Helene now a tropical storm after speeding through Florida with deadly force

Helene weakened to a tropical storm over Georgia early Friday after making landfall in northwestern Florida as a hurricane, bringing "nightmare" storm surge and dangerous winds and rain across much of the southeastern U.S. There were at least five reported storm-related deaths.

The storm, packing maximum sustained winds of 95 km/h, was about 60 kilometres south-southwest of Clemson, S.C., and about 130 kilometres east-northwest of Atlanta, moving north at 48 km/h at 8 a.m. ET.

"We expect it to weaken further. It's going to turn northward and turn northwestward and eventually move into Tennessee and Kentucky, and merge with a funnel system up in that area," said Jack Beven, a senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center.

The National Hurricane Center said Helene roared ashore around 11:10 p.m. ET Thursday near the mouth of the Aucilla River in the Big Bend area of Florida's Gulf Coast. It had maximum sustained winds estimated at 225 km/h.

Video on social media sites showed sheets of rain coming down in Perry, Fla., 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.

In Citrus County, some 193 kilometres south of Perry, first responders were out in boats early Friday to rescue people trapped by the flooding.

"If you are trapped and need help please call for rescuers – DO NOT TRY TO TREAD FLOODWATERS YOURSELF," the sheriff's office warned in a Facebook post. The water may contain live wires, sewage, sharp objects and other debris, they posted.

WATCH l Dramatic rescue off Florida's southwest coast:

One person was killed in Florida when a sign fell on their car. In south Georgia, two people were killed when a possible tornado struck a mobile home on Thursday night, Wheeler County Sheriff Randy Rigdon told WMAZ-TV. Wheeler County is about 113 kilometres southeast of Macon.

Trees that toppled onto homes were blamed for deaths in Charlotte, N.C., and Anderson County, S.C.

The hurricane's eye passed near Valdosta, Ga., as the storm churned rapidly north into Georgia on Thursday night. The NHC issued an extreme wind warning for the area, meaning possible hurricane-force winds exceeding 185 km/h. At a hotel in the city of 55,000, dozens of people huddled in the darkened lobby after midnight Friday as winds whistled and howled outside.

Electricity was out, with hall emergency lights, flashlights and cellphones providing the only illumination.

Fermin Herrera, 20, his wife and their two-month-old daughter left their room on the top floor of the hotel, where they took shelter because they were concerned about trees falling on their Valdosta home.

"We heard some rumbling," said Herrera, cradling the sleeping baby in a downstairs hallway. "We didn't see anything at first. After a while the intensity picked up. It looked like a gutter that was banging against our window. So we made a decision to leave."