How to support Hurricane Helene response efforts

(Gray Media) – Gray Media is teaming up with the Salvation Army for Hurricane Helene relief.

The Salvation Army is prepared to provide emergency aid, food, drinks, emotional and spiritual care, and long-term recovery services to survivors and rescue workers.

By making a financial donation to HeleneHelp.org, you help make all those services possible and empower the Salvation Army to bring hope to those in need.

When supporting Salvation Army disaster services, 100% of your donation is applied to the disaster relief operation you select.

Helene roared ashore as a powerful Category 4 storm in Florida late Thursday night with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph.

First responders were out in boats early Friday to rescue people trapped by flooding.

Soon after it crossed over land, Helene weakened to a tropical storm, with its maximum sustained winds falling to 70 mph. At 5 a.m., the storm was about 40 miles east of Macon, Georgia, and about 100 miles southeast of Atlanta, moving north at 30 mph, the National Hurricane Center in Miami reported.

“This is one of the biggest storms we’ve ever had,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said.

For Atlanta, Helene could be the worst strike on a major Southern inland city in 35 years, said University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd.

Forecasters expected the system to continue weakening as it moves into Tennessee and Kentucky and drops heavy rain over the Appalachian Mountains, with the risk of mudslides and flash flooding.

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

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