ASHEVILLE: More than 200 people are now confirmed dead after Hurricane Helene carved a path of destruction across several US states, officials said Thursday, making it the second deadliest storm to hit the US mainland in more than half a century. US President Joe Biden visited the southeast of the country for the second day in a row to mourn the people of the region traumatized by the disaster that turned the lives of millions of people upside down. The storm flooded cities, impassable countless roads, knocked out electricity and water supplies and left communities in shock. A compilation of official figures from AFP confirms 201 deaths in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia. More than half of the dead were in flood-ravaged North Carolina, which is experiencing an unprecedented disaster that some are describing as post-apocalyptic. “I see you, I hear you, I grieve with you — and I promise you we have your back,” Biden said during a stop at a damaged walnut farm in Ray City, Georgia. Helene is the deadliest hurricane to hit the US mainland since Katrina in 2005, when 1,392 people were killed. Despite hundreds of rescues in six states and a massive response, including thousands of federal personnel and thousands more members of the National Guard and active duty units assisting local responders, the death toll from the sprawling storm is expected to rise. Many residents are still unknown in the mountainous region known for its isolated pockets. “We are continuing to search for survivors,” he said in his latest update in Buncombe County, North Carolina, the epicenter of the tragedy, where more than 60 people have been confirmed dead, with residents still cut off from the outside world by landslides and devastated. . bridges. Thick mud covers the streets of Asheville, a town of about 100,000 at the foot of the picturesque mountains popular with tourists. Buildings and other structures along the banks of the river were washed away. Authorities are desperately searching for survivors in remote areas, while restaurants and aid groups are providing free food and water in the city center. Repair crews are trying to restore power to the hundreds of thousands of customers who are still without power.
