The devastating impact of storm Helene has tragically resulted in a staggering loss of life, with the death count soaring to a minimum of 93. In North Carolina alone, the grim tally reached 30 fatalities, as rescuers tirelessly worked to assist those in distress throughout the southeastern United States.
This effort to respond to the storm has taken on a distinct political angle, given that President Joe Biden, along with his competitors for the presidency, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, has announced their plans to visit areas hardest hit by the storm. Notably, many of these locations are situated within critical battleground states as the November elections loom.
Severe winds and relentless rain battered cities and towns across regions such as Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. The landscape transformed dramatically as homes crumbled, streets turned into rivers, and millions of people found themselves in the dark without power.
As per local government reports, the horrific weather has claimed the lives of at least 93 individuals, with the breakdown as follows: 37 lives lost in North Carolina, 25 in South Carolina, 17 in Georgia, 11 in Florida, two in Tennessee, and one in Virginia.
True to its nature, the storm wrought its fury, causing flash flood warnings to persist in sections of western North Carolina. Ken Graham, the director of the National Weather Service, emphasized the ongoing threat posed by potential dam failures, raising alarms for residents.
According to the power outage tracker, poweroutage.us, nearly 2.3 million households were still left without electricity as of yesterday. Matt Targuagno, a representative from the U.S. Department of Energy, relayed that teams were tirelessly engaged in restoring power but formally declared it would be “a complex, multi-day response” to rectify the outages.
In certain areas, bridges simply vanished into the floodwaters.
As Helene made its entrance onto Florida’s northern Gulf Coast, it arrived as a monstrous Category Four hurricane, exhibiting wind speeds of 225 kilometers per hour. Even as the storm lost some of its intensity, it continued to unleash havoc.
North Carolina endured the brunt of the flooding, leading Governor Roy Cooper to lament that in some regions, rescue teams were compelled to airlift vital supplies due to the destruction of roads or their submersion underwater.
Lines for gasoline snaked around in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene as communities faced shortages.
Countless roads in the area remained obstructed, and multiple bridges were swept away in the deluge. Four major interstate highways were closed across North Carolina and Tennessee. According to Kristin White from the U.S. Department of Transportation, “multiple” bridges remain out of commission. In fact, states such as Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina each reported over 100 road closures.
Donald Trump, the Republican ex-president eyeing another term, is set to visit Valdosta for a briefing on the natural disaster, as confirmed by his campaign. Meanwhile, President Biden, who has granted federal aid to several states in response to the calamity, announced that he plans to travel to the severely impacted regions this week, “as soon as it will not disrupt emergency response operations,” according to the White House.
At a campaign rally in Las Vegas, Kamala Harris expressed solidarity, stating, “We will stand with these communities for as long as it takes to make sure that they are able to recover and rebuild.” Meanwhile, President Biden is expected to address the nation from the White House later today regarding the storm’s aftermath and the ongoing relief efforts.
For more in-depth coverage and updates from the United States, stay tuned for our continuing stories.
Edited by: Ali Musa
Axadle international–Monitoring
