The death toll from Hurricane Helen has reached nearly 100, and authorities have struggled to get water and other supplies to isolated flood-hit areas in the southeastern United States.
Counties in North Carolina, including the mountain city of Asheville, reported 30 deaths from the storm, and several other deaths reported in North Carolina on Sunday brought the death toll across multiple states. At least 91 people were killed.
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Supplies were being airlifted to isolated peri-urban areas. Buncombe County Mayor Avril Pinder has promised to deliver food and water to Asheville, known for its arts, culture and natural attractions, by Monday.
I hear you. We need food, we need water, Pinder said on a call with reporters Sunday. My staff has requested all possible assistance from the state, and we have been working with every organization that has contacted us. I promise you, we’re very close.
Officials warned that rebuilding from widespread home and property losses would be slow and difficult. The storm forever changed life across the Southeast. Deaths were also reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia.
North Carolina governor predicts death toll to rise as rescuers reach isolated areas
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper predicted the death toll would rise as rescue workers and other emergency workers arrive in areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding.
He urged residents in western North Carolina to avoid travel for their own safety and to keep roads clear for emergency vehicles. More than 50 search teams have been deployed across the region to search for stranded people.
In one rescue operation, 41 people were rescued north of Asheville. Another mission focused on saving an infant. North Carolina National Guard Lieutenant General Todd Hunt said teams located the people through both 911 calls and social media messages.
President Joe Biden said the effects of the storm were alarming and said he planned to visit the site this week unless it disrupts rescue and recovery efforts.
Hurricane Helen made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region late Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 140 mph (225 kph). A weakened Helen quickly passed through Georgia, then soaked the Carolinas and Tennessee with heavy rain, flooding streams and rivers and straining dams.
Hundreds of water rescues were conducted, including in rural Unicoi County in eastern Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were rescued by helicopter from the roof of a hospital on Friday.
More than 2 million homeowners and other utility customers remained without power Sunday night. The worst power outages were in South Carolina, where Gov. Henry McMaster asked for patience as crews dealt with widespread broken power poles.
We ask people to remain calm. McMaster told reporters outside the Aiken County airport that help is on the way, but it will just take time.
People in North Carolina are seeking help because help is hard to reach.
The storm caused the worst flooding in North Carolina in a decade. One community, Spruce Pine, received more than 2 feet (61 centimeters) of rain from Tuesday to Saturday.
Jessica Dry Turner from Texas was pleading for someone to save her family from rising floodwaters in Asheville. They watch 18-wheelers and cars pass by, Turner wrote in an emergency Facebook post Friday.
But Ms Turner said in a follow-up message on Saturday that rescuers were not able to arrive in time to save her parents, who are in their 70s, and her 6-year-old nephew. The roof collapsed and three people drowned.
Words cannot describe the sadness, heartbreak, and devastation that my sisters and I are experiencing, she wrote.
The state was sending water and other supplies to Buncombe County and Asheville, but mudslides shut down Interstate 40 and other highways, preventing supplies from getting to Buncombe County and Asheville. Officials said the county’s own water supply is on the other side of the Swannanoa River, far from where most of Buncombe County’s 270,000 people live.
The sheriff said law enforcement plans to send officers to areas where water, food and gas are still available due to reports of altercations and threats of violence.
FEMA Administrator DeAnne Criswell toured south Georgia on Sunday and was scheduled to be in North Carolina on Monday.
Search and rescue operations remain active in western North Carolina, Criswell said. And we also know that there are many communities that are cut off, with certain areas cut off by damaged roads and bridges, just because of the geography of the mountains.
Biden on Saturday pledged federal assistance in response to Helen’s overwhelming devastation. He also approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina, making federal funds available to affected individuals.
Residents gather at church after digging in storm-hit Florida
In Big Bend, Florida, some people lost almost everything they owned. Sanctuaries were still dark as of Sunday morning, and some churches had canceled regular services, while others, like Faith Baptist Church in Perry, had chosen to hold services outdoors.
Accumulated water and wood debris still covers the grounds of Faith Baptist Church. In a message posted on its Facebook page, the church called on parishioners to come pray for the community.
We have power. “We don’t have electricity,” said Marie Ruttinger, a parishioner at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. Our God is powerful. That’s for sure.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Saturday that an aerial view of shattered homes and a highway covered in debris looked like a bomb had gone off.
In eastern Georgia, near the South Carolina border, officials announced Sunday morning that water would be shut off for 24 to 48 hours in the city of Augusta and around Richmond County.
Trash and debris from the storm hampered the ability to pump water, according to a news release. Authorities were distributing bottled water.
At least 25 people were killed in South Carolina, making Helen the deadliest tropical cyclone to hit the state since Hurricane Hugo made landfall north of Charleston in 1989, killing 35 people.
Moody’s Analytics said it expected property damage to be between $15 billion and $26 billion.
Climate change is worsening the conditions for such storms to form, and rising ocean temperatures can quickly intensify them, sometimes turning them into powerful cyclones within hours.
New Atlantic tropical cyclone could become a powerful hurricane, forecasters say
A new tropical cyclone in the eastern Atlantic Ocean has the potential to become a deadly hurricane later this week, the National Hurricane Center announced Sunday. The center had winds of 55 km/h and was located about 945 km (945 km) west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands, the center said. It could become a hurricane by Wednesday.