Helene Death Toll Over 30 and Rising

The death toll from Hurricane Helene has risen to more than 35 in four states and authorities say they expect the toll to keep rising as they search homes in the hardest-hit areas. In North Carolina, authorities are worried about a potential dam collapse. Coverage:

• Georgia: Gov. Brian Kemp said at least 11 people had died in the state, including a firefighter who was killed when a tree fell on his vehicle, 11Alive reports. He said crews are working to rescue people in more than 100 homes.
• Florida: CNN reports that eight hurricane-related deaths have been reported in Florida so far. Drowning accounted for at least two of five deaths reported in Pinellas County near Tampa.
• North Carolina. Gov. Roy Cooper said the storm killed two people in the state, including a person who was killed when a tree fell on a home in Charlotte, WXII 12 reports.
• South Carolina: The AP reports that officials say at least 17 people were killed in South Carolina, including two firefighters who died while responding to calls in Saluda County.

• Dam failure 'imminent:' Warning sirens went off and people in low-lying areas below the Lake Lure dam in western North Carolina were placed under a mandatory evacuation order Friday morning, the News & Observer reports. In an all-caps warning posted on X, the National Weather Service's Greenville-Spartanburg office said dam failure was "imminent" and people below the dam "need to evacuate to higher ground immediately."
• Some people couldn't be reached: Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri says rescuers are going to locations where people who called for help overnight couldn't be reached, CNN reports. "Not everybody evacuated, and unfortunately, they called for help, and we couldn't help a lot of the people who called as those conditions got very bad last night, and it was inaccessible," the sheriff says. "We tried to launch boats, we tried to use high water vehicles, and we just got with too many obstacles, and we couldn't get out there and effect some of those rescues."
• One of the worst storms in North Carolina's history: Cooper said more than 100 high-water rescues were carried out as Helene flooded parts of the state, the AP reports. "With the rain that they already had been experiencing before Helene's arrival, this is one of the worst storms in modern history for parts of western North Carolina," said the governor, who urged people to stay off the roads unless they were moving to higher ground. More than 2 million people in the areas around Fayetteville and Raleigh are under flash flood warnings, the New York Times reports. This story has been updated with new developments.

(The storm has left millions in the Southeast without power.)