The figures of destruction left HeleneAs they pass through the United States, they only increase: death of the hurricane, now degraded into a post-tropical cyclone, amount to at least 107 deathsaccording to the latest data collected by Europa Press, while the The number missing in the hundreds.
The hurricane, one of the most powerful to hit this North American country, made landfall last Thursday in Florida and since killed around 100 people in six states from the southeast, including North Carolinawhere the majority of deaths are concentrated and where the government has authorized a declaration of “major disaster” to speed up assistance operations.
In turn, the authorities received notices from around 600 people missingalthough it is likely that a large part of them are alive and that their unknown location is due to the lack of access to telecommunications networks.
Helene entered the southeast coast of Florida as a Category 4 hurricane Thursday evening and headed north, with torrential rains and hurricane winds which caused devastating scenes in which rescue and recovery teams are now working.
North Carolina It is one of the most affected states, especially on its western flank: an example of disaster is the city of Asheville, partially submergedwith their destroyed houses and streets full of rubble.
The governor, Roy Cooper, explained this Sunday that the heavy rains that fell in the mountains caused slides that They destroyed roads, toppled streetlights and telecommunications towers. en route to residential areas. Some 280 state highways remained closed, so authorities brought resources to those stranded by air, while about 1,000 people remained in shelters, according to Cooper.
The difficulties are increased by the power outages that this Sunday they kept 2.4 million people without electricity in the five hardest-hit southeastern states and another 130,000 in the five northern neighbors where the hurricane has weakened.
The president Joe Biden intends to travel to hurricane-affected areas this week Helene as quickly as possible without hindering the emergency response, as indicated by the White House this Sunday. For her part, the vice-president and Democratic candidate for the elections, Kamala Harris, will return to Washington this Monday, thus cutting short her campaign trip to Nevada, to be informed of the response to the hurricane.
