Hurricane Helene has left a tragic trail of destruction in the southeastern United States, leaving at least 200 people dead, The Associated Press reported. There are still people missing and search efforts continue in the most affected areas.
The White House, in response, has activated a large-scale operation to care for victims of the disaster. CNN reported that President Joe Biden will visit Florida and Georgia to assess damage and coordinate federal support. In addition, it approved federal assistance for the most affected areas.
According to The Guardian, Biden commented while flying over the affected states that “you can see houses that have clearly been moved from one side of the river to the other, turned into piles of rubble.”
The impact of the hurricane has been especially concentrated in North Carolina, where services and infrastructure have been severely hit. Patch contributed that in this region, specifically in Buncombe County, at least 61 residents have lost their lives. Humanitarian support continues to arrive, with the National Guard deploying vital supplies to the most isolated areas.
The situation is critical, since nearly a million people remain without electricity supply in the southern states. PowerOutage.us reported that in South Carolina alone there are 379,000 customers without service, followed by North Carolina and Georgia, which have approximately 292,000 and 250,000 affected, respectively.
This event has left entire communities in a situation of both isolation and deprivation, as government officials ask people to conserve water, particularly in places under boiling orders.
“Soldiers will accelerate the delivery of vital supplies of food, water and medicine to isolated North Carolina communities; They have the manpower and logistical capabilities to accomplish this vital task, and quickly. “They will join hundreds of National Guard members deployed under state authorities in support of the response,” Biden said in a statement.
Compared to other disasters, Helene emerges as one of the deadliest storms in recent US history, ranking second only to Katrina. USA Today also warns of studies that estimate Helene’s fatal consequences could increase over time.
With the imminent arrival of Hurricane Kirk, with projections towards the east coast of the country, authorities are keeping track of weather patterns. The National Hurricane Center warned of the possibility of dangerously high waves across this region for the weekend, posing a new challenge for already affected coastal communities.
“These swells are likely to cause life-threatening waves and rip currents,” the institution warned.
At the same time, the American political presence has been present in disaster zones, where figures such as Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump arrived.
NPR highlighted Biden’s statements about attempts to communicate with missing people, expressing concern for the 600 individuals whose whereabouts are still unknown: “God willing, they are alive. But there is no way to contact them again due to lack of cell coverage.”
This extremely tense and complex scenario reflects the multifaceted impact of natural disasters on human life, on government administration, and on the capacity to intervene in the face of severe climate phenomena. Collaboration between federal, state and community entities is emerging as essential to confront this fatal emergency and thus avoid a further worsening of the ongoing disaster.
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