ASHEVILLE, N.C. – North Carolina on Tuesday as authorities worked to clear roads and provide electricity, water and cell phone service to communities that have suffered since the ferocious onslaught of Hurricane Helen and its remnants. Search and rescue operations across the western part of the state have made some progress.
President Joe Biden wants to accelerate the recovery.
Speaking at the White House after receiving an interagency briefing on the government’s response, Biden said he had heard from governors and leaders in the hard-hit Southeast region that billions of dollars would be needed for recovery. Ta. Biden said Monday he plans to ask Congress to approve additional legislation to cover federal costs for Helen relief efforts.
“We must accelerate this recovery process,” Biden said Wednesday, as he planned to survey the damage in South Carolina and North Carolina. “People are scared to death. People are wondering if they can get it done. We haven’t heard from many people yet. This is urgent. People need to know how to get the information they need. No.”
The storm killed more than 100 people across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia, and the death toll is expected to rise as recovery efforts progress. On Tuesday, The Associated Press reported that number was more than 150, and Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller said the confirmed death toll in the county had reached 57. This brings the total for Western North Carolina to 64.
Hundreds of people are reported missing, but that number is expected to decline as more telecommunications are restored and emergency workers access remote areas.
On Thursday, more than 1,500 state transit workers were working in 1,500 trucks equipped with 1,000 chainsaws to clear roads. Duke Power said crews were “assessing the damage and making repairs.” Still, power, water and Wi-Fi likely won’t be restored for several weeks for some residents in western North Carolina. The landslide took away the mountain’s property. Sinkholes have taken over other homes. Asheville and the surrounding area are facing long-term trauma.
“And I’m not talking about days,” Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer told the Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK. “We want them to plan longer than that.”
Tropical Storm Tracker: Hurricane Center to monitor Kirk, two other disturbances in the Atlantic Ocean
Development status:
∎ Former President Donald Trump’s fundraiser to help victims of Hurricane Helen has raised more than $3 million as of Tuesday. Click here for details.
■ Far out in the Atlantic Ocean, former Tropical Storm Kirk has become the seventh hurricane of the ocean season, the National Hurricane Center announced Tuesday afternoon. Mr Kirk is expected to reach Category 3 strength, but does not pose an immediate threat to any land area, NHC forecasters said.
∎ Officials in Buncombe County, North Carolina, where Asheville is located, said 40 deaths have been confirmed in the county so far. The Associated Press reported that Helen’s death toll in the country was at least 133.
∎ The North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections said all inmates are safe. The ministry said some facilities were running on generators, but none were flooded.
Biden to visit North Carolina: Plans to inspect damage to Helen while scolding Trump’s response
Vice President Harris visits North Carolina, Georgia
Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Georgia on Wednesday to assess the effects of Hurricane Helen and receive briefings on the ongoing recovery efforts in communities across the state. Harris will also provide an update on federal actions being taken to support emergency response and recovery efforts across the Southeast.
In a speech at FEMA headquarters in Washington this week, Harris vowed that the Biden-Harris administration “will continue to do everything we can to help you recover and rebuild, no matter how long it takes.”
White House officials confirmed that Harris will also travel to North Carolina in the coming days, where the western part of the state, including Asheville, was hit by the storm.
Hurricanes ‘will not stop the way elections are run’
North Carolina election officials are scrambling to ensure more than 7 million registered voters can cast their ballots on Nov. 5 despite extensive damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure across the western part of the state. There is. North Carolina is holding elections for governor, members of Congress, and the state legislature, and is one of several battleground states that could decide the next U.S. president.
“This destruction is unprecedented, and this level of uncertainty so close to Election Day is mind-boggling,” Karen Brinson Bell, director of the state Board of Elections, said Tuesday. I guess so,” he said.
He said he expects to have a full assessment of the storm’s impact on election facilities and other issues by the end of this week. But Herren said, “We’re not going to stop running elections. Just because we had a hurricane, we might have to do things a little differently.”
Tourists flocking to the Blue Ridge Mountains encounter new disaster
The small town of Spruce Pine, North Carolina, has recovered before and will recover again, Spencer Bost said.
Located near the Blue Ridge Parkway, Tow River and the Appalachian Trail, the executive director of Downtown Spruce Pine describes this small town as “heaven on earth.” Once a place that provided good jobs for manufacturers of furniture and other goods, it is now a place where residents live a comfortable life. Median household income is approximately $44,600. The 2007 arson attack that destroyed much of the downtown area and the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic hit the town hard.
Today, Spruce Pine is renowned as a tourist destination and a source of high-quality quartz, a key component in the production of silicon chips that power electronics, medical equipment, and solar power equipment. But Helen disrupts all that with a devastating flood. He said October “pays off a lot of the business” when tourists come to Spruce Pine to camp, hike, fish and enjoy the fall foliage in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Bost is concerned and believes companies mining in the region should pay more to support the small communities that extract their raw materials. He started a fundraiser on the town’s website in hopes that a post-hurricane surge in web traffic would lead to support for town businesses.
“You find a way to get back up every time, but how many times can you get back up after getting punched?” And he answered his own question: “We will rise.”
− Phaedra Tresan
Helen’s recovery will cost billions of dollars and take years, the White House says
The Biden administration says efforts to rebuild communities from Hurricane Helen’s devastating flooding in the Southeast will cost billions of dollars and take years to complete.
“This is a multibillion-dollar undertaking,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Tuesday at a White House press briefing. “Rebuilding is not something that can be done now, but it will be an expensive and multi-year undertaking.”
Mayorkas said search and rescue operations are continuing in some areas, while others have moved into the response and recovery phase.
More than 1,200 federal urban search and rescue personnel are on the scene across multiple states, Mayorkas said. FEMA is helping distribute 2.6 million ready-to-eat meals, and spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre added that FEMA has sent more than 7.5 million liters of water.
Mayorkas said about 1.3 million people remain without power, up from 5.1 million at the peak. “This is a whole-of-government and frankly a whole-of-community effort,” he said.
Hurricanes’ one-two punch is too much for some
SUWANEE, Fla. – Billy Minks loves this small coastal community. But after last year’s Hurricane Idalia and now Hurricane Helen, he thinks it’s time to move on. When Florida spoke to USA TODAY NETWORK after the Idalia incident, it was unclear how long they would be forced to evacuate. Unlike some residents of the Dixie County community of about 300 people, his rental home was repaired and he lived there again with his wife, Tori Johnston. Then Helen comes and when she returns home, the house has been destroyed.
“We can’t do this anymore,” Minkus said as she waited to receive food and other supplies from relief groups. “Helen’s condition worsened and Idalia looked like a small thing.” Read more.
− Douglas Soule, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida
Factory workers swept away in Helen’s floods
In hard-hit Irwin, Tennessee, a group of Impact Plastics employees clung to a spool of yellow flexible plastic pipe in the bed of a semi-truck on Friday as the swollen Nolichucky River raged around them. I waited for hours for help. However, the truck overturned and at least seven people were swept away and remain either missing or dead.
Jacob Ingram, who has worked at Impact Plastics for about eight months, said managers didn’t let employees quit even as the water outside rose. Instead, managers told employees to move cars away from the rising water, Ingram said. The company denied that it had ordered employees not to resign.
“We are devastated by the tragic loss of a great employee,” founder and CEO Gerald O’Connor said in a statement.
− Tyler Hotson, Knoxville News Observer
A factory worker’s harrowing story: workers swept away in Helen’s floods
Mountainous region, huge rains caused devastating floods
Forecasters had warned that Hurricane Helen would be a “once in a generation” storm for parts of the Appalachian Mountains, and those predictions turned out to be tragically correct. Helen’s rainfall would have been enough to cause flooding everywhere, but a weather front that stalled over the Appalachians before Tropical Storm Helen arrived at the time made matters worse, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Center. said rain expert David Easterling. Environmental information for Asheville, North Carolina.
In some places, the mountains themselves are contributing to even more rainfall, Easterling said. That’s because the mountains themselves contribute to the lifting force that causes more rain to fall during thunderstorms. He said strong winds toppled trees and destroyed power lines, while mudslides and landslides toppled utility poles across the region.
“Just a landslide could cause 5 to 10 feet of mud,” he said. “The loss of life is incalculable.” Click here for more information.
− Doyle Rice and Dinah Boyles Pulver
Helen’s brutal toll: over 100 people killed. Biden to investigate damage: Updated on Monday
Promising reconstruction of the town destroyed by Helen
Marshall, North Carolina – Marshall was a bustling Appalachian town with large department stores until its fortunes declined and its buildings became vacant. But in recent years, it has experienced a resurgence with an influx of art, music and food. A once run-down prison has been transformed into a boutique hotel and restaurant.
Right now, downtown has been destroyed by Hurricane Helen, and the streets are filled with thick mud. Shattered rubble. Twisted railroad tracks and overturned vehicles.
Residents in Marshall, like the rest of Western North Carolina just days after the storm, were left scrambling for supplies without power or phones as National Guard helicopters hovered over the area. .
“It’s a tragedy,” Keaton Griffin said as he shoveled mud and debris into his wheelbarrow. Click here for details.
− Chris Kenning
On the edge of destruction: North Carolina town tries to rise to the surface
They came to Asheville for healing. all they see is destruction
Taylor Houchens moved to Asheville about four years ago to heal. Mountains, forests, lakes, they’re all reasons why countless people have come to North Carolina to relax, reset, and rejuvenate, so we called our licensed professional counselors. As a result, Asheville has a thriving local wellness community that includes mental health practitioners, holistic coaches, and healers of all kinds.
Now, with Hurricane Helen devastating the community, Houchens says she doesn’t know where to go from here.
“It’s devastation. It’s apocalyptic. It’s tragic,” Houchens, who specializes in trauma therapy, said by phone as he drove to stay with family in Savannah, Georgia. Click here for details.
− Charles Trepagny
Contributions: Kelly Puente, Evan Gerike, Asheville Citizen Times. Reuters
