Asheville. The US authorities this Wednesday raised the number of deaths to 191 as a result of the hurricane’s passage. Helene across six states, which became the second deadliest in the last 50 years in North American territory and left more than 1.3 million people without power.
Isolated and without electricity or telephone since Helene devastated the southeastern United States nearly a week ago, mountain residents of western North Carolina are turning to old-fashioned methods of communication and survival.
In Black Mountain’s town square, local leaders stood on a picnic table, shouting updates on when power might be restored. A woman took notes to pass on to her neighbors. Next to a fence, a makeshift bulletin board listed the names of people still missing. In other areas, mules carried medical supplies to houses located on top of the mountains. Residents collected water from streams and cooked on camping stoves. And throughout the region people took care of each other.
After surveying the area by helicopter on Wednesday, President Joe Biden praised the Democratic governor of North Carolina and the Republican governor of South Carolina for their response to the storm, saying that after the disasters “we put politics aside.”
As government planes brought food and water to the hardest-hit areas, and rescue teams forded streams in search of survivors, those who survived after the storm passed relied on each other, not technology.
“I didn’t know where I was going, I didn’t know what was going to happen next. But I got out and I’m alive,” said Robin Wynn, who lost power in her Asheville home early Friday and was able to grab a bag of canned food and water before reaching a shelter despite the water reaching her. to the knees.
Now that he’s back home, he says his neighbors have been looking out for each other. Many people came out to make sure everyone had hot food and water.
In remote mountain areas, helicopters hoisted the stranded to safety while rescuers moved downed trees so they could search door-to-door for survivors. In some places houses teetered on hillsides and river banks.
Nearly a week after the storm, more than 1.1 million customers were still without power in the states of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, where Helene hit the Florida coast in the Gulf of Mexico as a Category 4 hurricane. Deaths have been reported in the states of Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia, in addition to the Carolinas.
Sarah Vekasi is a potter and owner of a shop in Black Mountain called Sarah Sunshine Pottery, which gets its name from her cheerful personality. But these days he is struggling because of Helene’s trauma and uncertainty about the future of his business.
“All I can say is that I am alive. I’m not doing very well. It’s not going well for me. But I am very grateful to be alive, especially when so many are not,” Vekasi said.
Something that makes her feel a little better is the camaraderie she feels when the people gather daily in the plaza.
“It’s amazing to be able to meet in person,” Vekasi said after Wednesday’s session, which brought together more than 150 people.
Martha Sullivan took careful notes at the meeting so she could share the information—reopening of roads, progress in restoring power, work to try to get water flowing again—with others.
Sullivan, who has lived in Black Mountain for 43 years, said her children invited her to come to Charlotte after the storm, but she wants to stay in her community and take care of her neighbors.
“I’ll stay as long as I feel I’m useful,” Sullivan said.
Eric Williamson, who works at First Baptist Church of Hendersonville, typically makes home visits to parishioners who cannot attend the temple. This week he has been their lifeline, delivering food that meets dietary restrictions and getting rid of food that has gone bad.
In addition to checking the essentials, he says it’s important to socialize with people at a time like this so they know they’re not alone.
He has a handwritten list of all the people he has to visit. “They don’t have phone service, even if they have a landline, a lot of them don’t work,” Williamson said. “So we bring them food and water, but we also just bring them a smile and a prayer to give them comfort.”
Asheville volunteers gathered Wednesday before heading out to help find people who have been unreachable due to phone and internet outages. They brought with them boxes of drinking water and instructions to return in person with their results.
Even notifying family members of those who died in the storm has been difficult.
“Honestly, that has been our challenge: there is no cell phone service and no way to contact family members,” said Avril Pinder, an official in Buncombe County, where at least 61 people have died. “We have a confirmed body count, but we don’t have everyone’s ID or how to notify next of kin.”
Biden flew over the devastation in North and South Carolina to see firsthand the disaster left in its wake by a storm that has claimed no less than 187 lives, making Helene the deadliest hurricane to hit the continental United States since Hurricane Katrina, according to statistics from the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
In a speech in Raleigh, North Carolina, Biden said, “Our job is to help as many people as possible, as quickly as we can, and as thoroughly as we can.”
This includes a commitment from the federal government to cover the cost of debris removal and emergency protective measures for six months. The funds will be used to address the impact of landslides and flooding and will cover the cost of first responders, search and rescue teams, shelters and food for victims.
“We will not leave until you have fully recovered,” Biden said.
Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to the neighboring state of Georgia, where she said the federal government had agreed to cover the cost of a similar emergency relief operation for three months.
Biden plans to travel to affected areas in Florida and Georgia on Thursday.
Workers at a plastics factory in rural Tenesi who continued work last week until water flooded the parking lot and power to the plant was cut were among the dead. The waters swept away 11 workers, and only five were rescued. The death of two of them was confirmed.
Tennessee state authorities said they are investigating the company that owns the factory after some employees said they were not allowed to leave in time to avoid the impact of the storm.
Hospitals and healthcare organizations in the southeast largely remained open despite power outages, wind damage, supply issues and flooding. Many hospitals suspended performing non-emergency procedures, while only a few closed completely.
In Florida, authorities turned to “low-risk” state prisoners to help remove debris from mountains.
“The Department of Corrections still puts inmates to work. So they are bringing them in to remove debris,” Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters Wednesday.
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