Hurricane Helene tore through the southeastern United States, and killed more than 100 people across six states, wiping out communications and leaving millions without power, Reuters reported.
The death toll climbed in Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia, andHurricane Helene, USA, President is likely to rise.
Damage estimates ranged from $15 billion to more than $100 billion, insurers and forecasters said over the weekend, as water systems, communications and critical transportation routes were damaged or destroyed.
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Recall that Helene slammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast on Thursday night, triggering days of driving rain and destroying homes that had stood for decades. As it moved north it washed out roads, decimated neighborhoods and left many communities without water and basic necessities.
In mountainous, hard-hit Bumcombe County, which includes the city of Asheville, 35 people have died, the county sheriff said at a news briefing on Monday.
The county was set to begin distributing food and water later in the day to residents, after some supplies were airlifted to the region that has been largely isolated by flooded roads and power outages.
“We don’t have water, and we do not have power across most of the county… the roads are still incredibly dangerous,” County Manager Avril Pinder said.
In neighboring Yancey County, the storm snapped century-old trees around the home of Taylor Shelton, 44. It took her husband two days with a chainsaw to cut a passage through the felled trees in their driveway and the nearby road so they could drive themselves and their three children out of the darkened house.
With no cellular phone service, they relied on a neighbor who works as an EMT and had a walkie talkie to help them determine which roads out of the mountains were passable.
“The devastation is unbelievable,” she said in a phone interview.
She has still not been able to reach her husband’s parents, who live in the nearby town of Burnsville, which was also badly hit.
On Monday, they were attempting to drive back home to pick up their dog and two guinea pigs and leave out food for the cat and the chickens. Their car was loaded with coffee, donuts and diapers for their neighbors.
“The lack of communication is concerning,” North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said on Monday in an interview with CNN. “We know that there are people missing, and we know that there’s going to be significant fatalities at the end of this and our prayers and our hearts go out to these families.”
Cooper, who said he had not heard from his son and daughter in 72 hours, added that local officials and rescue workers were performing door-to-door welfare checks in many communities.
He said the rugged terrain in the mountains of western North Carolina makes it almost impossible to traverse with landslides and flooding, adding “So, we’re depending a lot on air power, helicopters with hoist capacity to get supplies in.”
Biden to Visit affected states
The National Guard and emergency workers from 19 states have been deployed to help, along with Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel.
President Joe Biden said he would visit North Carolina later this week and may ask Congress to return to Washington for a special session to pass supplemental aid funding.
“There’s nothing like wondering, ‘is my husband, wife, son, daughter, mother, father, alive?'” Biden said at the White House. “Many more will remain without electricity, water, food and communications, and whose homes and businesses are washed away in an instant. I want them to know we’re not leaving until the job is done.”
Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris cut short a campaign trip in Nevada on Monday to take part in briefings in Washington on the hurricane response and will visit the region when doing so won’t impede response efforts, a White House official said.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump traveled to Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday afternoon to visit a furniture store that was heavily damaged in the storm.
