Search-and-Rescue Teams Struggle To Reach Remote Areas as Hurricane Helene Death Toll Soars to At Least 200
Asheville, North Carolina hardest hit with 61 fatalities; widespread power outages and flooding hamper relief efforts.
The death toll from Hurricane Helene has risen to at least 200 people across several states, making it one of the deadliest inland storms in American history.
The massive Category 4 hurricane first made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida last Thursday. It caused a surge of flooding, wind damage, and mudslides in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. The storm also caused widespread power and cellular service outages, cutting survivors from vital relief.
Asheville, North Carolina, the hardest hit area, has had a total of at least 61 deaths since Helene swept through the region.
“[S]earch and rescue operations are still underway,” Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder said Thursday to ABC News. “We’re in day seven, and we’re still finding people in areas isolated by downed power lines and lack of phone service.”
The state of Georgia saw their death toll climb to 33. Three of those fatalities in the Savannah area were a result of carbon monoxide poisoning, according to Governor Kemp, who added that 2,000 soldiers from the National Guard have been deployed throughout the state to help provide relief to residents.
An estimated 1.2 homes are still without power across several states in the Southeast, including the Carolinas.
“This has been a historic storm. We’ve never seen anything like this,” Charlotte-based Duke Energy spokesman Bill Norton said to ABC. “The biggest challenge has been the unprecedented flooding. It’s not just poles and wires that are down — it’s the backbone of our system, the transmission infrastructure and substations.”
“We’re still targeting end of day Friday for the majority of our customers who are able to receive power,” he said.
President Biden arrived in South Carolina on Thursday to assess the damage, touring impacted areas from his Marine One helicopter. A day earlier, he said that the recent dockworker’s strike could impact relief supplies.
“Natural disasters are incredibly consequential. The last thing we need on top of that is a man-made disaster that’s going on at the ports,” Mr. Biden said. “We’re hearing from the folks regionally that they’re having trouble getting product that they need because of the port strike.”
