Desperation grows to find hundreds unaccounted for in wake of Helene

• Climbing death toll: At least 140 people have died  across six states  and officials fear the death toll can rise following Hurricane Helene. Many more remain missing, perhaps unable to leave their location or unable to contact family where communications infrastructure is in shreds.

• Power and infrastructure outages: Hundreds of roads remain closed, especially in the Carolinas, hampering the delivery of badly-needed supplies. Some areas are so inaccessible supplies are being delivered by mules and by air and people are hiking hours to try to help loved ones.More than 1.5 million customers remain without power, according to  poweroutage.us.

• Resources: For ways to help those left in Helene’s aftermath, visit CNN  Impact Your World. Bookmark  CNN’s lite site  for fast connectivity.

The death toll in Tennessee has risen to nine, according to information from CNN’s tally and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA).

The death toll from Helene has risen to at least 140 across six states.

Here’s the breakdown of deaths by state, according to CNN’s tally:

• North Carolina: 56 people
• South Carolina: 33 people
• Georgia: 25 people
• Florida: 15 people
• Tennessee: 9 people
• Virginia: 2 people

Thousands of federal personnel are deployed across the United States to respond to Helene, a “widespread and historically devastating disaster,” FEMA officials said in a Tuesday news briefing.

In all, there are 3,500 federal personnel helping with Hurricane Helene recovery across several states, including 1,000 people from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and 1,250 people with urban search and rescue teams, according to Frank Matranga, the Director of Individual Assistance at FEMA.

FEMA has provided 1.9 million meals, 1 million liters of water, 95,000 tarps, 150 ambulances and 30 generators to areas affected by the storm, he added.

The storm system caused a “widespread and historically devastating disaster,” Matranga said. “We’re committed to being there every step of the way, and it’s a long way.”

The comments came Tuesday as part of a media call featuring speakers from several federal agencies responding to the storm, including the Coast Guard, the EPA and the Department of Agriculture.

Hurricane Helene has claimed the lives of at least five first responders and a K-9 officer, according to several agencies across the Southeast.

Two South Carolina first responders lost their lives on Friday.  Saluda County Fire  Chief Chad Satcher, 53 and firefighter Landon Bodie, 18, died when a tree fell on their fire truck while they were responding to a structure fire during the hurricane, the fire department said.

Blackshear, Georgia, assistant fire chief Leon Davis died “in the line of service” according to the Pierce County Government. Davis had over 30 years of service, and according to his obituary, died “doing what he loved, helping our community, as Hurricane Helene ravaged our city.”

In North Carolina, two officers lost their lives while trying to navigate floodwaters, the  North Carolina Sheriff’s Association  said.

One of the officers was Jim Lau, who was a courthouse security officer in Macon County. Prior to joining the Macon County Sheriff’s Office, Lau worked at the Volusia Sheriff’s Office in Florida, the s heriff’s office  said.

An Erwin, Tennessee, K-9 Officer, “Scotty” also fell victim to Helene’s flooding, the Erwin Police Department said on Facebook.

“Please be on the lookout. Our K9 Scotty has been missing from the Bumpass Cove area since yesterday’s flood,” the agency initially wrote on  Facebook. The post was later updated with the announcement that “Scotty has been located and is no longer with us. Please pray for his handler and all who loved him.”

Helene flooded “several thousand” homes with feet of storm surge in the Tampa area, the city’s mayor told CNN’s Jim Acosta, while also counting the city’s relative luck compared to other places in the direct path of a storm fueled by climate change.

“I don’t know that there’s anyone that anyone can deny the effects of climate change on the sheer power of the storms we’re seeing now,” Tampa mayor Jane Castor told Acosta on CNN Newsroom. “And the quickness of them: We had three days, and we were hit by Helene.”

Helene rapidly intensified into a Category 4 Hurricane in the exceptionally warm water of the Gulf of Mexico. It was the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region.

Scientists have previously said that more hurricanes are rapidly intensifying, particularly ahead of landfall, as the atmosphere warms from fossil fuel pollution giving residents less time to prepare.

“These storms just in the last year or so, gain speed and power so quickly,” said Castor. “And the breadth of Helene, just the sheer width and the effect it had, it never came closer than 120 miles from our coast and look at the devastation you saw here.”

The mayor said the greater Tampa Bay Area is still working to clear out streets and homes choked with sand and water from the storm surge.

Hurricane Helene laid waste to the southeastern United States. Its sheer wind force and deadly floods left behind a path of destruction stretching over  500 miles  from Florida to the Southern Appalachians.

In just 48 hours, vast swaths of the region became unrecognizable. The storm has caused at least  133 deaths, and officials fear the toll could rise as many people remain unaccounted for.

Communities were cut off and stranded as floodwaters washed away hundreds of roads, buildings, homes and vehicles. Communication infrastructure is in shreds. Millions of people have also lost power and access to water across at least six states.

Helene’s path of devastation started on Florida’s Gulf Coast, as it traveled to the Big Bend. At 11:10 p.m. on September 26, it made landfall near the city of Perry as a powerful Category 4 hurricane and brought record-breaking storm surge late into the night.

The region saw up to 15 feet of surge, according to preliminary reports from the National Weather Service.

Read the full timeline and see how the storm unfolded here.

Emergency responders are still rescuing people and trying to get aid to the mountains in North Carolina, five days after Helene made landfall, the governor said during a Tuesday news conference.

There are 460,000 North Carolinians without power, access to water remains difficult for some, roadways remain dangerous and more than 1,100 people are being housed in 29 shelters across the state, Gov. Roy Cooper said.

“The devastation brought by Hurricane Helene is beyond belief,” he said. “Communities were wiped off the map.”

Despite the challenges, the governor said he’s been encouraged to see how people are working together through the tragedy, including many first responders and medical workers who left their own families and damaged homes to take care of the community.

So far, more than 57,000 people have applied for FEMA individual assistance and are already beginning to receive relief funds, Cooper said.

Cooper, along with other officials, continued to emphasize the importance of keeping the roadways clear unless travel is essential.

With downed power lines and unstable ground, the risk for landslides remains, said William Ray, North Carolina’s director of emergency management. He also urged people to refrain from flying drones in western North Carolina, as it poses a hazard to aircraft involved in the response effort.

As of 9 a.m. Tuesday, North Carolina’s attorney general’s office had received more than 70 complaints about price gouging on fuel, groceries and hotel rooms across the state. North Carolina has an anti-price gouging law in times of disaster.

“We simply will not allow price gougers to take advantage of you when you’re in need,” North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said. “Times like this ask the best of us … we take every opportunity to lend a helping hand to those in need. It’s our moment to step up for our neighbors.”

Volunteers in Buncombe County, North Carolina, continue trudging through mud and damaged roads trying to answer the key question of so many people outside of the community: Did my loved one survive the storm?

“Yesterday, our volunteers… knocked on more than 300 doors,” Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder said in a briefing Tuesday morning. She said they found “a majority” of the people in those home searches and, thankfully, none of the people they have encountered were hurt.

The door knocks were organized by the Register of Deeds, which maintains the vital records of county residents. The county set up a website where people could report on friends or family they’ve been unable to contact. Pinder said over the weekend that the number of missing people had dropped below 600 as of Sunday afternoon, but she declined to give a more specific update Tuesday.

Officials have confirmed that 40 Buncombe County residents were killed in the storm. “We are still very much in active search and rescue” in addition to recovery operations, Pinder said.

Two federal urban search and rescue teams arrived in Asheville Monday, according to the fire chief.

“They’ve come with canine search capability. They have advanced medical treatment from ER physicians and are capable of doing minor surgery in the field,” Chief Michael Case said Monday. “They also have hazardous materials response capabilities, and they can do swift water rescue in the most austere environments.”

In the small town of Chimney Rock, North Carolina, there is no single building or home left untouched by Hurricane Helene floodwaters, Mayor Peter O’Leary told CNN affiliate WSOC-TV.

“Everything you take for granted has been washed away, literally. Every single business, every single building has been destroyed or severely damaged,” O’Leary said.

Derek Hennessey watched his deli sink into the river on Friday. The deli was attached to Carter Lodge, which he had spent 14 months renovating.

“We bought a place here to retire and relax,” Hennessey said. “Unfortunately, it is just catastrophically unsafe.”

The Bubba O’Leary’s General Store is sitting on its side, houses on the other side of the river are in ruins, roads are broken, and balconies that overlook the water have been destroyed, according to WSOC-TV.

Rescue crews told WSOC-TV they plan to bring cadaver dogs as the search and rescue moves into the next phase.

The town’s economy is based on tourism and will likely stay empty for months as it recovers, O’Leary said. Despite the devastation, the mayor said the townspeople are dedicated to reviving the community.

“The life in Chimney Rock is strong, like the rocks,” Hennessey said. “Boulders may be moved but we will come back together.”

The death toll in Florida has jumped to 15 after new deaths were reported in Pinellas County.

That means the death toll from Helene has risen to at least 137 people across six states.

Here’s the breakdown of deaths by state, according to CNN’s tally:

• North Carolina: 56
• South Carolina: 33
• Georgia: 25
• Florida: 15
• Tennessee: 6
• Virginia: 2

Asheville Regional Airport has resumed commercial flights into and out of Western North Carolina after they were disrupted by a host of impacts from Helene, according to an announcement made Tuesday morning.

“The airport has remained open and operational since Saturday,” airport spokesperson Tina Kinsey told CNN Tuesday morning. “However, because of many other issues, road closures and gas shortages preventing staff from getting to the airport, internet and cell connectivity failures, high winds – initially, airlines could not resume operations right away.”

Located about 9 miles south of downtown Asheville in Fletcher, airport authorities said that flights on Allegiant, American Airlines, Delta and United Airlines are operational but that there could still be cancellations.

AIRPORT UPDATE 9-30-24 12:35pm🇺🇸This C-17 just landed - the first of more to come - filled with relief supplies that...

The airport has been serving as a drop point for aid to be distributed across the hard-hit area. The North Carolina Air National Guard transported over 100,000 pounds of emergency relief supplies from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on Monday using a C-17 cargo aircraft.

The death toll in South Carolina has risen to 33, according to a news release from the state department of public safety.

That means the death toll from Helene has risen to at least 133 across six states.

Here’s the breakdown of deaths by state, according to CNN’s tally:

• North Carolina: 56
• South Carolina: 33
• Georgia: 25
• Florida: 11
• Tennessee: 6
• Virginia: 2

Buncombe County, North Carolina,  announced  the reopening of I-40 eastbound out of the county – welcome news for the region as residents remain trapped and unable to reach loved ones amid crumbled and washed out road conditions.

President Joe Biden is expected to fly over Asheville, North Carolina, Wednesday, where the damage from Hurricane Helene has so severely narrowed access to the city that the president’s motorcade cannot make it in, the mayor says.

“The only highway into Asheville – of the four highways into Asheville – that’s open, is the one near our airport, and we can’t shut it down for a motorcade,” Mayor Esther Manheimer said during an interview on CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins Monday.

The mayor said by flying over the city, Biden will be able to see the magnitude of the damage.

Asheville still does not have power, water or cell phone service in most areas, and residents are in need of basic supplies, she added.

The city’s rivers have never been as high as they were in this storm, and the flooding has prompted an unprecedented number of swift water rescues, Manheimer said.

In addition to federal and state help the city is now receiving on an emergency basis, she said the community will need longer term federal assistance to rebuild.

Power is still out for more than 1.5 million homes and businesses from Florida to West Virginia four days after Helene roared through late last week, according to PowerOutage.us.

Georgia and the Carolinas account for most of these outages: 1.3 million total.

Here’s how the outages stand as of 8 a.m. ET:

• South Carolina: 612,000+
• Georgia: 468,000+
• North Carolina: 292,000+
• Virginia: 75,000+
• Florida: 67,000+
• West Virginia: 17,000+

Temperatures from the Southeast through the mid-Atlantic will remain near or just above normal for much of the week as rescue and recovery efforts continue.

High temperatures will be in the 80s from Florida to southern North Carolina Tuesday while 70s will be more common from western North Carolina — where some of the most catastrophic damage is — into Virginia. Overnight lows will dip into the 60s for much of the affected region, with upper 50s possible in western North Carolina and low 70s in Florida’s Big Bend region.

Overnight lows will dip into the 60s for much of the affected region, with upper 50s possible in western North Carolina and low 70s in Florida’s Big Bend region.

Mules are helping deliver supplies to North Carolina residents devastated by Hurricane Helene, according to Mountain Mule Packer Ranch.

In a series of  posts to Facebook  Monday, the ranch said it is working to coordinate packs of mules to deliver supplied to areas affected by the storm.

Mike Toberer told the AP he decided to bring a dozen of his mules to deliver food, water and diapers to hard-to-reach mountainous areas.

The ranchers and mules “headed out” Monday morning, “and will continue to reply as quickly as possible to those in need,” his posts said. “We are planning to head to Weaverville, NC…but available to go to other areas of need as well,” said the post.

“We’ll take our chainsaws, and we’ll push those mules through,” he told the AP, noting each mule can carry about 200 pounds of supplies.

Mountain Mule Packer Ranch is located in Raeford, about 110 miles east of Charlotte and about 245 miles from Weaverville.

“We have two fully loaded trucks and 20’ stock trailers heading to” western North Carolina for assistance, according to the post.

“We have been overwhelmed with the amount of support and encouragement received about our efforts to pack supplies in by mule trains to those affected by Hurricane Helene,” a post said.

Approximately 600 people were still unaccounted for in Asheville, North Carolina, Monday afternoon as the city suffers from washed out roads and bridges, cell service outages and blackouts, the mayor told CNN.

Extensive damage to roads and infrastructure has isolated many remote communities and prevented crews from reaching residents with vital supplies, Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer said on “The Source” Monday night.

“There’s still a lot of folks that we need to be able to reach, so that is the priority,” Manheimer told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. “But we also are in a situation where we don’t have water and power in most areas, and we do need resources like drinking water and food and other household supplies and personal supplies people might need.”

The devastation wrought by Helene in the city is “catastrophic,” the mayor said. “The pictures don’t do it justice”

President Joe Biden will fly over the city on Wednesday to survey the damage, she added.

The death toll from Helene continues to rise as authorities across six states slowly access communities that have been isolated by cell service outages and inaccessible roads.

At least 130 deaths have been confirmed so far in the Southeast.

Here is the breakdown of deaths by state, according to CNN’s tally:

• North Carolina : 56
• South Carolina : 30
• Georgia : 25
• Florida : 11
• Tennessee : 6
• Virginia : 2

Intense rain events like Hurricane Helene are making the idea of a “1-in-100-year flood event” obsolete,  according to a 2023 report  from the First Street Foundation, a non-profit focused on weather risk research.

The report found half the American population lives in a county where a 1-in-100-year flood is at least twice as likely now as past years, coming once every 50 years, on average, rather than 100.

First Street found parts of Western North Carolina hit by Helene could get a 1-in-100 year flood every 11 to 25 years. Stronger storms could impact all areas of the country. In much of the Northeast, the Ohio River Basin, Northwestern California, the Texas Gulf Coast and the Mountain West, the rainfall depths for a 1-in-100-year event could happen at least every 5 to 10 years.

Hurricane Helene will rank among the deadliest hurricanes to strike the mainland United States in the past 50 years – and the death toll, which is already more than 100, will likely continue to climb.

Hurricane Katrina tops the list with  at least 1,833 fatalities  from the storm and subsequent flooding. Hurricane Ian, which struck southeast Florida in 2022, caused  150 direct and indirect fatalities.

Helene is currently third on the list, already surpassing Hurricane Irma from 2017,  which killed 92 in the US, mostly in Florida.

Hurricane Harvey and Superstorm Sandy resulted in between 60-75 fatalities in the US.

Note: This list only includes mainland US hurricanes, so Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico is not included.

Another storm could develop this week in the western Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico, which isn’t what anyone in the US wants to hear in the wake of Helene.

But unlike Helene, this potential storm could have more obstacles in its path to development.

A large and disorganized area of low pressure with showers and storms over the western Caribbean has been given a medium chance of developing into a tropical system in the next seven days, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Environmental conditions could become conducive for gradual development, and a tropical depression could form later this week or this weekend while the system is over the southern Gulf of Mexico or northwestern Caribbean Sea, according to the NHC. Helene first organized over the northwestern Caribbean about a week ago.

Weather models are hinting at a possible tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico early next week, though it is too early to be certain. Until an area of low pressure forms, any forecast modeling on the potential storm will likely continue to vary widely with its ultimate strength and track.

Given this, anyone near the Gulf is advised to monitor the forecast.

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