Hurricane Helene Makes Landfall, Netanyahu Addresses UN, Sudan Civil War

0:02Hurricane Helene has been downgraded to a tropical storm this morning. When it made landfall late last night as a Category 4 storm, it packed a dangerous one-two punch of high winds and a storm surge. What's the situation on the ground? I'm Michelle Martin with Leila Fadal, and this is Up First from NPR News. This morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address the U.N. General Assembly in New York. World leaders at the annual gathering have made repeated calls for ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon. The question on everybody's mind is how are we going to get this to stop? How will Israel respond?

0:36And the Sudanese army has launched a major offensive to take back the capital. It's the latest turn in a civil war that's caused the worst hunger and displacement crisis in the world. Will this offensive change anything? Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.

0:59Hurricane Helene has weakened to a tropical storm as it traveled north from Florida to Georgia. The storm, which had developed into a powerful Category 4 hurricane, made landfall in northwestern Florida last night shortly after 11 p.m. with winds up to 140 miles per hour and a storm surge of 20 feet. Early reports say there have been three storm-related deaths. NPR's Frank Morris has been following the storm and joins us now from St. Petersburg. Hi, Frank. Hi, how are you doing? Good, how are you? What more do we know about the damage? Well, we do know at least three people are dead. One person was killed by a falling sign in Florida.

1:34Two people in Georgia reportedly died in a possible tornado ahead of the hurricane. I'm not clear on the injuries. There is some good news. The eye of the storm hit right between a state park and Flint Rock wildlife management area. So east of Tallahassee and west of Perry, Florida. So it missed the beach communities that line much of the coast. There's still a bunch we don't know. The most vulnerable islands are still cut off from the mainland. We haven't seen damage from wind that tore buildings apart and sent roofs sailing. and shredded thousands of trees. It also snapped power poles. Almost two million households and businesses lost power, mainly in Florida, but also in Georgia and the Carolinas.

2:11The storm inundated coastal towns, arranging boats from their docks and breaking the docks. Rescue crews were out through the night. Electrical linemen are hard at work restoring power. And Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says with daylight, more help will kick into gear. Florida Department of Transportation standing by. 307 cut and toss crews to get the roads cleared 120 bridge inspectors to get the bridges back open of course that's not going to happen immediately helene came ashore in a region that's really dense with tree cover lots of big old live oaks and pines so just clearing the trees is going to be a major chore how are the people in the way of this storm holding out well again you know there's a lot we don't know, but almost 5 ,000 people in Florida spent the night in shelters.

2:58Many others just rode it out in their houses. 85-year-old James Judy weathered the storm at home, though he says his place is close to the water and prone to flooding. They're telling everybody to leave, you know. Ain't no other place we need to go. I just hate to leave home. Others fled to higher ground. Kevin Collins bought his dream house in Hernando Beach, Florida last year. It's a one-story place right off the water. He sandbagged the doors and put his electronic stuff up on tables, but Collins is expecting to find huge losses this morning. The insurance is so high, we don't have it, you know?

3:34We just got regular liability, and it's crazy. It's crazy. It's cheaper to just pay for the stuff than have insurance. What's going to get ruined, you know what I mean? So there's a lot of rebuilding ahead. Now the storm is moving into Georgia and the Carolinas. What are people in the southeast facing this morning? Well, the wind's tapering off, still strong. Georgia is reporting gusts up to 92 miles an hour. And the rain is actually getting worse in places, likely dropping 6 to 12 inches of rain over the next 24 hours or so. It'll be falling on ground that's already soaked up lots and lots of rain in the last few days.

4:11So expecting flash flooding all over the place. In fact, that's already happening in parts of Georgia in the Carolinas. And the storm is likely to keep knocking people off the power grid across a huge area from Florida to Virginia and the Pacific Coast to Nashville, Tennessee. That's NPR's Frank Morris joining us from St. Petersburg, Florida. Thanks, Frank. Thanks.

4:40All week at the United Nations, world leaders have been calling for ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon. Today, it's Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's chance to make his case to his peers. NPR's Michelle Kellerman has been at UN headquarters all week and joins us now from New York. Good morning, Michelle. Good morning, Leila. So what are you expecting from Netanyahu's address? Well, I asked Netanyahu's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, and here's what he told me. I think the prime minister, you know, not only will describe what we have endured in the last year, but he will also speak about the future, about, you know, what are our plans regarding Gaza and the commitment, you know, to bring back the people of the North back to their homes.

5:22And he's talking there about the tens of thousands of Israelis who had to flee their homes last October in northern Israel after Hezbollah in Lebanon started firing rockets in solidarity with Hamas, which attacked Israel on October 7th. So while everyone at the UN has been talking about de-escalation in both of these conflicts, the Israeli prime minister says that he's determined to hit Hezbollah until it pulls back from the so-called blue line that's between Lebanon and Israel. And that's required, by the way, under UN Security Council resolutions. And I have to say that, you know, his language on Lebanon has sounded similar to me about what he says about Gaza when he talks about the need for a total victory over Hamas.

6:05Right. And now, of course, there are tens of thousands of Lebanese displaced in this moment. The Biden administration has been trying to prevent an escalation like this. Is Netanyahu ignoring the U.S.? Yeah, well, that's what a lot of people at the U.N. are saying. You know, as Netanyahu was flying here, U.S. officials were telling reporters that they had a breakthrough on a 21-day ceasefire that the U.S. and France had proposed. But it seems like that was just a lot of wishful thinking. I mean, the Israelis say they're still discussing this with the U.S., but Jordan's foreign minister, Ayman El-Safadi, told reporters at the U.N.

6:40yesterday that this has really been a pattern. And he said that the world has failed to hold Israel to account. Take a listen. And the question in everybody's mind is, then what? How are we going to get this to stop? And the conclusion that a year of failure to do so is that unless Israel is held, this Israeli government is held accountable, unless it It faces consequences for its action. It's not listening to international law. It's not listening to the ICJ. And it's not even listening to his friends, including the U.S. Yeah, so a lot of frustration and anger here with the Israeli prime minister.

7:16So it sounds like it'll be a tough audience for Netanyahu. Yeah, definitely. I mean, there are also protesters out on the streets in New York. There are family members of hostages held by Hamas who have been pleading with Netanyahu to make a deal with Hamas in Gaza to get their loved ones homes. So, you know, there's all of these conflicts, expanding conflicts. And remember that the U.S. argument all along to Israel has been that if you reach a deal with Hamas in Gaza, then Hezbollah will stop firing rockets. But the Israeli officials that I talked to just don't really buy that. They see this as a fight with Iranian proxies, as Israel's ambassador to the U.N.

7:56put it in the Security Council this week. He called Iran the spider at the center of this web of violence. And I'm expecting really to hear Netanyahu focus a lot on Iran in this speech. NPR's Michelle Kellerman. Thank you, Michelle. Thank you.

8:17The Sudanese army has launched a major offensive in Khartoum in a bid to retake the capital city from Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, the paramilitary group that has controlled it for more than a year. Meanwhile, millions have been displaced since the war began, and it's the worst displacement and hunger crisis in the world. All this is happening as Sudan's military leader is attending the UN General Assembly in New York. NPR's Emmanuel Akanwotu is there. Good morning, Emmanuel. Good morning, Leila. So this new fight for the capital, what more can you tell us? Well, overnight yesterday, the army sprung a surprise attack from Umduman, which is a twin city of the capital and it advanced into northeast parts of khartoum which is overrun by the rapid support forces and we've not seen fighting like this in the capital region for many months and like so much of this war the fighting is just playing out street to street in hotels hospitals at the arab market at the university of khartoum and the army have essentially advanced a few miles into the capital it's continued this morning into central parts of Khartoum.

9:22It's not clear how this will end or whether this advance will hold, but it's clearly a bold attempt to shift the balance of power in a war that's gone on for close to 18 months now without either side having a definitive advantage. You were just in Sudan. What are people living through? It's catastrophic. The hospitals in Omdaman, where I went, were overwhelmed from victims of shelling, which was constant, from critically high levels of malnutrition, from And patients with just common conditions like diabetes that have become so much more fatal because they lack basic medicine, basic equipment.

10:00More than 10 million people are displaced. That's more than a fifth of the country, more than the population of New York. There were so many schools that were turned into shelters. So many people fortunate enough to live in their own homes are hosting relatives, friends, neighbours. And Sudan is a breadbasket with huge agriculture. But now half of the country is acutely hungry. according to the UN. And it's only going to get worse unless something significant changes. And it's clear both sides really only see a military solution as the way forward. Now, the push for the capital came at the same time Sudan's military leader was here for the UN General Assembly, and you saw him last night.

10:36What did he say? Yeah, while the attack was unfolding in Khartoum, Abdel Fattah, Bahan, he was addressing the UN, and he held a press conference where he spoke mostly in Arabic. And the timing seemed deliberate, like he was sending a message trying to show that the army is taking the fight to the RSF in the country and taking a more authoritative position internationally. He said the army was committed to peace but would never negotiate with the RSF. And then he mentioned the United Arab Emirates. And he repeated evidence from the UN Security Council that was published earlier this year that the UAE are basically bankrolling the RSF.

11:19He said the UAE were smuggling weapons into Sudan via Chad and Uganda and that this was prolonging the war. The UAE have denied this, but the evidence continues to mount and is a huge focus point. He was asked about the attacks in Khartoum, and he acknowledged them, but he said very little about it, which made it clear that there is still so much at stake and so much in the balance. That's NPR's Emmanuel Akinwatsu. Thank you, Emmanuel. Thanks, Leila.

11:50And that's Up First for Friday, September 27th. I'm Leila Faldin. And I'm Michelle Martin. And don't forget Up First airs on the weekend, too. Aisha Roscoe and Scott Simon have the news. It will be here in this feed or wherever you get your podcasts. And today's episode of Up First was edited by Russell Lewis, Tara Neal, Donald Clyde, H.J. Mai, and Ali Schweitzer. It was produced by Iman Ma 'ani, Nia Dumas, and Monsi Karana. We get engineering support from Carly Strange, and our technical director is Andy Huther. Join us again on Monday.