Helene death toll tops 200 amid daunting water and power issues: Thursday updates
By John Bacon, Zachary Huber, Jorge L. Ortiz and Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAY,
23 hours ago
ASHEVILLE, N.C. − The death toll surpassed 200 as the need for power and water grew more urgent Thursday for hundreds of thousands of residents across the Southeast a week after Hurricane Helene began a deadly, devastating march across the region.
Outages decreased from a peak of more than 4.5 million reports last week, but about 784,000 homes and businesses remained without power across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Tens of thousands of residents, most in western North Carolina, remained without running water.
According to a USA TODAY Network analysis, the number of confirmed deaths in the region crossed the 200 threshold Thursday when North Carolina officials said the state's tally had risen to 97, a figure that later climbed to 108. In addition, South Carolina has reported 41 fatalities, Georgia 33, Florida 19, Tennessee 11 and Virginia two for a total of 214.
Helene is now the fourth deadliest hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. mainland since 1950 and the deadliest since Katrina in 2005.
The situation remains dire in and around Asheville, a Buncombe County city of almost 100,000 people anchoring a metropolitan area of more than 400,000 in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Helene arrived here as a tropical storm, drenching the already sodden area with more than a foot of rain. Hundreds of homes and scores of roads were damaged or destroyed. Many neighborhoods have no electricity or running water.
Buncombe County, where 72 of the deaths have been registered, was distributing ready-to-eat meals and bottled water with daily limits of two meal packages per adult and one per child. Water for flushing toilets was available at a distribution site on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Still, life goes on. Brandon Mashburn was tired of sitting at home without power, water or internet service, so on Wednesday, he went to Malvern Hills Park. With the help of a hacksaw and some neighbors, he cleared debris so kids would have a safe place to play.
“It’s one of those things that communities came together and said, ‘If nobody’s going to do nothing about it, then we will,'” Mashburn said.
Damage from Hurricane Helene as seen from a North Carolina National Guard UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter near Green Mountain, N.C., on Oct. 2, 2024 Andrew Nelles, The Tennessean via USA TODAY Network
Developments:
∎ Duke Energy said it expects to have most of the 600,000-plus power outages in the Carolinas resolved by Friday night. Officials from the utility in Florida said power restoration for Pinellas County’s barrier islands may not be completed until Sunday.
President Joe Biden took on the role of consoler in chief Thursday as he toured the Big Bend region of Florida where Hurricane Helene made landfall, and he witnessed fallen trees, collapsed power lines and demolished homes.
With Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida alongside him, Biden surveyed damage in the community of Keaton Beach and met a husband and wife who lost their home in the storm and are now living in an RV parked in their driveway.
"This can all be rebuilt," the man told Biden, who later traveled to Georgia as he completed a tour of states severely impacted by Helene. The president visited the Carolinas on Wednesday.
− Joey Garrison, Francesca Chambers and Karissa Waddick
Kayla Ward was drinking coffee on her porch in Jonesborough, Tennessee, on Friday afternoon when she noticed water from the nearby Nolichucky River rising fast.
She and her husband had to race to escape after Helene swept through , leaving with their pets and the clothes on their back as their home was severely damaged. Ward, like many other homeowners affected by last week's storm, did not have flood insurance, and said her insurance company denied her husband's claim.
It was a surprise to Ward, 61, who used to work as an insurance-claims specialist for a full-service insurance agency in the neighboring town of Johnson City.
“We’re finding out everybody in our area is the same way. Nobody's being covered,” she told USA TODAY. And “we lost everything. Everything.” Read more here .
A storm brewing over the southern Gulf of Mexico is almost certain to bring more heavy rain and flooding to the Florida Peninsula next week, AccuWeather meteorologists warn. "Nearly every indicator" suggests the storm will form by the middle of next week and roll northeastward across the Florida Peninsula. A swath of torrential downpours will likely douse Florida, especially the central and southern parts of the peninsula, AccuWeather said.
"While the exact track and intensity of the feature unfolding in the Gulf have yet to be determined, Florida will bear the brunt this time around," AccuWeather chief on-air meteorologist Bernie Rayno said.
A car is covered in mud alongside a home in Swannanoa, N.C., on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, after Helene battered the area. Andrew Nelles, USA TODAY Network
An untold number of people in hard-hit Asheville lost their homes because of the storm. Some were already unhoused before Helene arrived but found other means of shelter and now have to scramble.
David Jagielski was camping under a bridge as the water kept rising under nonstop torrential rain, and it finally dawned on him: "Get out of here or die in here."
Sam Mortimer said he lost his camper in the storm and is down to his last $10, so he's sifting through scraps looking for anything he can turn into a dollar. "I'm getting scared,'' he acknowledged.
A senior couple who had lived in the same South Carolina house since 1975 was found dead in each other's arms , their daughter told the USA TODAY Network.
Jerry and Marcia Savage were sleeping through the powerful storm in the early hours of Sept. 27 when a tree fell through the roof of their single-story house in Beech Island and killed them, two of the 41 fatalities from Helene so far in the state.
"My daddy was on top of my mama hugging her trying to protect her," said Tammy Estep, 54, of Aiken County. "The coroner had to pull them apart."
− Natalie Neysa Alund
North Carolina governor urges tourists to stay away from hard-hit areas
As peak leaf season approaches, Gov. Roy Cooper said Thursday that tourists are not wanted in western North Carolina in the fallout of the historic, devastating storm that has taken over 100 lives in the state and devastated the region's infrastructure.
Cooper told the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network, that he only wants people who are dedicated to recovery efforts coming to the region. The goal is to expand rescue and recovery efforts, which would be strained by the additional resources and road space required to maintain tourists.
"So we're continuing to ask people not to come. And that's tough for an area that was about to enter its peak season for tourism economy," the governor said. "But I've talked with people in the Chamber of Commerce – they understand that meeting people's immediate needs, saving lives, is first."
Members of the North Carolina National Guard on Wednesday continued rushing desperately-needed supplies to areas damaged and cut off by Helene. For some of them, the effort was a homecoming.
Chief Warrant Officer Marcus Wilkerson and his crew made a stop in a Black Hawk helicopter at his local church in the hard-hit area of Fairview. His pastor and fellow parishioners greeted him with hugs as he and his crew unloaded supplies. As children waved and snapped photos of the Black Hawk, Wilkerson said he was glad to personally deliver the supplies.
“It’s hard to see them like this," he said, fighting back tears. "But they’re making it." Read more here .
− Kelly Puente
Skip Stanley, who was volunteering in the Lower Beacon neighborhood, shovels mud from a home that flooded during Hurricane Helene in Swannanoa, N.C., Oct. 3, 2024. Andrew Nelles, USA TODAY Network
Army Corps of Engineers officials fanned out across North Carolina on Thursday assessing damage from Helene to power plants, water supplies and waste-water treatment plants, said David Connolly, a spokesman for the Corps. Experts have also begun to gauge the task of disposing mountains of debris left by the storm.
The needs of hospitals, police and fire stations and schools have top priority, Connolly said.
Meanwhile, the 1,000 active duty troops assigned to hurricane relief in North Carolina have not yet been assigned tasks, Sabrina Singh, the Pentagon’s deputy press secretary, told reporters Thursday.
They will be supporting the North Carolina National Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Among their expected duties will be delivering food, water and other critical aid.
The last time Lysa Gindinova spoke to her aunt was the night of Sept. 26, when Helene’s ferocious rains and winds began battering western North Carolina. Gindinova told USA TODAY her aunt made a joke that "she hopes their Titanic – referring to their house – is going to hold.”
Since the brief phone call, Gindinova has not been able to contact her aunt, uncle, cousin or grandmother – all of whom fled the Ukrainian southern city of Kherson in May 2022 amid Russia’s invasion. The family was accepted into a U.S. humanitarian program and moved to the mountain suburb of Micaville to be near relatives. Gindinova, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, has been refreshing local Facebook groups for names of discovered residents. She has also contacted rescue teams in the area, hoping for good news.
“It’s been 24/7,” Gindinova said. “I'm just on my phone all the time. I cannot function normally. That is all I think about.” Read more here .
Helene crashed ashore along Florida's Big Bend near the town of Perry a week ago as a Category 4 hurricane driving sustained winds of around 140 mph. Those winds quickly diminished, but the drenching rains overwhelmed a 500-mile long swath of the already-saturated region.
Flash flooding from creeks and rivers conspired with Appalachian mudslides to sweep away scores of people, destroy homes and businesses, collapse roads and devastate entire communities.
MEAT CAMP, N.C. — Carolyn and Clifford Coffee’s home is less than 10 miles from Boone, a North Carolina college town popular with tourists set between a creek and steep hillsides. The two-lane road to reach it along Meat Camp Creek is now dotted with washed-out pavement and bridges, downed powerlines and damaged homes.
Carolyn, 77, and Clifford, 80, have lived here for 40 years. Clifford built their home himself by connecting two trailers. But Hurricane Helene’s torrential rains, which caused deadly landslides and floods, left Carolyn terrified.
“We just prayed to God,” she said, adding that while her husband wants to rebuild, "I want to move." Read more here .
Biden visited Greenville, South Carolina, on Wednesday and later got an aerial view of the extensive damage in Asheville. Vice President Kamala Harris also made a trip to a highly impacted state, meeting with local officials and first responders in Augusta, Georgia.
"I'm here to say the United States – the nation – has your back,'' Biden said at an emergency command center in Raleigh alongside North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. "We're not leaving until you're back on your feet completely."
How to donate to Helene relief efforts
As authorities assess Helene’s destruction across the Southeast, emergency aid workers have been deployed to hard-hit and isolated communities. Relief efforts and funds have also been created to help victims. Federal officials advise against sending unsolicited donated goods or heading toward disaster-affected areas.
Here are some organizations that accept donations to help those impacted by the storm:
American Red Cross: Red Cross volunteers from Florida to Tennessee are helping communities by providing food, disaster supplies, shelter, and additional assistance. The organization is taking donations to fund relief efforts.
The Salvation Army: The organization has deployed teams to provide emergency aid, food and long-term recovery services for survivors and rescue workers. To contribute to its efforts, visit its Hurricane Helene relief donation page here.
GoFundMe: The crowdfunding platform has set up a dedicated hub with verified fundraisers for people and communities affected by the storm’s devastation. It also has its own Hurricane Relief Fund that provides cash grants to those who need help.
Americares: The nonprofit focuses on emergency medical relief and has set up a donation page to help communities recover from Helene.
All Hands and Hearts: The volunteer-based organization assists in short-term and long-term disaster recovery efforts and has launched a Helene fund to help with its 12-month response.
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