Death toll soars in US from storm ‘Helene’
VALDOSTA, GEORGIA—The death toll from powerful storm “Helene” jumped to at least 93 on Sunday, with one county in North Carolina alone reporting 30 deaths, authorities said, as rescuers battled to reach people in need across the southeastern United States.
The storm response took on a political tinge after President Joe Biden and the two candidates vying to replace him, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, announced plans to soon visit hard-hit areas, some of them in key battleground states in the November election.
High winds and torrential rain pummeled towns and cities across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Homes were destroyed, roads flooded out and power cut off to millions.
“We’re hearing (of) significant infrastructure damage to water systems, communication, roads, critical transportation routes, as well as several homes that have been just destroyed by this,” the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Deanne Criswell, said on Sunday.
At least 93 people were killed in the extreme weather—37 in North Carolina, 25 in South Carolina, 17 in Georgia, 11 in Florida, two in Tennessee and one in Virginia—according to tallies from local authorities compiled by Agence France-Presse (AFP). That total was expected to rise.
Flood warnings remained in effect in parts of western North Carolina, amid fears of potential dam failures.
Conditions were expected to improve in the affected areas by around Tuesday, National Weather Service director Ken Graham said.
Without power
Nearly 2.2 million households remained without power on Sunday, according to tracker poweroutage.us.
US Department of Energy official Matt Targuagno said that crews were working hard to restore electricity but warned it would be “a complex, multiday response.”
Thousands of people continued to seek assistance in shelters run by the American Red Cross, organization official Jennifer Pipa said.
Helene blew into Florida’s northern Gulf shore as a huge Category Four hurricane with winds of 225 kilometers per hour.
Even as it weakened, it wreaked havoc.
North Carolina saw some of the worst of the flooding, with Gov. Roy Cooper saying rescuers were being forced to airlift supplies in some areas due to damaged or flooded roads.
“I don’t know that anybody could be fully prepared for the amount of flooding and landslides that they are experiencing right now,” Criswell said on CBS, adding that more search and rescue teams were being deployed.
William Ray, director of the state’s emergency management department, warned that conditions were still extremely dangerous.
