The Tragic Impact of Hurricane Helene: 200 Lives Lost! 

United States: More than 200 people have died as the need for power and water became urgent on Thursday for hundreds of thousands of residents in the Southeast, one week after Hurricane Helene caused severe damage. 

Outages were down from over 4.5 million reports in the previous week, and over 784,000 households and businesses in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina & Virginia still lack electricity. About 45,000 people, many of whom are residents of western North Carolina, remained without drinkable water. 

A USA TODAY Network analysis shows that the death toll in the area exceeded 200 Thursday after North Carolina said that the number of confirmed deaths in the state was 97 and later 108. Furthermore, South Carolina has 41 deaths, Georgia 33, Florida 19, Tennessee 11, and Virginia 2, making the total count of 214. 

Helene is now fourth on the list for the deadliest hurricanes to hit the U.S. mainland after the year 1950 and the deadliest in terms of victims after Katrina in 2005.  

The situation is still terrible in and around Asheville, a city in Buncombe County of nearly 100,00 people in a metropolitan area of over 401,000 in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  

Helene arrived here as a tropical storm, continued the downpour in the already flooded region and dropped more than a foot of rain. Many residences and several scores of the roads were flooded and/or damaged or completely destroyed. Few communities have access to electricity and most of the families do not have access to clean water. 

While Buncombe County, which has recorded 72 deaths, has been resupplying ready-to-eat meals with bottled water in quantities of two meal packages per adult and one child per day. There was water dispensing for toilet flushing on Tuesdays and Fridays at a distribution point. 

Still, this life goes on, and Brandon Mashburn was tired of sitting at home without power, water, or internet and service and. on Wednesday, he,went to Malvern Hills Park and, with the help of a hacksaw and some neighbors cl, eared debris so kids would have a safe place to play. 

And also it’s one of the things that communities came together and said, and if nobody’s going to do nothing about it, then we will, and Mashburn said. 

President Joe Biden took on the role of the consoler in the chief and the Thursday as he toured the Big Bend region of Florida where Hurricane Helene made landfall, and he also witnessed fallen trees and collapsed power lines, and demolished homes. 

With Republican Sen. Rick Scott of the Florida and alongside him and the Biden surveyed damaged in the community of Keaton Beach and met a husband and wife who lost their home in the storm and are now living in an RV parked in their driveway.