Hurricane Helene leaves ‘biblical devastation’ in North Carolina as recovery efforts underway in Southeast: Live
At least 64 people have died across multiple states as a result of Helene, which has caused billions of dollars worth of damage
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Hurricane Helene has left “biblical devastation” in North Carolina as recovery efforts get underway in aernest across the southeast US.
At least 64 people have died as a result of Helene, which has caused billions of dollars worth of damage. Millions have been left without power after power lines and cell towers were damaged.
In Buncombe County, North Carolina, authorities said around 1,000 people were still unaccounted for. “We have biblical devastation through the county,” said Ryan Cole, an emergency official for the county, which contains the mountain city of Asheville – which was torn apart in the wake of Helene.
“This is the most significant natural disaster that any one of us has ever seen.”
The storm, now classified a post-tropical cyclone, is expected to hover over the Tennessee Valley on Saturday and into Sunday.
Among the people killed in the storm were three firefighters, a woman and her 1-month-old twins, and an 89-year-old woman whose house was struck by a falling tree, according to an Associated Press tally.
On Sunday the NHC also warned that a disturbance off the coast of Cabo Verde could form into a tropical depression in the next 48 hours, and has a 60 percent change of forming into a tropical cyclone in the next two days.
NHC updates on Helene
As of Saturday morning, Helene had been downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, according to the National Hurricane Center.
In a morning update, the NHC said widespread, significant river flooding was ongoing across the southern Appalachians, some of which were record-breaking. Conditions are predicted to continue to improve on Saturday, following the catastrophic flooding over the past two days, the center said.
It added that there was a possibility of long-duration power outages in portions of the southeast US and urged members of the public to exercise caution after the system passed, due to hazards including downed power lines and flooded areas.
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“We have food, water, generators that are ready for deployment,” Harris said. “We are working to restore power to millions of people who currently are experiencing outages.”
Still, Harris said, destruction from the storm is not over. “The storm continues to be dangerous and deadly,” she said.
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