Southeast US reels as storm Helene death toll passes 210

AFP | Asheville

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More than 210 people are now confirmed dead after Hurricane Helene carved a path of destruction through several US states, officials said Thursday, making it the second deadliest storm to hit the US mainland in more than half a century.

US President Joe Biden made his second straight day of visits to the country’s southeast to grieve with residents of a region traumatized by a disaster that has upended life for millions.

The storm flooded towns and cities, made countless roads impassable, knocked out power and water service, and left communities shell-shocked as they grapple with the start of a years-long recovery effort.

A compilation of official figures by AFP confirms 212 fatalities across North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia. More than half of the deaths were in flood-ravaged North Carolina, which is experiencing an unprecedented disaster described by some as post-apocalyptic.

“I see you, I hear you, I grieve with you -- and I promise you, we have your back,” Biden said during a stop at a damaged pecan farm in Ray City, Georgia. Helene is the deadliest hurricane to hit the US mainland since 2005’s Katrina, which killed 1,392 people.

Despite hundreds of rescues across six states and an enormous response including thousands of federal personnel and thousands more National Guard members and active-duty troops assisting local responders, the death toll from the sprawling storm is expected to rise.

Many residents are still unaccounted for in a mountainous region known for its pockets of isolation. “We are continuing to find survivors,” North Carolina’s Buncombe County, the epicenter of the tragedy where more than 70 people are confirmed dead, said in its latest update, adding there are residents still cut off from the outside world due to landslides and destroyed bridges.

In Asheville, a city of about 100,000 at the foot of picturesque mountains, and popular with tourists, thick mud covers streets. Buildings and other structures along riverbanks have been washed away.

Authorities are pursuing their desperate search for survivors in remote areas, while downtown, restaurants and aid groups are providing free food and water. Repair crews are struggling to restore power to hundreds of thousands of customers still without electricity.

In the nearby town of Swannanoa, neighbors bound together in misery or despair were looking after one another, cleaning up roads, fixing power lines, distributing gas and sharing meals.