Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130
CTV
Widespread devastation left behind by Hurricane Helene came to light Monday across the South, revealing a wasteland of splintered houses, crushed cargo containers and mud-covered highways in one of the worst storms in U.S. history. The death toll topped 130.
Widespread devastation left behind by Hurricane Helene came to light Monday across the South, revealing a wasteland of splintered houses, crushed cargo containers and mud-covered highways in one of the worst storms in U.S. history. The death toll topped 130.
A crisis was unfolding in western North Carolina, where residents stranded by washed-out roads and by a lack of power and cellular service lined up for fresh water and a chance to message loved ones days after the storm that they were alive.
At least 133 deaths in six Southeastern states have been attributed to the storm that inflicted damage from Florida's Gulf Coast to the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia.
The toll steadily rose as emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding. During a briefing Monday, White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall suggested as many as 600 people hadn’t been accounted for as of Monday afternoon, saying some might be dead.
U.S. President Joe Biden said he will travel to North Carolina on Wednesday to meet with officials and take an aerial tour of Asheville.
He said earlier that the federal government would be with affected residents in the nation’s southeast “as long as it takes.”
Government officials and aid groups were working to bring basic supplies by airlift, truck and mule to the hard-hit tourism hub of Asheville and its surrounding mountain towns.
