Hurricane Helene ravaged southeastern states last week, causing immense damage and killing at least 200 people.
The storm first made landfall in the Florida panhandle, then spread its destruction across Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and parts of Tennessee.
Much of the destruction happened in the western part of North Carolina, where more than half of the deaths have been reported. That part of the state was completely decimated, as entire towns have been almost wiped off the map.
While 200 people have been reported dead so far, the death toll continues to rise nearly every day, and there are still hundreds of people who are reported missing.
In the first few days after the storm passed through, there were thousands of people who were reported missing. Officials cautioned people to be patient, though, as they said it was very likely that many of those people just couldn’t get in contact with others since communications channels were blacked out.
Biden administration officials have visited multiple places in the region over the past week to assess the damage in-person, and 1,000 soldiers were sent to help with aid delivery and other jobs in North Carolina.
The federal government is also providing financial assistance to North Carolina to help in the cleanup effort.
But, many people are still struggling to recover. As recently as Thursday of this week, nearly 1 million customers still didn’t have electricity in the states that were affected.
Many people still don’t have access to water, which has resulted in theft and vandalism of bottled water from delivery trucks.
When making an appearance in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Wednesday, Biden said:
“Today, in North Carolina, I saw the impacts of that fury: Massive trees uprooted; homes literally swept off their foundations, swept down rivers; you know, families that are heartbroken. Nobody can deny the impact of climate crisis anymore. At least I hope they don’t. They must be brain-dead if they do.”
Rescue crews are working with volunteers to still try to search for those who are missing, but they are having trouble navigating through mudslides, power lines that are downed and roads that have been washed out.
At a press conference held on Thursday night, Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller said:
“We know these are hard times, but please know we’re coming. We’re coming to get you. We’re coming to pick up our people.”
Helene has already become the second-deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland since 2005 when Hurricane Katrina made landfall.
Miller said that 72 people in his county have been pronounced dead from the hurricane. The county includes the city of Asheville, the most populous city in the region and a hub for tourists.
While western North Carolina was hit perhaps the hardest, there is plenty of devastation that happened in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida as well.