Southeastern US needs help after Hélène | The Arkansas Democratic Gazette

PERRY, Fla. — Authorities have struggled to get water and other supplies to isolated and flood-stricken areas of the southeastern United States after Hurricane Helene, as the death toll rises amounted to almost 100 people.

A North Carolina county that includes the mountain city of Asheville reported 30 people killed because of the storm, bringing the total toll to at least 91 people across several states.

Supplies were flown to the area around the isolated town. Buncombe County Executive Avril Pinder promised she would bring food and water to Asheville, known for its arts, culture and natural attractions, by Monday.

“We hear you. We need food and water,” Pinder said in a call with reporters Sunday. “My team has made every possible request for support to the state and we have worked with every organization that has contacted us. What I promise you is that we are very close.”

Officials warned that rebuilding after the widespread loss of homes and properties would be long and difficult. The storm disrupted life across the Southeast. Deaths were also reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper predicted the toll would rise as rescuers and other first responders reached areas cut off by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding.

He implored residents of western North Carolina to avoid traveling, both for their own safety and to keep roads clear for emergency vehicles. More than 50 search teams spread across the region searching for stranded people.

A rescue effort involved rescuing 41 people north of Asheville. Another mission was to save a single baby. Crews found people through 911 calls and social media posts, said Cmdr. » said General Todd Hunt.

Hurricane Helene slammed into Florida’s Big Bend area Thursday evening as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 140 mph. A weakened Helen moved quickly across Georgia, then inundated the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains that flooded streams and rivers and strained dams.

There have been hundreds of water rescues, including in rural Unicoi County in eastern Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were evacuated by helicopter from the roof of a hospital Friday.

More than 2 million homeowners and other utility customers were still without power Sunday evening. South Carolina saw the highest number of outages and Gov. Henry McMaster asked for patience as crews dealt with numerous broken power poles.

“We want people to stay calm. Help is on the way, it’s just going to take time,” McMaster told reporters outside the Aiken County Airport.

The storm caused the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. One community, Spruce Pine, received more than 2 feet of rain Tuesday through Saturday.

Jessica Drye Turner, in Texas, had begged for someone to save her family members stranded on their roof in Asheville amid rising floodwaters. “They are monitoring 18-wheelers and passing cars,” Turner wrote in an urgent Facebook post Friday.

But in a follow-up message Saturday, Turner said help didn’t arrive in time to save his parents, both in their 70s, as well as his 6-year-old nephew. The roof collapsed and the three drowned.

“I cannot express in words the heartache, heartbreak and devastation that my sisters and I are going through,” she wrote.

The state was sending water and other items to Buncombe County and Asheville, but mudslides blocking Interstate 40 and other highways prevented supplies. The county’s water supplies were across the Swannanoa River, far from where most of Buncombe County’s 270,000 residents live, officials said.

Law enforcement planned to send officers to locations where there was still water, food or gas because of reports of arguments and threats of violence, the sheriff’s office said. county.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell visited southern Georgia on Sunday and plans to visit North Carolina on Monday.

“This is still a very active search and rescue mission” in western North Carolina, Criswell said. “And we know that many communities are isolated simply because of the geography” of the mountains, where damage to roads and bridges has isolated some areas.

On Saturday, President Joe Biden pledged federal help for Helene’s “overwhelming” devastation. He also approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina, making federal funding available to those affected.

In Big Bend, Florida, some people lost almost everything they owned. While sanctuaries were still dark Sunday morning, some churches canceled regular services while others, like Faith Baptist Church in Perry, opted to worship outside.

Standing water and tree debris still cover the grounds of Faith Baptist Church. The church called on parishioners to come “pray for our community” in a message posted on the congregation’s Facebook page.

“We have electricity. We don’t have electricity,” said Marie Ruttinger, a parishioner at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. “Our God has power. That’s for sure.”

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Saturday it looked like “a bomb went off” after watching from the air as homes were shattered and highways covered in debris.

In eastern Georgia, near the South Carolina border, authorities informed Augusta residents Sunday morning that water service would be cut off for 24 to 48 hours in the city and surrounding areas. Richmond County.

A news release said trash and debris from the storm “blocked our ability to pump water.” Officials handed out bottled water.

With at least 25 deaths in South Carolina, Helene was the deadliest tropical cyclone for the state since Hurricane Hugo made landfall north of Charleston in 1989, killing 35 people.

A new tropical depression in the eastern Atlantic Ocean could develop into a “formidable hurricane” later this week, the National Hurricane Center announced Sunday. The depression had sustained winds of 35 mph and was about 585 miles west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands, the center said. It could become a hurricane by Wednesday.

Information in this article was provided by Haya Panjwani, Kate Brumback and Matthew Brown of The Associated Press.