TikTok forced to issue Hurricane Helene warning as viral moment obsessed southerners risk death

TikTok was forced to issue safety warnings to content-obsessed users chasing a viral moment after filming themselves partying and dancing in Hurricane Helene as it barreled through Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

Despite gusts of up to 140 mph (230 km/h) that ripped through Florida’s Big Bend region and left a trail of destruction stretching beyond Georgia, some enthusiastic TikTokers decided the natural disaster was the perfect backdrop for their clips.

In one, three young Floridians were seen dancing on a beach as the sand rushed past them at high speed, while another woman shot a beer on her balcony as she was battered by the hurricane.

While some went viral, TikTok posted some videos with a warning, warning that “participation in this activity could result in you or others being injured.”

The warnings were an understatement for those who ignored evacuation orders, as the death toll from Hurricane Helene stood at at least 19 as of Friday morning, with officials fearing that number would rise throughout the weekend.

At least 23 people have been killed so far, including at least 11 deaths in Florida, 11 in Georgia and one in North Carolina.

These deaths include a sign falling on a driver on a highway in Tampa, two people drowning in coastal Pinellas County, and a four-year-old girl losing her life in a weather-related crash in North Carolina.

Despite mass evacuation orders, TikTokers showed off how they were passing the time in creative, often alcohol-heavy ways.

One woman showed herself sipping from a bottle of Titos vodka on her balcony, although she admitted in the caption: “We should have been evacuated like everyone else…”

Some also joked about weather reporters parodying covering the storm in their dressing gowns and using bottles of wine as microphones.

But while some only joked about it, stunning footage from Friday morning showed a Fox Weather reporter interrupting his own live broadcast to rescue a woman stranded in her car.

Weatherman Bob Van Dillen sprang into action as he reported live north of Atlanta, Georgia, where Helene sped through Friday morning after making landfall in Florida hours earlier.

Van Dillen began by pointing out that the stranded woman “drove straight into the floodwaters,” and that she could be heard screaming for help as he told the studio that he had called 911 and was waiting for the fire department.

As the screaming continued during his broadcast, Van Dillen cut his live recording to wade in and help the woman, with Fox anchors in the studio branding him a “hero” as he pulled her to safety in chest-deep waters .

Fox Weather reporter Bob Van Dillen sprang into action while doing a live report north of Atlanta, Georgia, to rescue a woman trapped in her car by Hurricane Helene.

Van Dillen returned to the air after rescuing the woman, saying he waded into the water because he had lost confidence that firefighters would rescue her in time.

“It’s hard not to do it because 911 gets so many calls,” he said as he returned to Fox and Friends. “It will take a long time before they get here, but the fire brigade is finally here.”

“(The water was) up to my chest and there’s a bit of a current, but she was also a little lady, she was probably about five feet tall,” he explained.

He concluded, “I think the panic factor started to kick in.” And if you panic and you’re in the water and it starts to get cold, things can really go downhill very quickly. So I just couldn’t wait.’

After the death toll reached 23, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the death toll may continue to rise as rescue teams work through the wreckage left behind.

The storm’s danger was highlighted when Florida residents who decided not to evacuate were told to write their names on their bodies so they could be identified if they died during the storm.

“Please write your name, birthday and important information on your arm or leg in a PERMANENT MARKER so that you can be identified and your family can be notified,” the sheriff’s office in largely rural Taylor County warned those who chose not to evacuate in a Facebook post.

Helene first made landfall with maximum sustained winds of up to 140 mph (230 km/h), prompting weather warnings well off the Florida coast as far north as Georgia and western North Carolina.

As of Friday morning, more than 3 million homes and businesses were without power, including 1.2 million in South Carolina, 1.1 million in Florida, 1 million in Georgia and 400,000 in North Carolina, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us.

The governors of those states, as well as Alabama and Virginia, have all declared states of emergency.

“When Floridians wake up tomorrow morning, we will wake up to a situation in which there will most likely be more loss of life and certainly more loss of property,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said at a news conference on Thursday. night.

Early Friday, Helene was downgraded to a Category 1 storm as it passed through Georgia, after leaving a trail of destruction.