Hurricane Helene has left at least five people dead in flooded areas of Florida and Georgia and continues to interrupt travel plans across North America.
As of 9:30 a.m. ET, FlightAware.com was already reporting nearly, 1,500 cancelled flights in and out of the U.S. for 27SEP, including more than 300 at Charlotte/CLT, 130 at TPA, and 135 at ATL.
Tampa Airport was closed at 2 a.m. on 26SEP in preparation for the storm. TPA officials announced they had reopened around 9:30 a.m. on 27SEP. TPA is, of course, a major port of entry from pax from Canada and many other North American and world cities.
Air Canada has Hurricane Helene travel advisories out on 27SEP for flights to ATL, TPA, MCO, RSW, CLT (Charlotte) and CHS (Charleston). The airline said it has revised its ticketing policy to make it easier for customers travelling on an affected flight to make changes to their booking without penalty, space permitting.
WestJet has a travel advisory out for flights to TPA, MCO and RSW on 27SEP, with free one-time fee waivers for changes and cancellations.
Air Transat said it cancelled its YUL-MCO and MCO-YUL flights for 26SEP and was moving them to later times on 27SEP.
Porter Airlines said it has no travel advisories in effect.
USA TODAY said at least five people were killed from the storm, while 3.5 million were without power.
“Hurricane Helene weakened overnight on its path through Georgia, hours after making landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 storm,” NBC News said. “The storm churned ashore about 10 miles west-southwest of Perry, Florida, at about 11:10 p.m. and with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.
It was a grim scene in the Big Bend area, which is just south and west of the state capital of Tallahassee and west of Gainesville. Helene delivered a “nightmare” storm surge and dangerous winds across a wide swatch of Florida and Georgia. Helene is one of the largest storms in the Gulf of Mexico in the last century, some experts said.
As the storm mounted and seas pushed inward, at least one medical official in Florida suggested people write their names on their arms so potential rescue workers would be able to identify them later.
Cedar Key, a popular tourist spot southwest of Gainesville, was reporting record storm surges of eight feet or more. The town was damaged last year by Hurricane Idalia and suffered a terrible fire earlier this month. Now comes more flooding and even more clean-up work.
There also were reports of heavy flooding in St. Petersburg and Tampa, as well as in the Florida Keys and western Cuba.
In Atlanta, the mayor was urging local residents to stay off the roads.
The storm also impacted many Florida cruise ports. Seatrade-Cruise said several Florida ports were closed on 26SEP, which had a ripple effect on itineraries for several cruise lines.
Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas' 26SEP departure from Miami was delayed and the ship is now scheduled to visit Perfect Day at CocoCay on Sunday instead of Friday. The website also said delays are expected for all the cruise ships scheduled for 27SEP turnarounds at Port Canaveral, including the Disney Wish.
Meanwhile, Hurricane John roared back to life on 26SEP after slightly dissipating in strength; an effect some meteorologists call a “ Zombie Storm.” Agencia Efe.com said Hurricane John was responsible for ten deaths in Mexico; eight in the state of Guerrero and two in Oaxaca.
