Tangled heaps of nailed lumber and wrecked boats lay on the streets. A house lay destroyed beneath a fern-covered oak tree that had fallen in the wind. Residents waded or paddled through reddish floodwaters hoping to find their loved ones to safety, and rescue workers used fan boats to evacuate stranded people in bathrobes or wrapped in blankets.

Authorities tried to get the problem under control on Friday Hurricane Helene The extreme wave of destruction that swept across Florida, Georgia and much of the southeastern United States on Friday, killing at least 30 people in four states and leaving millions without power.

Helene was the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average season this year because of the record warm sea temperatures.

The Category 4 hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (225 km/h) and Landing made late Thursday where Florida's panhandle meets the peninsula, a rural region dotted with fishing villages and vacation destinations.

Floodwaters inundated cars and buildings, and winds ripped the roofs off businesses, homes and churches. Faith Cotto and her mother, Nancy, stood outside and mourned the loss of their brick home in St. Petersburg, Florida, to a different fate: Amidst so much water, it burned.

A Coast Guard crew in a helicopter rescued a man and his dog after his sailboat became disabled 25 miles (40 kilometers) off southwest Florida. Firefighters carried children across floodwaters in the Crystal River north of Tampa.

But the damage went much further. Streets in Atlanta plunged into reddish-brown water on Friday. Hospitals in south Georgia remained without power as officials warned of severe damage to the power grid. In Tennessee, dozens of people were rescued from the roof of a hospital and authorities ordered the evacuation of downtown Newport, a city of about 7,000 people, due to the “catastrophic failure” of a dam.