🇺🇸 Hundreds unaccounted for and millions without power in aftermath of Hurricane Helene

[Ghazi52]

Hundreds unaccounted for and millions without power in aftermath of Hurricane Helene​

Summary

More than 600 people are missing or unaccounted for in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, according to the White House

Some 2 million people are without power as 50,000 personnel try to restore electricity across multiple states

Roads blocked by debris and downed communication lines have hampered search and rescue efforts

At least 116 people have died nationwide, according to the BBC's US partner CBS, with 35 of them dying in just one North Carolina county, Buncombe

Helene - which made landfall in Florida on Thursday - began as a category four hurricane and became the most powerful on record to hit Florida's Big Bend before moving north into Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee

Officials are having to airlift emergency supplies, including food and water, to certain areas in the state due to road closures - with local residents posting updates of their searches for loved ones online

 

[Ghazi52]

Biden will go to North Carolina on Wednesday
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President Joe Biden will travel to the hard-hit state of North Carolina on Wednesday, he told reporters at the White House, as whole communities remain cut off due to flooding from Hurricane Helene.

River continue to rise, NC governor warns
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We've just heard an update from Will Ray, the director of of the North Carolina Department of Emergency Management, and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper.

Cooper says the situation currently is that communities remain "completely cut off" and "first responders can't even get in because water is still there".

"Rivers are rising right now as we speak," he warns, adding that "more help is on the way".

Ray says that the state is trying to establish "ground routes" to deliver aid, instead of having to "rely on aircraft to move commodities into impacted areas".

He adds that state authorities are "going to continue to push and encourage" commercial internet providers to restore communication links as quickly as possible.

 

[Ghazi52]

'The nation is with you', Harris tells storm victimspublished at 22:10 British Summer Time
22:10 BST​

Vice-President Kamala Harris has just spoken after visiting the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or Fema's, operations centre in Washington DC.

"You're so selfless in the way you serve your country, and in particular at times like this," she tells Fema employees.

She says that she has spoken to the governors of Georgia and North Carolina, "and I have shared with them that we will do everything in our power to help communities respond and recover".

"The devastation from Hurricane Helene immense," she says, pledging to visit the region.

"To everyone who has been impacted by this storm, and to all you who are rightly feeling overwhelmed by the destruction and the loss, the nation is with you," she says.