Hurricane Helena killed 155 people in the US

The death toll from Hurricane Helena, which tore through the southeastern United States, has risen to at least 155, authorities said Tuesday.

US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were to see the storm’s damage in person. Biden will travel to North and South Carolina on Wednesday, and Harris, who is still campaigning for the presidency, will visit Georgia.

North Carolina and Georgia are among the states hardest hit by “Helena,” but they also play a role in the US presidential election in November, in which Harris hopes to defeat a candidate Former Republican President Donald Trump.

At least 74 people have died in North Carolina, 36 in South Carolina, 25 in Georgia, 14 in Florida, four in Tennessee and two in Virginia, according to local authorities and media reports. AFP together.

Emergency workers continued to restore power and water in the area on Tuesday.

Hundreds of people are still missing, but officials said they hope some of them will be found after cell phone service is restored.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said at a press conference on Tuesday that “whole communities have been wiped off the map” and that the official death toll in the state could rise.

Helena made landfall in Florida last Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane. As it moved north, the storm gradually lost its strength and is now classified as a tropical cyclone.

Helena became the subject of a political game when Trump traveled to Georgia on Monday and accused the Biden and Harris administrations of failing to respond to the storm’s damage. Biden responded by accusing Trump of spreading lies.