More than a week has passed since Helene rammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast as a hurricane and began slicing what would become a deep scar of loss and destruction from there to Virginia, killing at least 213 people and obliterating countless homes, businesses and lifetimes worth of precious belongings.
Searches for missing loved ones grow more desperate each day as officials say hundreds are unaccounted for and rescue crews are hindered by cell service outages and ruined roads and bridges.
People have reported hiking hours to check on trapped loved ones and spending agonizing moments scouring soaked riverbanks for those swept away with their homes. In North Carolina’s Buncombe County, where Asheville is situated, more than 200 people were unaccounted for as of Thursday and 72 people had been found dead so far, the county sheriff said.
The scope of destruction is becoming clearer as people slowly regain access to their neighborhoods, only to find their homes in tatters or washed away completely by floodwaters.
Helene has become the deadliest hurricane to hit the United States mainland since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the death toll has climbed daily. North Carolina has the most reported deaths with 106, followed by 41 in South Carolina, 33 in Georgia, and 20 in Florida, 11 in Tennessee and two in Virginia, according to a CNN tally.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris visited South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia on Wednesday to see first-hand the devastation wrought in the U.S. Southeast by Hurricane Helene, which has killed at least 213 people.
Biden landed in Greer, South Carolina, where he was met by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, among others, before boarding Marine One for an aerial tour of the region.
From the helicopter, Biden could see the grim devastation brought to parts of North Carolina, including Asheville and Chimney Rock. Over the Asheville metropolitan area, homes were smashed to bits, with the damage greatest near rivers, reporters in a trailing helicopter observed.
Q: “What do the states in the storm zone need — after what you saw today?”
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 4, 2024
BIDEN: “Oh, storm zone? I didn’t know which storm you’re talking about…”
OH MY GOD.
pic.twitter.com/FyYnVgMCys
Many of the people living in the area remained cut off from contact with the outside world, even as the U.S. president passed overhead.
No comments:
Post a Comment