United States: According to the latest reports, rescue crews across western North Carolina have been searching on Friday for the number of people missing after Helene’s devastating force devasted areas it crossed from and ravaged several parts of the Southeast.
Helene has killed more than two hundred people, destroyed whole towns, as well as left thousands without any power or portable water.
More about the news
The storm that washed out hundreds of roads and bridges lying across the southern Appalachians has left many people living in the areas isolated and stranded amid large-scale power outages, as well as loss of communications resources, USA Today reported.
What are the authorities doing?
The authorities at federal, state, and local levels across the area have pushed further into the mountain suburbs, such as those surrounding Asheville, and works are in progress, such as clearing of roads, where food, water, and other aid are being airdropped to those in need.
Alongside citizen-led volunteer groups in the mountains of western North Carolina, they have also collaborated to work with officials’ disaster relief operations to deliver aid to stranded communities on foot and by helicopter and mule trains.
Loss from the devastating hurricane
In a news conference on Thursday, officials estimated that not less than two hundred individuals have remained missing in Buncombe County, which also includes Asheville and as well as several surrounding neighborhoods.
As per the authorities, the death count has already surpassed the two hundred count amounted on Thursday, as USA Today reported.
Furthermore, as reports suggested, almost 75,000 homes and businesses remained without power on Friday, which has now come down from a peak of 4.5 million last week, as per a USA TODAY outage tracker.