Around 12% of the current oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, and 6.04% of the current natural gas production, was shut-in due to Hurricane Helene which roared through the Gulf as a major hurricane, a government agency said today.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, which is part of the Department of Interior, said that it has activated its hurricane response team and was monitoring production in the Gulf.

“After the storm has passed, facilities will be inspected. Once all standard checks have been completed, production from undamaged facilities will be brought back online immediately,” the bureau said in a news release.

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Stephen Bracciale left his home Friday morning and walked the streets of his hurricane-ravaged Pass-a-Grille neighborhood in St. Pete Beach, Florida, in search of a place to charge his phone and iPad.

Bracciale, a 71-year-old diabetic who has survived bladder cancer, left his wife of nearly 50 years, their cats and dogs, and the medical supplies that he relies on at home, thinking he would return shortly. He was mistaken.

A neighbor offered to take him for a drive, saying he could charge his phone in the car. Bracciale gratefully agreed, knowing finding electricity elsewhere on the barrier island would be tricky.

Read the full story here

More than 4,000 national guardsmen have been deployed in Florida to help with Helene response efforts.

The Florida National Guard said it has rescued 149 people and 55 animals, is supporting 85 missions, has liaison officers assigned to 14 counties, and executed seven search and rescue missions as well as 12 route-clearing missions.

"The FLNG remains postured to provide logistics support, law enforcement support, route clearance, search and rescue, commodity distribution, flood mitigation, aviation and other support as needed by the state," it said in a news release.

President Joe Biden today called the devastation left by Hurricane Helene overwhelming, and pledged to the residents of six states that the federal government will help in the recovery.

"The devastation we’re witnessing in Hurricane Helene’s wake has been overwhelming. Jill and I continue to pray for all of those who have lost loved ones and for everyone impacted by this storm," Biden said in a post on X.

More than 50 people are known to have died.

Fear lingers in this hard-hit city, where trees toppled onto houses and several downtown buildings were destroyed. Anxious families worry their community could be without power for weeks in the wake of Hurricane Helene.

Valdosta residents seeking bottled water, ice, tarps and food passed through an ever-growing line of cars Saturday morning at the Lowndes County Civic Center.

The biggest concern, some said, was the massive power outage in their city and the uncertainty of when the lights would return.

“It’s so widespread because we got a direct hit,” Ronney Bythwood, 71, said after his truck was loaded up with supplies.

Read the full story here.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation today said it has set up a phone line to coordinate reports of missing people following flooding caused by Hurricane Helene.

There was severe flooding in the eastern part of the state from the storm, which made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane.

The number is 1-800-TBI-FIND.

Over 200 people have been saved from floodwaters in North Carolina following Hurricane Helene's torrential rains, according to a statement issued today from Gov. Roy Cooper's office.

“This is a historic and catastrophic storm for Western North Carolina and I’m grateful to first responders working right now to save lives and evacuate residents,” Cooper said.

The statement said that search-and-rescue efforts are ongoing in western North Carolina. Some areas in the mountains received as much as 29 inches of rain, which caused "catastrophic flooding," it added.

Meanwhile, Helene's strong winds knocked down trees, power lines and cellphone towers. More than 700,000 people in the state were still without power as of Saturday morning, the governor's office said.

There is no longer a potential imminent breach of a Tennessee dam after Hurricane Helene, an official with the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said today.

The situation at the Nolichucky Dam prompted evacuation orders, and video showed a massive amount of rushing water. The Tennessee Valley Authority said today the dam remains intact.

Yesterday, officials feared “a potential imminent breach,” TEMA Chief of Staff Alex Pellom said/

“We’ve worked with TVA to confirm that Nolichucky is not in that state anymore, and that we have no dam failures that are reported at the moment,” he said.

Hurricane Helene smashed Georgia poultry facilities, ruined cotton crops, and Gov. Brian Kemp said that he was told “literally every commodity in this state has been damaged by this storm.”

There have been 107 poultry facilities damaged or destroyed; 15 dairies that have been affected; “and dozens and dozens of other facilities” that have been affected, Kemp said.

Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tyler Harper said that some agricultural areas have suffered damage worse than Hurricane Michael in 2018.

Hurricane Michael caused over $2 billion in agricultural damage, he said.

“Economically, agriculture is in a really tough spot. And now we are dealing with the devastation, significant devastation of Hurricane Helene, from Valdosta all the way to Augusta,” Harper said.

Tyler said in some areas the cotton crop was significantly damaged or a total loss. The totality of the agricultural damage is still being assessed in the state, he said.

“East of I-75, it’s worse than Hurricane Michael, in the damage that we’re already seeing and that we’re already assessing,” Tyler said.

Georgia is the top producing state when it comes to broiler chickens, peanuts and pecans, among other goods, and is close to the top in production of cotton, according to the Georgia Farm Bureau.