Hurricane Helene forged a devastating path of floods and wind damage after slamming into Florida’s Big Bend region on Thursday night, submerging much of the state’s Gulf Coast before continuing its destructive march through Georgia and into the mountains of Appalachia.

The storm made landfall in northwestern Florida as a Category 4 storm as forecasters warned the enormous system could create a “nightmare” storm surge and bring dangerous winds and rain across much of the southeastern US.