I am starting this thread for a couple of reasons:
A) Most important: A place for "everyone" affected by Helene to post their status, good, bad or indifferent...and let us know "what's what".
B) Because it was touched upon in the RKCC "club build" and that really isn't the proper location.
I'll start. As the crow flies (or hurricane winds blow) my SW Ocala, Fl. location is 30 miles from Cedar Key. Most, if you've followed the paths of the last couple of "big blows", know Cedar Key is in the hot zone.
I live in a gated community, consisting of 800 homes. Quite a few (including mine) received some minor damage. I lost a portion of my large cedar tree, some fence, one awning, etc. All is "doable" and I am able to take care of it without much "drama".
I want to thank "everyone" who has reached out to me throughout this ordeal. It has been well-received and a comfort to both The Lovely Elizabeth and this 'Ol Captain.
In my community (as best I can reconnoiter) there were 3 homes "lost", one home lost a room, dozens lost a roof, and various assorted "outside stuff", like me, damaged. Power was never lost, thanks to our underground utilities. The home losses were, most probably, tornado-related.
That's it from this Florida location. I hope we here from Buck (North Carolina)...The Mabry's (South Carolina) and all other in those states as well as Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, etc.
...............PLEASE.............Let us know how you fared!
Stay Sharp, Capt. Chris
PS: Please remember that this storm was still a player in Florida throughout a good portion of Friday as well...so it may take some time for folks to pipe in...CCS

Capt. Chris--

Glad you are OK and not so severely affected.

The inland damage is horrific!

Lots of people affected who don't usually worry about "hurricanes."

Larry

Glad your damage was minimal Capt. we are about 12 miles inland from the coast just south of Tampa and had no damage and only about 2" rain. (extremely blessed and fortunate) As you know the coast and barrier islands are devastated.

My relatives in Crystal River had several feet of flooding (waterfront condo). No heavy damage, other than water to cleanup.

I'm in the Southeast corner of Alabama, and we got lucky being on the west side of the storm. Got about 6.5 inches of rain and some winds to knock down limbs but thankfully nothing major.

In central KY we had 40 to 60 MPH guest and over 6" of rain over the long day so it had time to drain off. Mostly large limbs and some trees down. Lost power for a couple of hours Fri. afternoon. The wind blew over a picket fence at my daughters house. I didn't like that fence anyway. The power went out at the HiSchool at about 12:30 and some parents got upset because they didn't buss the kids home in 60mph winds. Go figure. As of today there are over 5000 homes without power in eastern KY.
I think Tenn got hit harder than being reported.
My heart goes out to those hit hard by the storm.

Dennis

Friday morning Greenville SC (next city over from Wally & Lori Mabry) lost power to 90% of the buildings, including the call center for my employer.

I haven't caught up with today's status yet, been on the road.

So, I'm finally checking in The Mabry's. It's been nuts...My post may be longer than the Captain's. I apologize.
Wally and I are in Spartanburg SC, located in the upstate, that borders the NC Line and is beside Greenville. Wally and I are so blessed to have No Damage to our house. But we have Numerous trees that are down. PS.. Wally has a broke back also!! But my neighborhood and Spartanburg took a beating. We lost power 7:30 am during the storm, Friday. My power was restored Saturday evening around 8 pm, only because when the power got cut on at the sub station, the line became hot and caught the tree on fire. So, The power company saw it and immediately fixed it. While they were at my house, they fixed the line that runs to the house. My neighbor and us being the only ones with power. Power is coming back a little at a time. They are saying they hope to have everyone running by Friday, but when they were at my house Saturday, I was told, possibly 3 weeks, because there was so many areas not accessible.
I work with the Assessor's office and was called in Saturday to do Damage Assessment for FEMA purposes, and we are still continuing to cover the county, and are not even close to being finished. The damage is unlike any our County has ever had, and the worst event we have ever had. We have many,destroyed homes and misplaced families, and deaths. We have outside help now and even the SC National Guard helping. Keep in mind we had rain for 2 days before the storm. Pretty much our whole town was out of power with 8 gas stations open and 1 grocery store open. We actually lost cell towers and our 911 communications actually failed, and had to go to a back up number. While working, Wally managed to take my Jeep to get gas and wait for 1.5 hour and then grocery shop. It's been crazy, for sure. I can say we are blessed. We are devastated for the loss of Chimney Rock, which is just a hop and skip from us. A town completely wiped out, is just unbelievable. I have been meeting people who have lost their homes and somehow made it out alive and have not complained one bit, but thanking God they made it out alive. Pray for NC. Our sheriff informed us that one family loss 10 family members. I will post some pictures of homes in our area.

Prayers for y'all, your community, and so many others! This is a TRAGIC Event for so many over a widespread area! Thank you for your updates!

Im glad y'all are safe Lori.

Dennis