Tropical Weather Latest: Helene weakens into tropical storm over Georgia after landing in Florida

Hurricane Helene weakened into a tropical storm over Georgia Friday after making landfall overnight in northwestern Florida as a Category 4 storm. At least 11 people have died so far in Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp said.

Authorities continue to rescue people trapped by floodwaters and millions were without power across much of the southeastern U.S.

Helene came ashore amid warnings from the National Hurricane Center that the enormous system could create a “nightmare” storm surge.

Hurricane John once again weakened into a tropical storm Thursday evening as the slow-moving storm crept along the coast of the Mexican state of Michoacan, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Isaac strengthened Friday into a hurricane in the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean and could cause dangerous waves in parts of Bermuda, forecasters said.

Tropical Storm Joyce formed on Friday morning in the Atlantic Ocean and wasn't threatening land, forecasters said. The storm was expected to strengthen gradually through Sunday before weakening early next week.

Follow AP’s coverage of tropical weather at https://apnews.com/hub/hurricanes.

Here's the latest:

COLUMBIA, S.C. — At least six people died in South Carolina as Hurricane Helene tore through the western part of the state early Friday.

Four people died overnight in Aiken County, said Coroner Darryl Ables who planned to release more details later.

In Anderson County, the coroner’s office said two people were killed when trees fell on houses.

The storm brought wind gusts to near hurricane force across much of the state west of Columbia. At the storm’s peak, power was out for 45% of the 2.9 million homes and businesses in the state.

Nearly everyone was without power right after the storm passed through in several counties, including Greenville and Spartanburg where more than 900,000 people live.

Utilities companies urged patience, saying it could take at least days to restore power

ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp gave staggering numbers to describe the early damage from Helene Friday morning: 1 million meters without power, 1,300 traffic signals out of commission, 1,100 people in shelters across the state, 152 road closures and 2 interstate closures. In one south central city, Valdosta, 115 buildings were heavily damaged with multiple people trapped inside.

One shelter temporarily housing Georgians lost its roof. A tree fell on one hospital’s generator, cutting the facility’s power.

BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State’s home football game against Liberty in Boone, North Carolina, scheduled for Saturday has been canceled due to severe weather in the area from Tropical Storm Helene, the school announced Friday.

Heavy rains in the North Carolina mountains brought flooding to Boone and the town was placed under a state of emergency Thursday.

The nonconference game was scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. EDT kickoff and will not be rescheduled, the school said.

App State also canceled a home field hockey game against Bellarmine that was slated for Friday.

MEXICO CITY — Tropical Storm John has caused a total of eight deaths in southern Mexico, and five days of heavy rains have generated severe flooding and mudslides in the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco.

John, in its second incarnation, was lingering off the Pacific coast just short of a second landfall early Friday. It hit further east on the coast Monday as a Category 3 hurricane.

The flooding is so bad in Acapulco — which still hasn’t recovered from Hurricane Otis last October — that the head of the municipal civil defense agency said authorities were starting to use boats inside the city to rescue people from low-lying neighborhoods. Residents posted videos and photos of cars floating away in floodwaters, and people rescued from raging waters using lifelines.

“We are getting boats to start carrying out more effective evacuations,” Efrén Valdez, civil protection coordinator for Acapulco, told the Milenio Television station. “The situation is very complicated.”

NASHVILLE — In northeast Tennessee, Unicoi County Hospital was closed Friday due to the weather and its 11 patients were being moved to other hospitals, according to parent company Ballad Health. The company urged people who need care to go to the nearest hospital or call 911.

Meanwhile, every Ballad Health facility postponed all elective surgeries, including those in southwest Virginia, northwest North Carolina and southeast Kentucky. Some of its clinics and urgent care offices were also closed.

ATLANTA — Atlanta Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Ronald Slatton said rescue efforts Friday morning helped about half a dozen people who didn’t feel safe in their homes in Hanover West, a neighborhood in north Atlanta. A creek behind some of the residences had risen to about four or five feet, he said.

“We’re just here standing by if they need us,” he said of his expectations for the rest of the day.

VALDOSTA, Ga. — In downtown Valdosta, Georgia, Hurricane Helene ripped the sheet metal roof from a large brick building that houses a furniture and antiques store and blew out the back wall. Bricks, plywood and twisted metal covered the grass outside, exposing old lamps, cabinets and other knickknacks in the store’s inventory.

Many shops and businesses along the tree limb-covered sidewalks of the downtown area appeared unscathed. But a few had shattered storefront windows and mangled awnings.

Electricity was out across the city and traffic moved slowly on many roads, with stoplights blacked out and trees blocking several streets.

ATLANTA — Stacy Quiros noticed early indications of flooding at her home in Hanover West, a neighborhood in north Atlanta, when she woke up Friday morning. She and her husband went to their basement to move important items to higher ground before it took on four inches of water.

Across the street, on lower ground, she pointed out underwater mailboxes and cars with just their roofs peeking out to an Associated Press journalist. She watched as her neighbors with flooded first floors climbed into rescue boats that took them to safety.

“My neighbors across the street got the full brunt of all of it,” she said.

HARTFORD — The Connecticut Army National Guard’s 1-169th Aviation Regiment is providing one CH-47 Chinook helicopter and a five-soldier flight crew for approximately one week to assist North Carolina as Helene moves through the area.

The unit mobilized and deployed to North Carolina on Friday morning.

ATLANTA — A spokesperson for Gov. Brian Kemp says 11 people have died so far in Georgia from causes related to Hurricane Helene.

Spokesperson Garrison Douglas could not immediately provide a breakdown of where and how all the deaths occurred.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Just because Hurricane Helene has passed Florida doesn’t mean that dangers are over, the state’s top emergency management official said Friday.

Hazards abound from flooded roadways, downed power lines and debris blocking roads, said Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

Guthrie urged Floridians to take safety precautions as they clean up. Hold off cleaning up debris where power lines are down, wear goggles when operating a chainsaw and put on a hard hat if available when cleaning up in a damaged building, Guthrie said.

“Just make sure you are being safe if you’re out there,” Guthrie said. “These are all preventable deaths and injuries. We can 100% prevent that.”

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper said in a briefing Friday morning that there had been two storm-related deaths in the state and he expected more to come.

Close to 300 roads were closed and over 100 swift-water rescues had occurred so far, Cooper said.

He added that the storm, particularly in western North Carolina, is causing life-threatening flash flooding, numerous landslides and power outages from downed trees.

“The priority now is saving lives,” Cooper said, telling people to stay off the roads unless they were seeking higher ground.

“With the rain that they already had been experiencing before Helene’s arrival, this is one of the worst storms in modern history for parts of western North Carolina,” Cooper said.

Portions of Interstates 40 and 26 were closed due to flooding, officials said.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Around 1,500 emergency workers are focusing their efforts during the first 24 hours after Hurricane Helene’s landfall on search and rescue efforts, Florida’s top emergency management official said Friday.

In the two days following, their efforts will concentrate on securing and stabilizing affected communities, said Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

“As those sorts of rescue missions happen today, and continue, please do not go out and visit the impacted areas,” Guthrie said Friday morning at a news conference in Tallahassee. “I beg of you, do not get in their way.”

CEDAR KEY, Fla. — After spending the night riding out the storm and checking in on his neighbors, Michael Presley Bobbitt, 48, woke to find his town of Cedar Key littered with debris with rows of houses gone, a gaping hole clear through his post office and the wall to his local mom-and-pop supermarket missing.

“We’re feeling pretty gut-punched here in Cedar Key,” he said. “When we were fighting this in the night, however bad we thought it would be, it’s much worse in the light of day.”

Despite orders to evacuate, Bobbitt, who has lived in Cedar Key for five years, said he stayed behind to help out those who could not leave with his rescue boat and document the storm.

“All of those people that left are desperate to hear about their homes,” he said. “I’m delivering the most devastating news that they have ever got in their lives.”

MIAMI — Tropical Storm Joyce formed Friday in the Atlantic Ocean and isn’t threatening land, forecasters said.

The storm is located about 1,325 miles (2,130 kilometers) east of the northern Leeward Islands and has maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph). It was moving northwest at about 13 mph (20 kph).

There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect, the Miami-based U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The storm was expected to strengthen gradually through Sunday before weakening early next week.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — In North Carolina, more than 50 swift-water rescues were conducted from floodwaters in Buncombe County.

“This is the most significant natural disaster that any one of us has ever seen in western North Carolina,” said Ryan Cole, the county’s assistant emergency services director.

Cole said during a briefing that road washouts and closures prevented authorities from responding to some emergency calls. In Asheville, crews were trying to get to a mudslide involving four homes and an undetermined number of people were unaccounted for, he said.

ATLANTA — A historic building partially collapsed in downtown Savannah as Helene moved through the city.

The Savannah Fire Department says the third story of the three-story brick building collapsed into the second floor after 2 a.m. Friday morning. The top two floors hold apartments, while the bottom floor is home to the Ordinary Pub on Broughton Street, one of the main commercial streets in the city’s historic downtown.

No injuries were reported, but fire officials declared the building unsafe to enter.

ATLANTA — Georgia State Sen. Harold Jones II said trees are down all over Augusta, where he lives, with many of them falling on houses.

“We have roads blocked here, a lot of debris damage,” Jones said Friday morning.

Jones said some neighborhoods were also seeing flooding, with trees blocking many major roads.

ANDERSON, S.C. — Authorities are reporting a second death in South Carolina from Helene.

A second person was killed Friday morning by a tree falling on a home in Anderson County, the Coroner’s Office said in a statement.

ATLANTA — Jalen Cruz woke up around 1 a.m. — “thankfully at the right time,” he said.

Water was just starting to trickle into the kitchen of his Atlanta apartment. What started as a “little puddle” swelled to ankle-high flooding at his ankles within 30 minutes, so he gathered some of his valuables to bring to his neighbor’s upstairs.

At its peak, the water rose to his calves, the 25-year-old painter said, meaning he has furniture that’s damaged, unfinished art submerged underwater and paint bubbling formed on his walls.

“It could’ve been a lot worse,” he said. Still, “I was so sad, it’s my first apartment.”

“Physical stuff can be replaced but just to see the state of my first home, submerged in water,” he said, looking back as brown water rushed downstream. “This is my baby.”

RUTHERFORDTON, N.C. — Waters in the iconic lake used to film scenes from the movie “Dirty Dancing” are overtopping the dam holding them back in North Carolina.

Emergency officials in Rutherford County have started evacuating people downstream from Lake Lure and are sounding emergency sirens.

Water has been periodically released from the dam this week, but there has been too much rain to keep up, officials said.

Authorities did not indicate if the dam itself was in danger.

Lake Lure was transformed into upstate New York’s Catskill Mountains for several of the scenes in the 1987 film, including the dance scene where actor Patrick Swayze lifts Jennifer Grey out of the water.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Airports in Florida that closed due to Hurricane Helene will be reopened on Friday, and inspectors were out examining bridges and causeways along the Gulf Coast to get them back open to traffic quickly, the state’s transportation secretary said.

Airports in Tampa, St. Pete, Lakeland and Tallahassee planned to reopen for flights, and 2,000 miles of roadway have been cleared of debris so far, Jared Perdue, secretary of the Florida Department of Transportation, said Friday morning at a Tallahassee news conference.

“Some of the causeways were underwater, so we have to inspect them and make sure they are safe to pass,” Perdue said. “We had a lot of storm surge up and down the west coast. We had a lot of roads underwater.”

ATLANTA — A neighbor knocking woke Marcus Benson on Thursday night after the rain outside — and exhaustion from a newborn baby — had lulled him to sleep. The water level was inching closer to the front door of their apartment, about eight steps up from ground level and high enough that he decided it was time to evacuate.

Benson said it took focus to get himself, his wife and his three-month-old baby through a flooded parking lot to get to the other side of their Atlanta apartment complex.

“You have your son in your arms above water trying to keep him up and you just push and try to get to safety,” Benson said.

Benson doesn’t know the status of his family’s home but is glad they are safe.

Now they just have to “let Mother Nature take its course,” the Atlanta native said, adding that his hometown’s “really changed as far as weather’s concerned.”

ATLANTA — Kim Greene, the CEO of Georgia Power Co. told reporters Friday she feared outages would continue to rise for the 2.6 million customers of Georgia’s only private electrical utility.

“All of that rain is leading to very saturated ground, and trees, unfortunately, will continue to fall,” Greene told reporters during a news conference in Atlanta. “So we do expect the number of outages to continue to rise. I assure you that we want to get your power back on just as safely and as quickly as possible.”

PERRY, Fla. — The congregation at Potter’s House Ministries church in Perry, Florida, was just weeks away from moving back into their newly renovated sanctuary after rebuilding in the wake of last year’s Hurricane Idalia. Then Hurricane Helene peeled back the brand-new roof, scattering sheets of aluminum across the church grounds.

“It’s really heartbreaking,” said parishioner Stephen Tucker, moved to tears as he surveyed the damage the morning after Helene made landfall. “I know it’s in God’s will for this to happen. And it’s by the grace of God that we’re still here.”

Tucker said it’s been one blow after another for the community he’s lived in all of his 51 years — a one, two, three punch from Idalia last August, then Debby a year later and now Helene, all making landfall within about 30 miles (48 kilometers) of each other in one county in this rural stretch of Florida’s Big Bend.

“It’s like it never stops,” he said. “Why Taylor County?”

ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said multiple hospitals in south Georgia are without power after Helene knocked out both their primary power and their generators.

Kemp said trees had fallen densely in the eastern part of the state.

“We know we still have people trapped in homes that we’re trying to cut our way into right now,” Kemp told Fox News.

“We have a lot of resources that we have on the ground already,” Kemp added. “We’re calling up additional National Guard, and we’re going to throw everything we got at it.”

Kemp said wind damage is less severe in metro Atlanta.

“The storm really stayed straight or either moved to the east a little bit, which spared some of our state from being on the dirty side of the storm. So if there’s any blessing in disguise, that’s probably it.”

VALDOSTA, Ga. — The hurricane’s winds stripped away the siding from the steeple in front of Union Cathedral in Valdosta, Georgia, exposing its metal frame and littering the parking lot with shredded foam and plaster.

The storm also smashed plate glass windows by the front doors. Inside the entryway, the floor was strewn with thick glass shards, religious booklets and offering envelopes.

Pastor Wade McCrae, who preaches to 250 congregants in person most Sundays with hundreds more watching online, said the sanctuary was undamaged. Deacons were running errands to bring plywood and tools to cover the broken window. McCrae hoped to be able to hold services this Sunday.

“We’re blessed it’s still standing,” he said.

ATLANTA — Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens tells reporters that firefighters rescued about 20 people overnight from cars or apartments imperiled by swiftly rising floodwaters.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A second person died in Florida after a tree fell on a home in the region where Hurricane Helene made landfall, bringing the death toll to at least six, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday.

The death was in Dixie County, which is in the Big Bend region of Florida, near where Helene made landfall late Thursday as a Category 4 storm.

“I pray that’s it,” DeSantis said at a news conference in Tallahassee. “But I also know these were very hazardous conditions.”

Helene was the third hurricane in more than a year to hit the Big Bend region. The damage appears to be greater than the combined damage of hurricanes Idalia in August 2023 and Debby last August, DeSantis said.

“To have something that was even bigger than those two storms causing a lot of damage, I think it’s a sense of trauma for the community,” DeSantis said. “It’s demoralizing because, it’s like, we worked on this, and now we could be potentially worse off than we were before.”

PERRY, Fla. — As the sun rose over Perry, Florida, the morning after Hurricane Helene plowed through, the sounds of roosters and generators pierced the air.

A flock of turkeys, roosters and chickens at this home off of U.S. Highway 27 survived the storm.

GULFPORT, Fla. — Boats were piled up Friday on a marina in Gulfport, Florida — some just smashed up fiberglass remains.

Streets in the community located on the Gulf of Mexico in the St. Petersburg, Florida area were littered with mud, trash and tree limbs left by water that had receded by daybreak Friday.

Other streets were still covered in water several inches high. Photos posted by residents showed a pizzeria whose front window was smashed in by storm surge.

VALDOSTA, Ga. — Rhonda Bell and her husband were spending a sleepless night in the downstairs bedroom of their century-old home just outside Valdosta, Georgia, when Helene’s center passed early Friday in the hours after midnight.

The winds broke off tree limbs, tore away neighbors’ roof shingles and knocked down fence panels in the neighborhood with train tracks along one edge. Then came a crashing sound louder than the rest.

“I just felt the whole house shake,” Bell said after daybreak Friday.

A towering oak tree outside the house smashed through the roof of an upstairs bedroom and collapsed onto the living room below. The massive tree roots popped out of the ground, leaving a gaping muddy hole.

“ Thank God we’re both alive to tell about it,” Bell said.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Helene cut a path of destruction across western South Carolina as the storm moved further east than forecast.

Almost 45% of homes and businesses across the entire state were without power Friday morning. Whole counties were without electricity as winds gusted to near hurricane force. Trees or other debris blocked every major road leading into Greenwood, a city of about 22,000 people about 65 miles (105 kilometers) west of Columbia, Greenwood County officials said on social media.

“We’re still trying to assess what all is going on,” said Greenwood County Emergency Services Director Derek Oliver in a brief phone call.

All but about 1,000 of the 28,000 homes and businesses in the county were without power, according to poweroutage.us.

One death has been reported in the storm so far. A tree fell on a house Friday morning in Anderson, the Anderson County Coroner’s Office said.

BROOKSVILLE, Fla — Storm surge from Helene deposited at least two boats in the middle of a main roadway in Hernando Beach, Florida, according to the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office.

“Driving conditions hazardous,” the sheriff’s office said Friday.

Hernando County is about 50 miles north of Tampa.

VENICE, Fla. — In Venice, Florida, police and fire rescue crews helped with 30 rescues of residents in coastal areas on Thursday, the city said in a social media post. The water has since receded, but teams were out Friday morning assessing damage and conducting door-to-door wellness checks.

“This morning we’re regrouping after doing some work last night with evacuating some people from some of the areas that were affected by the storm surge and the salt water intrusion to homes and low-lying areas,” Police Chief Charlie Thorpe said in a video posted on social media.

“It all started on the jetties, worked its way to Golden Beach when we had a significant storm surge there and eventually into Harbor Lights last night. We were working hard there to do whatever we needed to do for life-safety issues and we’re back in those areas this morning checking on things,” he added.

Isaac strengthened Friday into a hurricane in the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean and could cause dangerous waves in parts of Bermuda, forecasters said.

The storm was about 980 miles (1,577 kilometers) east-northeast of Bermuda and about 1,175 miles (1,890 km) west of the Azores, with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (121 kph). It was heading east at 12 mph (19 kph).

There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect, but the waves could cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions in Bermuda, the Miami-based U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Potentially dangerous waves also could spread to the Azores, the center said. Isaac is expected to strengthen before gradually weakening by the end of the weekend.

PERRY, Fla. — Residents of Florida’s Big Bend region woke up to widespread power outages Friday morning after Hurricane Helene made landfall overnight near the mouth of the Aucilla River.

Helene slammed ashore in the largely rural stretch of Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, becoming the third hurricane to batter that swath of the state in a little over a year.

As the sun rose over U.S. Highway 27 outside of Perry, cars dodged and weaved among downed pine trees that blocked portions of the road, some ensnarled in power lines. Emergency workers were already on hand clearing debris before 8 am. The air smelled of pine needles and fresh wood — from the staggering trees shattered by the storm, some snapped in half like toothpicks.

Authorities rescued people trapped by floodwaters and more than 3 million customers were in the dark across much of the southeastern U.S. as Hurricane Helene weakened to a tropical storm over Georgia early Friday after making landfall overnight in northwestern Florida as a Category 4 storm.

Helene came ashore amid warnings from the National Hurricane Center that the enormous system could create a “nightmare” storm surge. There were at least four storm-related deaths.

Video on social media sites showed sheets of rain coming down in Perry, Florida, near where Helene made landfall, and siding being torn off buildings. One local news station showed a home that had flipped over. The community and much of surrounding Taylor County were without power.

▶ Catch up on what happened overnight with Hurricane Helene

Floodwaters surround a structure Friday, Sept 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

This photo provided by U.S. Coast Guard District Seven (USCGSoutheast) shows a man and his dog being rescued after his sailboat became disabled during Hurricane Helene approximately 25 miles off Sanibel Island, Fla., on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (U.S. Coast Guard District Seven via AP)

This satellite map provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows Hurricane Isaac on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (NOAA via AP)

Chase Allbritton flies a drone near downed trees in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, in Perry, Fla., Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

A damaged 100-year-old home is seen after an Oak tree landed on it after Hurricane Helene moved through the area Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Valdosta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

A boat rests on a street after being relocated during flooding caused by Hurricane Helene Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Hudson, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

Residents wade through a street flooded in the passing of Hurricane Helene, in Batabano, Mayabeque province, Cuba, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Andrew Lucky, 54, speaks about the water damage to his house caused by a flood from Hurricane Helene near DeSoto Park, Fla., on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Tampa. (Jefferee Woo/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

Clarissa Lucky gives a tour of her home that flooded from Hurricane Helene near DeSoto Park, Fla., on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Tampa. (Jefferee Woo/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

A Citrus County Firefigher carries 11-year- old, Michael Cribbins, while conducting rescues from floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 in Crystal River, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

Jamir Lewis wades through floodwaters with his two daughters, Nylah and Aria, in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 in Crystal River, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

An airboat transports residents rescued from floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 in Crystal River, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

A man walks out of a street with water flooded from Hurricane Helene Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in New Port Richey, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

James Wilder, 55, of New Port Richey, Fla., walks along a flooded street from Hurricane Helene at Green Key Road near US 19 Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 in New Port Richey. (Chris Urso/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

A resident leads his pig through a street flooded in the passing of Hurricane Helene, in Batabano, Mayabeque province, Cuba, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A man floats in a container on a street flooded by the passing of Hurricane Helene, in Batabano, Mayabeque province, Cuba, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Lee County Sheriff's deputies dispatch a rescue boat to search for people trapped by floodwaters by Hurricane Helene in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (Lee County Sheriff's Office via AP)

This photo provided by Lee County Sheriff's office shows floodwaters by Hurricane Helene in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (Lee County Sheriff's Office via AP)

Flooded streets after the Hurricane Helene are seen in Madeira Beach, Fla.,Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (Max Chesnes/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

This GOES-16 GeoColor satellite image taken at 5:46 p.m. EDT and provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows Hurricane Helene in the Gulf of Mexico moving towards Florida, Thursday, Sept. 26 2024. (NOAA via AP)

Residents wade through a street flooded in the passing of Hurricane Helene, in Batabano, Mayabeque province, Cuba, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Vehicles move slowly around trees that have fallen after Hurricane Helene moved through the area, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Valdosta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

A woman looks at her dogs sitting on a sofa, as she stands inside her home that was flooded in the passing of Hurricane Helene, in Batabano, Mayabeque province, Cuba, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

The St. Pete Pier is pictured among high winds and waves as Hurricane Helene makes its way toward the Florida panhandle, passing west of Tampa Bay, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024 in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Martha Asencio-Rhine/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

Vehicles move slowly around trees that have fallen after Hurricane Helene, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Valdosta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Vehicles move slowly around trees that have fallen after of Hurricane Helene moved through the area, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in Valdosta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

The Israeli military says it carried out a “precise strike” on the central headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut, a series of massive explosions which sent massive clouds of orange and black smoke billowing in the skies.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said 10 teams from the Lebanese Red Cross arrived to the scene of the strike. There was no immediate word on casualties in the strike. The Israeli army spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said it targeted the main Hezbollah headquarters, located beneath residential buildings. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV said four buildings were reduced to rubble in the blast, so powerful it rattled windows and shook houses some 30 kilometers north of Beirut.

Not long before the explosion, thousands were massed in a Beirut suburb for the funeral of three Hezbollah members, including a senior commander, killed in earlier strikes.

Over 700 people have been killed in Lebanon this week, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Israel has dramatically escalated strikes, saying it is targeting Hezbollah’s military capacities and senior Hezbollah commanders.

Top Israeli officials have threatened to repeat the destruction of Gaza in Lebanon if the Hezbollah fire continues, raising fears that Israel’s actions in Gaza since Oct. 7 would be repeated in Lebanon.

The International Organization for Migration estimated Thursday that more than 200,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon since Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in support of Hamas after it stormed into Israel, sparking the Israel-Hamas war. Lebanon says a total of 1,540 people have been killed within its borders in that time.

The United States, France and other allies jointly called for a 21-day cease-fire. Lebanon's foreign minister said the country welcomed the cease-fire efforts, and decried Israel’s “systematic destruction of Lebanese border villages.”

Israeli military vehicles were seen transporting tanks and armored vehicles toward the country’s northern border with Lebanon, and commanders have issued a call-up of reservists. Netanyahu says Israel is striking Hezbollah “with full force” and won’t stop until its goals are achieved.

Here’s the latest:

JERUSALEM — Israel’s three main TV channels all flashed headlines that Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of the strike. But the unsourced reports could not immediately be confirmed.

Israeli officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the target of the strike.

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said 10 teams from the Lebanese Red Cross arrived to the scene of the strike. There was no immediate count of casualties from the organization.

One hour after the first strike, more explosions were heard in the area.

Civil defense teams worked to put out fires that broke out at the scene of the explosion.

Israel’s military said it carried out a “precise strike” on Hezbollah’s central headquarters in Beirut on Friday.

Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari announced the strike in a televised address.

Hagari said the headquarters “served as an epicenter of Hezbollah’s terror” and was “intentionally built under residential buildings" as part of the group's “strategy of using Lebanese people as human shields.”

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV said the airstrikes on the Haret Hreik district destroyed four buildings, turning them into a pile of rubble. The station said more than 15 missiles struck the area at the same moment.

The attack sent huge clouds of orange and black smoke billowing into the skies.

BEIRUT — Israeli airstrikes hit Beirut’s heavily-populated southern suburb as the blasts were heard throughout the Lebanese capital.

It was not immediately clear what the target was but thick black smoke was seen billowing from the area.

The massive explosion was so powerful it rattled windows and shook houses some 30 kilometers north of Beirut. Ambulances were seen headed to the scene of the explosions, sirens wailing.

The strike came an hour after thousands of people attended the funeral of a top Hezbollah commander who was killed the day before.

In the city of Tyre, Lebanese civil defense workers toiled to pull out two bodies from under the rubble of a collapsed building after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike Friday.

They pulled the dead bodies of 35-year-old Hiba Ataya and her mother, 65-year-old Sabah Olayan.

“There she is, this is Sabah,” one man is heard saying as workers removed slabs of concrete and stones to reveal a body.

Ali Safieddine, a civil defense rescuer, told The Associated Press that his organization was receiving nonstop calls to go rescue people but they’re unable to reach all the areas due to airstrikes and bombed out roads.

He also said the team had to evacuate their center after receiving a call from Israel instructing them to vacate the location. “But we are continuing our work, we will continue our mission from wherever we are even if we’re in the street,” he said.

The Norwegian Refugee Council aid group is warning that the ongoing escalation between Israel and Hezbollah is reaching deeper into Lebanon and pushing the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon to alarming levels.

“Some Lebanese villages have almost been entirely deserted amid large-scale destruction. Families do not know which way to turn as Israel bombards scores of towns for the first time,” Maureen Philippon, the group's country director in Lebanon.

In a statement, she said tens of thousands of people are now seeking shelter in ill-equipped primarily schools where two or three families are packed together in the same classroom and there are no showers or bathing areas.

“People now being turned away from shelters as there is simply no space for them inside,” she said, while some displaced families are forced to seek refuge in bus shelters, in their cars, and outside hospitals, unsure where to go next, Philippon said.

TEL AVIV, Israel — An Israeli security official said he expects a possible war against Hezbollah would not last for as long as the current war in Gaza because the Israeli military’s goals are much narrower.

The official said Israel has vowed to dismantle Hamas’ military and political regime in Gaza, but the goal in Lebanon is just to push Hezbollah away from the border with Israel. That is “not a high bar like Gaza” in terms of operational objectives, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military briefing guidelines.

The official said that no decision has been made on whether Israel will carry out a ground operation in southern Lebanon. But he stressed that the military is training for this possibility every day and is ready to implement it.

He added that Israel still sees Resolution 1701, the United Nations-brokered resolution that ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, as the best solution for lasting stability. But that the resolution must be enforced by an international force that is able to keep Hezbollah from setting up infrastructure close to the border with Israel. He said Israel’s punishing aerial bombardments this week, which killed more than 600 people in Lebanon, represent Israel’s decision to start enforcing the resolution on their own.

— By Melanie Lidman

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli airstrike hit a tent sheltering displaced people within a hospital complex in central Gaza early Friday, killing one Palestinian man and injuring four others.

The strike on Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah left some tents and tarps torn apart with items such as bottles, mattresses, and a baby chair scattered on the dusty ground.

An Israeli military spokesperson told The Associated Press it conducted a “precise strike on Islamic Jihad terrorists who were operating inside command and control centers embedded within the Humanitarian Area in Deir al Balah."

The spokesperson said that steps were take to “mitigate the risk of harm to civilians.” The military did not comment on whether militants had been killed in the strike.

A video filmed by The Associated Press shows several children surrounding metal parts of the guided missile labeled “manufacturer United States Army” in the vicinity of the hospital where hundreds of displaced people are sheltering.

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Health Minister Firass Abiad told reporters that 25 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes since midnight in different parts of the country.

The latest numbers on Friday put the total death toll over the past five days to about 700, including scores of women and children, as Israel dramatically escalated strikes targeting the military capacity of Hezbollah.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed a missile attack that targeted Israel early Friday morning.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, claimed the attack in a pre-recorded statement released by the Houthis. He claimed the rebels launched both a missile and drone. The missile targeted Tel Aviv while the drone targeted another city, though Israel did not acknowledge the drone. No injuries were reported.

Israel’s military said earlier Friday it used an Arrow interceptor missile to down the Houthi missile, which saw some shrapnel fall.

It’s the second attack by the Houthis to target Tel Aviv in recent weeks. Friday’s launch comes amid Israel’s intensified airstrike campaign targeting Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia. Both Hezbollah and the Houthis are backed by Iran.

GENEVA — The U.N. refugee agency says “well over 30,000” people have crossed from Lebanon into neighboring Syria over the last 72 hours in the wake of fighting between the militant group Hezbollah and Israeli forces in Lebanon.

Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, the representative for refugee agency UNHCR in Syria, said roughly half of the people who have fled were children and adolescents.

He said about 80% were Syrians returning to their home country and the rest were Lebanese.

“Now these, of course, are people who are fleeing bombs and who are crossing into a country that has been suffering from its own crisis and violence for 13 years now,” he told reporters in Geneva by video from the Lebanon-Syria border. Syria is facing “economic collapse,” he said.

“I think that this just illustrates the kind of extremely difficult choices both Syrians and Lebanese are having to make,” he said.

BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike on a border village has killed nine members of the same family, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Friday.

NNA said nine people were killed in the early Friday airstrike on the village of Chebaa that destroyed their three-story building.

Chebaa is in an area where the borders of Syria, Israel and Lebanon meet, and was struck several times in recent months.

On Friday, Israeli warplanes struck towns and villages in southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley, according to NNA.

JERUSALEM — Incoming fire from Lebanon into Israel continued Friday, with one man suffering wounds from shrapnel.

The Israeli military said four drones came across the border Friday, all of which were intercepted. Earlier Friday, the Israeli military said another 10 projectiles came into Israel from Lebanon, with some intercepted and others falling into open fields. It said it later targeted launchers in Lebanon behind the missile attacks.

Hezbollah claimed it had targeted the Israeli city of Tiberias with missiles.

The Israeli military said its warplanes had struck launchers in Haddatha, Lebanon, that it said fired the rockets at Tiberius in northern Israel. It said it was “currently continuing to strike Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon.”

DAMASCUS — An overnight Israeli airstrike on a military site in the area of Kfar Yabous in Syria near the border with Lebanon killed five Syrian army soldiers and injured another, Syrian state news agency SANA reported Friday, citing an unidentified military official.

Israel's military did not immediately acknowledge the strike. Israel regularly targets military sites in Syria and facilities linked to Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah but rarely acknowledges them.

Those strikes have become more frequent as Hezbollah has exchanged fire with Israeli forces for the past 11 months against the backdrop of Israel’s war against Hamas — a Hezbollah ally — in Gaza.

Tens of thousands of Lebanese and Syrians have fled across the border from Lebanon into Syria since the beginning of the week under intense Israeli bombardment that Israel says is targeting Hezbollah militants and weapons. The week's strikes have killed an estimated 700 people, including at least 150 women and children.

GENEVA — A group of international trade unions on Friday filed a complaint against Israel at the United Nations labor organization in a bid to win compensation for 200,000 Palestinians who have gone unpaid or seen their benefits withheld after the Oct. 7 attacks.

The nine unions say the workers from both Gaza and the West Bank had been employed in Israel before the deadly attacks by armed militants, but were barred from entering to go to their jobs afterward. As a result, the workers and their families have faced millions of dollars’ worth of lost income, financial insecurity and no access to remedies through the courts, they said.

“These workers have experienced widespread wage theft due to the suspension of work permits and the unilateral termination of their contracts,” said a joint statement from the unions, whose members are active in industries as diverse as construction, education, journalism, agriculture, hospitality and transportation.

The filing at the International Labor Organization in Geneva, of which Israel is a member country, is based on language in its constitution that seeks to ensure that countries uphold international commitments they have already made.

Such economic woes that many Palestinians have faced come on top of the bloodshed, displacement and other troubles faced by Gaza and the West Bank as Israel continues its campaign against armed Palestinian militants.

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government is bracing to evacuate thousands of Filipino workers in Lebanon in case the deadly conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group further escalates, Philippine officials said Friday.

More than 11,000 Filipinos live and work in Lebanon, often as house cleaners. Philippine officials have not yet ordered a mandatory evacuation of its citizens because it was not yet clear whether a full-scale war would erupt, including an Israeli ground attack.

Many Filipinos were adamant not to leave their jobs in Lebanon and return to uncertainties at home, but they have been told to be ready to evacuate any time, Foreign Undersecretary Eduardo De Vega told a news briefing in Manila.

They say “it’s better for them to die in war than to die of hunger,” De Vega said. But he added without elaborating that the Philippine government prepared a contingency plan for a massive evacuation if widespread ground fighting erupts across Lebanon.

Philippine Ambassador to Lebanon Raymond Balatbat told reporters in Manila via video on Friday that many Filipinos there “will only decide to leave when the situation is so bad, when the war is at their doorsteps.”

Israeli soldiers work on tanks in northern Israel on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Israeli soldiers work on tanks in northern Israel on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Israeli soldiers work on tanks in northern Israel on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Israeli soldiers work on tanks and APC in northern Israel on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

This satellite image released by Maxar Technologies shows a closer view of a building in Chouaghir, Lebanon, on Sept. 26, 2024, after airstrikes. (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies via AP)

This satellite image released by Maxar Technologies shows a closer view of a building in Chouaghir, Lebanon, on Sept. 3, 2024, before airstrikes. (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies via AP)

Palestinian supporters march near the United Nations headquarters at a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Lebanon's Minister for Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Abdallah Bouhabib addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Lebanese soldiers cordon off the area at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

In this combination of the satellite images released by Maxar Technologies shows a view of northern Lebanon, on Aug. 9, 2024, before airstrikes, top, and on Sept. 26, 2024, after airstrikes. (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies via AP)

Municipality workers remove power cables in front of damaged buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburb, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Volunteers distribute clothes to displaced women at a school in Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A resident checks an apartment that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)