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At least 44 people died across five US states battered by powerful storm Helene, authorities said Friday, after torrential flooding prompted emergency responders to launch massive rescue operations.

Roads, homes and businesses were underwater—many of them destroyed—after Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane near the Florida state capital Tallahassee overnight and surged north.

As darkness settled over the region Friday, more than 4.2 million customers were without power across 10 states, from Florida up to Ohio, according to tracker poweroutage.us.

And while Helene weakened to a tropical storm and eventually a post-tropical cyclone, it has continued to wreak havoc with heavy rains that the National Hurricane Center said would result in "catastrophic and potentially life-threatening flash and urban flooding."

In Cedar Key, an island city of 700 people just off Florida's northwest coast, the full destructive force of the hurricane was on view.

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