree fell on their fire truck, News19 reported.

“This is a reminder that these first responders put their lives on the line every day to protect the citizens they serve,” said David Jones of the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

In Georgia, the death toll has risen to 15, officials said, with two people dying after being struck by a tornado in the Alamo.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said 11 people have died in his state so far, including several people who drowned in Pinellas County.

North Carolina reported six additional deaths. Among them was a four-year-old girl who died in a car accident due to wet roads.

According to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, more than 400 roads remain closed across the state as of Saturday morning.

According to Gov. Glenn Youngkin, one person died in Craig County, Virginia because a tree fell on the building they were in.

Another person died when strong winds sent a chicken coop flying before it landed on them, WDBJ 7 reported.

Many scenes in Florida now seem apocalyptic.

Dozens of boats were washed onto the streets of Treasure Island, Florida

Horseshoe Beach, Florida, was a particularly hard-hit area, with entire city blocks reduced to rubble

Dozens of homes and businesses were destroyed after Helene reached land

Survivor Tammy Bryan (left) hugs her roommate Jennifer Lange amid the destruction following Hurricane Helene in Horseshoe Beach on Saturday, September 28

Take, for example, Treasure Island, a town near Tampa where dozens of boats washed up on its streets.

Treasure Island sits 3 feet above sea level, which is no match for the approximately 7-foot storm surges in the Tampa Bay area.

The further up the west coast of Florida you go, the worse the damage becomes.

In Horseshoe Beach, a northern town much closer to where Helene landed, homes and businesses were reduced to rubble.

Traumatized citizens wept as they saw entire city blocks irradiated by the storm, leaving nothing but wooden planks and other debris.

Cedar Key, just south of Horseshoe Beach, was also hit hard.

Michael Bobbitt, 48, was one of those who chose to stay behind.

“We’re feeling pretty down here in Cedar Key.” As bad as we expected it to be, as we battled it at night, it’s much worse in daylight.

“Cedar Key as we know it has completely disappeared,” he told the New York Times.

“Entire houses were picked up and moved.” We had to walk through four feet of water to get to them. “The post office is destroyed.”

Matthew Harris leans on the back of his truck after Hurricane Helene destroyed the home he lived in in Steinhatchee, Florida

This North Carolina grocery store limits the number of packages of bottled water a customer can purchase at a time

In North Carolina, it is still difficult to get resources like food and water to the people who need them.

To prevent shortages, certain grocery stores have implemented limits on the amount of water a customer can purchase.

Gov. Roy Cooper called Helene “one of the worst storms in modern history” for the state.

Cooper said more than 100 people had to be rescued from the floodwaters. And in the particularly hard-hit city of Asheville, a curfew was in effect until 7:30 a.m. on Saturday.

According to poweroutage.us, about 3.5 million people in 10 states in the South and Midwest remain without power.

Helene comes a little less than two months after Hurricane Debby hit virtually the same region of Florida as Helene.

Debby was Category 1, so wasn’t nearly as strong, but a preliminary analysis by AccuWeather estimates it caused $28 billion in damages and economic losses.