At least 213 dead in continued search and rescue operations after Helene

At least 213 people have died in six states as a result of Helene, which first made landfall about a week ago as a severe hurricane. Countless people are still missing as search and rescue teams continue to try to reach remote areas devastated by the storm.

Officials said they expect the death toll to continue to rise and the complexity of finding people could mean understanding of the toll remains unclear. Officials in Buncombe County reported 72 deaths Thursday afternoon, while North Carolina state officials confirmed 35 additional deaths in 15 other counties. At least 41 people have died in South Carolina; 33 deaths were confirmed in Georgia; 19 in Florida; at least 11 in Tennessee; and two in Virginia.

Many people who go missing, including those in more remote communities, may ultimately be safe, officials continue to stress, but ongoing problems with poor cell phone and internet service may hamper their ability to make contact.

In a news conference Thursday morning, Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder said officials know there are “groups of people who are isolated due to landslides and bridges, so while they are not connected, they are not missing.”

“Only when our search and rescue operations are complete will we truly know the number of missing people,” Pinder added.

More than 200 people are still missing in the troubled county, Sheriff Quentin Miller said during a news conference Thursday afternoon.

In Black Mountain, a Buncombe County town near Asheville, Paul St. Clair set up a Starlink satellite Internet dish when he stopped by to check on his wife’s parents on Monday. On Tuesday, it was Black Mountain’s main connection to the outside world.

“I brought it here and set it up thinking it would be a few people,” he said during a break from cleaning up his in-laws’ wet basement. “We had 40, 50 people here all day.”

Many told him it was the first time they were able to let their families know they were OK. Some filed insurance claims. A man used the Internet to pay an important medical bill for his father. Others just scroll.

Black Mountain is just one example of the widespread communications crisis unfolding in communities affected by the massive floods and storms in Helene. According to the Federal Communications Commission, about two-thirds of cell towers in affected counties were shut down. Thousands of people who long ago ditched their landlines and no longer use AM/FM radios are cut off from important information as they grapple with the storm’s horrific effects.

More than 880,000 electric customers were still without power in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia as of Thursday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us. There is also a lack of clean drinking water in large parts of hard-hit areas, and authorities are unable to provide clear timelines for restoring supplies. Aid continued to flow to the beleaguered districts.

About 6,700 National Guard members from 16 states were involved in relief operations Thursday, said Maj. Gen. Win Burkett, director of domestic operations and force development at the National Guard Bureau. They were joined by about 1,000 active-duty soldiers from Fort Liberty, North Carolina, who President Joe Biden authorized to help.

In North Carolina, about 1,100 Guard members, 400 military vehicles and 26 Guard aircraft were involved, and “significant air operations” for search and rescue were still underway, said Col. Paul Hollenack, a brigade commander. The National Guard there had rescued more than 500 people and 150 pets in a week and delivered more than 1 million pounds of food to affected areas.

Some Guard members there struggled with the destruction of their own homes while taking part in the response. A security guard studying at Appalachian State University “lost everything” and responded by driving east to Durham and volunteering to take part in the operation, Hollenack said.

National Guard efforts in other states through Thursday focused more on indirect support, including clearing heavy debris from roads so road rangers and other personnel could restore power and communications, including cellular networks, military officials said.

Col. William Matheny, a South Carolina National Guard brigade commander, said Guard members had to “literally cut themselves out of their own armories with heavy equipment” “just to clear the roads so they could get in touch with these emergency centers.” “And get an idea of ​​what was going on initially.” They have moved to widening the roads in the last few days to allow more vehicles.

In Tennessee, helicopters and National Guard boat crews worked together to rescue about 80 people from a hospital in eastern Unicoi County whose entire first floor had been inundated by flooding on Sunday. Others were knocked off the top of floating debris and trees, said Maj. Hulon Holmes, a pilot.

Meanwhile, locals are also doing what they can to help.

Justin Jenne spent Wednesday riding Happy, his brown and white Tennessee walking horse, through the roar of western North Carolina, carrying supplies to those stranded after Helene raced through the mountainous region about a week ago.

Jenne was part of a caravan of five horses, a mule and their riders – all volunteers – that left about half a dozen people stranded in their homes.

“There were families for whom the only way out was to cross a stream,” said Jenne, 47, who runs Classic Horse Auction in western Lewisburg, Tennessee. “They desperately needed supplies.”

He said his group had advanced into an area where two bridges had been washed out by the storm and numerous mountain roads had been nearly washed away.

They passed supplies across a flooded creek to an elderly man and his mother, who had not been able to leave their home since the storm, he said. Another family said they crossed a flooded river and hiked eight miles to a neighbor’s house to get supplies before returning.

It was not clear how quickly the area would be accessible by vehicles, and Jenne said the mounted volunteers had plans to continue bringing in supplies Thursday.

“These places are just impassable,” Jenne said. “These roads, some of them are just washed out so badly.”

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De Vynck reported from Black Mountain, North Carolina, Chiu, Rivero and Lamothe reported from Washington. Hennessy-Fiske reported from Houston.