Tropical Storm Helene live updates: 4 million without power as storm ...

Two deaths were reported out of Anderson County, South Carolina, as Helene battered the state, both involving trees falling on homes.

The Anderson County Coroner's Office responded to a death reported around 8:30 a.m. this morning on West Whitner Street in Anderson, and a second report around 10:15 a.m. on Williams Road off of Whiten Road in Anderson, coroner's office spokesperson Alyssa H. Whitfield said.

North Carolina residents who live below the Lake Lure Dam in Rutherford County were told to evacuate to higher ground immediately because water is overtopping the dam.

A shelter has been set up at the Rutherfordton Presbyterian Church, the Rutherford County Emergency Management said in a Facebook post.

First responders conducted dozens of high-water rescues in areas hit by flash flooding triggered by Hurricane Helene.

Over 4 million are without power now across the Southeast. 

In South Carolina there are 1.3 million customers without power, over 1 million out in Florida and Georgia, over 640,000 out in North Carolina and over 66,000 out in Tennessee, according to PowerOutage.US numbers as of 10 a.m.

This morning Helene is a tropical storm located 80 miles northeast of Atlanta moving north at 30 mph with 60 mph winds. 

Today it’ll bring significant impacts to parts of the Southeast, Ohio Valley and Tennessee Valley with 42 million people under flood alerts. Life-threatening flash flooding will continue today especially in the Atlanta metro area, western North Carolina into the Virginia mountains and western/middle Tennessee. 

Twelve million people are at risk for tropical tornadoes across the eastern Carolinas and southern Virginia including the cities of Charleston, Wilmington, Charlotte, Raleigh and Norfolk. 

Destructive winds will also continue to cause power outages and crippling air delays at airports like Atlanta and Charlotte.  

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told a news conference this morning that a person died in in Dixie County after a tree that fell on a home as Helene lashed the state.

That brings the Florida storm death toll to two and the overall Helene death toll to at least six, according to a count by NBC News.

The other Florida fatality was reported last night after a sign fell onto a car. Three deaths have been reported thus far in Georgia and one in North Carolina.

Helene is producing damaging gusty winds and life-threatening flooding over portions of the southeast and southern Appalachians, the National Hurricane Center said in its 8 a.m. update.

The storm is located about 80 miles from Atlanta and 35 miles from Clemson, South Carolina. It has maximum sustained winds of 60 mph and is moving 30 mph.

A tropical storm warning was discontinued for the Florida Gulf Coast area to the Suwannee River to Indian Pass, the agency said. A tropical storm warning for the east coast of Florida to southeastern Georgia was also discontinued.

Helene was the strongest hurricane to ever strike Florida’s Big Bend as it was the first Category 4 storm to do so. 

Helene brought massive devastation: The Florida coast from Tampa to Cedar Key experienced record storm surge of 6 to 9.5 feet last night. Some places set storm surge records including Cedar Key, Clearwater Beach, St. Petersburg and Old Port Tampa. 

Rainfall highs include 15.5 inches recorded in Sumatra, Florida, 13.74 inches in Busick, North Carolina, and 11.12 inches in Salem, South Carolina. 

Wind gusts as fierce as 99 mph were clocked in Perry, Florida, 85 mph in Cedar Key, and 83 mph in Augusta, Georgia. 

Jamie Cruse, the police chief of Perry in Florida’s Big Bend, said his only regret in Helene is "we weren’t aggressive enough in the notification to tell people to evacuate the areas that were prone to flooding."

"I just hope that when we finally discover what we’re dealing with that we don’t have a big loss of life," Cruse said on NBC News Now this morning.

"Right now the sun is starting to rise, we’re starting to get the first glimpse of what we actually have laying on the ground and what we’re going to be dealing with. We have helpers everywhere now doing the first push through to try to see what we need to do to clear these roads to get assets and resources in here that we desperately need to serve our communities," Cruse explained.

Perry is in Taylor County, where the sheriff had issued a grim request for those who ignored evacuation orders to mark themselves with their names and information so they could be easily identified in the worst-case scenario.

Cruse said initial reports show that at least 15 foot surge inundated the coastal areas outside Perry, where there are single-story homes on stilts.

He's urging locals to not despair, instead allow police and local officials to do their jobs.

A flash flood emergency was issued for the Atlanta area this morning due to thunderstorms that are expected to produce heavy rain. Between 2 to 4 inches has already fallen with an additional 1 to 2 inches expected.

"Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly," the National Weather Service in Peachtree City said in an update.

The warnings are in the following counties: Northern Cherokee, Northwestern Dawson, Southwestern Gilmer, Pickens, Catoosa, Northeastern Gordon, Murray, Northeastern Walker, and Whitfield.

Will Clark

Floodwaters are seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene near Steinhatchee, Florida on Friday, a day after the storm made landfall.

Bruce Rector, the mayor of Clearwater, on Florida's Gulf Coast, has yet to establish the full extent of the damage from Helene, but he fears the worst.

He told NBC's "TODAY" show: “When the sun comes up this morning we’ll see what the damage is, but we believe it’s devastating.” 

Overnight, the Clearwater Fire & Rescue Department had shared videos of first responders rescuing elderly locals in knee-deep flood water.

“The pictures I saw, the I videos saw last night were just devastating along Clearwater Beach, along all of our beaches here in Tampa Bay. I know from our fire and police that we had some homes burn to the ground out on the island, there were some folks that we just couldn’t get to because of high waters to rescue,” Rector explained.

He said some people just didn't want to evacuate.

“Last night it was a historic storm surge. We saw things out there in the flooding that people who have lived out there their entire lives have never seen. We did our best and it breaks the heart of our first responders when they can’t get through high water to rescue folks,” he said. “As far as I know they got to everyone eventually who needed to be rescued but we’ll find out today when we go out and assess the damage.” 

Patrick SmithPatrick Smith is a London-based editor and reporter for NBC News Digital.

The devastation to energy infrastructure in the southeastern U.S. is becoming clear this morning, with more than 3.5 million energy customers without power as of 8 a.m. ET, according to PowerOutage.us.

More than 1 million customers are in the dark in each state of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, as well as more than 400,000 in North Carolina.

The effects are also being felt in Tennessee, where 13,000 customers are out of power and as far north as Virginia, where the figure is currently 27,000.

Reporting from ATLANTA, Georgia

At least three people have been confirmed dead in Georgia as a result of Hurricane Helene. Meanwhile, about 1 million people are without power and remain under a flash flood emergency. NBC’s Priya Sridhar reports for TODAY from Atlanta, Georgia.

A person died and another was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after a tree fell on a home in Charlotte, North Carolina, around 5 a.m. this morning, officials said. 

Officials believe the tree blew over due to Helene’s wind and rain, Mecklenburg EMS Agency PIO Grace Nelson said.  No details regarding the victims were released.

That brings Helene’s storm-related deaths to five after one death was reported in Florida and three in Georgia.

Extended flash flood warnings are in place in for swaths of Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina today as Helene dumps heavy rain that has flooded roads, buildings and prompted evacuations.

A flash flood warning for Habersham County and Rabin County in northeastern Georgia was extended through 11 a.m. ET. This morning doppler radar indicated 3 to 7 inches of rain has fallen in those counties with the rate at 1 to 1.5 inches an hour, the National Weather Service in Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina, wrote in its morning advisory. As a result “significant flooding appears likely.” 

A flash flood warning was also issued for Jackson County and Transylvania County in western North Carolina through 3:15 p.m. p.m. ET due to widespread catastrophic flooding across these counties.”

"Numerous roadways are flooded and impassable, and hundreds of trees are down across the area amid completely saturated ground. Many water rescues are ongoing. In Jackson County, evacuations of low-lying areas are already underway,” the weather service said.

In South Carolina, a flash flood warning was extended for Oconee County and Pickens County upstate through 4:30 p.m. ET Friday as hundreds of down trees reportedly prevent rescue operations and as 5 to 8 inches of rain has already fallen.

“This is a particularly dangerous situation. Seek higher ground now!” The weather service warned. Warnings were also extended for Abbeville County, Greenwood County and Laurens County through 10 a.m. 

Hurricane Helene's size was clearly seen from the International Space Station about nine hours before the storm made landfall in Florida.

Patrick SmithPatrick Smith is a London-based editor and reporter for NBC News Digital.

The city of South Pasadena, Florida, is largely under water, according to video posted to Facebook by authorities attempting ongoing rescue efforts by boat this morning.

West of St Petersburg, South Pasadena is under a mandatory evacuation order.

Patrick SmithPatrick Smith is a London-based editor and reporter for NBC News Digital.

Some 3 million energy customers will wake up without power this morning in the wake of Tropical Storm Helene.

The number passed 3 million just before 7 a.m. ET, according to PowerOutage.us and FindEnergy.com, including 1.2 million in Florida alone.

That includes 914,000 in Georgia, 723,000 in South Carolina and 252,000 in North Carolina.

A resident of Cedar Key, Florida, shared doorbell camera video of Hurricane Helene’s storm surge sweeping past their driveway, moments before the camera was submerged by floodwater.

Patrick SmithPatrick Smith is a London-based editor and reporter for NBC News Digital.

A firefighter has been killed by a tree falling onto their car in Pierce County, Georgia, the local coroner confirmed this morning.

Details are scant and the coroner's investigation is still ongoing but NBC affiliate WTLV of Jacksonville reported that Pierce County Fire Department had also confirmed the death, which happened in the city of Blackshear, about 55 miles west of Brunswick.

The department also told WTLV that it is currently sheltering from the storm. 

Patrick SmithPatrick Smith is a London-based editor and reporter for NBC News Digital.

The effects of Tropical Storm Helene are being felt in South Carolina as waves crash over the sea wall and onto nearby buildings in downtown Charleston. The city and surrounding coastline are covered by a tropical storm warning.

Patrick SmithPatrick Smith is a London-based editor and reporter for NBC News Digital.

Various hurricane and tropical storm warnings across Florida have been lifted or downgraded as Helene makes it way north across Georgia, the National Hurricane said in its 5 a.m. ET update, which reclassified Helene as a tropical storm.

Patrick SmithPatrick Smith is a London-based editor and reporter for NBC News Digital.

The sheer extent of the damage caused by Hurricane Helene won't become clear until the sun comes up, but already the affected region's power network is in tatters, with 2 million in the dark.

In Florida, 1.2 million people are without power, as well as 683,000 in Georgia and 242,000 in South Carolina, according to PowerOutage.us.

Helene hit last night as a Category 4 storm, the second strongest possible rating on the Saffir-Simpson scale. The National Hurricane Center's guide to hurricane strength says that power infrastructure could be damaged for weeks or even months in the event of such a storm.

Patrick SmithPatrick Smith is a London-based editor and reporter for NBC News Digital.

People in Georgia should continue to shelter from Hurricane Helene and stay away from windows during what the National Hurricane Center this morning called a “dangerous and life-threatening situation.”

The NHC said in a 4 a.m. ET update that the storm was moving rapidly inland through the state, bringing winds of up to 77 mph and heavy rain.

Reporting from TALLAHASSEE, Florida

Hurricane Helene has eased to a Category 1 storm, but still poses a huge threat across 12 states. NBC News’ Jay Gray reports from Tallahassee, Florida, where residents dodged a direct hit.