Across the Southeastern United States, the death toll from Hurricane Helene stands at more than 130, with hundreds still missing.
Millions continued without power Monday as a crisis unfolded in western North Carolina in the aftermath. Major highways and bridges were washed away, cutting off communities from each other, and there’s an urgent call for resources.
The images throughout the Southeast are heartbreaking, and conditions are still very dangerous. One video showed a washout near the Tennessee and North Carolina state line off Interstate 40. Officials have warned the public not to travel into West North Carolina, where entire communities are under several feet of water.
From the White House, President Joe Biden said he would touch down in Raleigh on Wednesday and assess the damage as he made his way through Georgia and Florida.
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“There's just a lot to do, and this is only the beginning. And we've been through this before, but not like this. This is the worst ever,” said Biden.
Helene made landfall last week as a Category 4 hurricane. In the following days, the storm moved through the Southeast, claiming more than 100 lives, a third of them in North Carolina.
Here in North Texas, people with loved ones near the worst of the damage held their breath from hundreds of miles away. Sarah Fivecoat’s mother and grandmother live just outside of Asheville.
“She had sent my brother and I a message letting us know the storm was going through, but it was supposed to be gone later that afternoon and then it was crickets. We went over 24 hours without hearing from them,” she said.
Eventually, she got the call she’d been waiting for.
“It was the biggest relief that I could hear. I got word that she was OK, but until I actually was able to hear her voice, there’s no feeling like actually hearing your family is safe,” Fivecoat said.
Then there are the helpers. Disaster relief group Texans on Mission told NBC 5 that it will send roughly 120 volunteers into the disaster zones by the end of the week.
“We’re going to deploy our mass-feeding kitchen, capable of 30,000 meals a day. We’re sending floor recovery teams. We’re sending a mobile shower laundry unit,” said John Hall, a spokesperson with Texans on Mission.
On the ground, people who’ve seen the devastation firsthand said help can’t come soon enough. Our partners at WRAL-TV said it’s among the worst flooding and power outages in years.
“They’re cut off from the outside world, and the outside world can’t get ahold of them either, and it’s very, very frustrating,” said WRAL Broadcast Engineer Tony Gupton.
For more information on how to help those impacted by the storm, click here.
