US southeast faces daunting task cleaning up from Helene; death toll rises
At least 47 people died across the southeastern U.S.
More than 3.25 million homes and businesses without power across five states
Thousands of water rescues in Florida
FEMA director tours damaged areas along Florida coast
Updates with comments from President Biden in paragraphs 4 and 5
By Rich McKay, Joseph Ax and Andrew Hay
ATLANTA, Sept 28 (Reuters) -Authorities across a wide swath of the southeastern United States faced the daunting task on Saturday of cleaning up from Hurricane Helene, one of the most powerful to hit the country, as the death toll continued to rise.
At least 47 deaths were reported by early Saturday, and officials feared still more bodies would be discovered across several states.
Downgraded late on Friday to a post-tropical cyclone, the remnants of Helene continued to produce heavy rains across several states, sparking massive flooding that threatened to cause dam failures that could inundate entire towns.
"The devastation we're witnessing in Hurricane Helene's wake has been overwhelming," President Joe Biden said on Saturday. "Jill and I continue to pray for all of those who have lost loved ones and for everyone impacted by this storm."
"Our focus is on life-saving and life-sustaining response efforts in the Southeast," he said. "I continue to be briefed by my team, which is coordinating recovery efforts with state and local officials."
In Florida's Pinellas County near Tampa, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said he had never seen destruction like what was wrought by Helene. "I would just describe it, having spent the last few hours out there, as a war zone," Gualtieri told a press conference.
At least 3.25 million customers woke up early on Saturday without power across five states, with authorities warning it could be several days before services were fully restored. The worst outages were in South Carolina with more than 1 million homes and businesses without power, and Georgia with 777,000 without power.
As of 11 a.m. the remnants of the storm was about 145 miles (235 km) southwest of Louisville, Kentucky.
Some of the worst rains hit western North Carolina, which saw almost 30 inches (76 cm) of precipitation fall on Mount Mitchell in Yancey County, the NWS's Weather Prediction Center reported.
Atlanta was hit with 13 inches of rain, and in South Georgia farmers were assessing the damages to the state's $1 billion cotton crop now in its harvest season.
Scientists say climate change contributes to fueling stronger, more destructive hurricanes.
Before moving north through Georgia and into Tennessee and the Carolinas, Helene hit Florida's Big Bend region as a powerful Category 4 hurricane on Thursday night, packing 140 mph (225 kph) winds. It left behind a chaotic landscape of overturned boats in harbors, felled trees, submerged cars and flooded streets.
Police and firefighters carried out thousands of water rescues throughout the affected states on Friday.
More than 50 people were rescued from the roof of a hospital in Unicoi County, Tennessee, about 120 miles (200 km) northeast of Knoxville, state officials said, after flood waters swamped the rural community.
Rising waters from the Nolichucky River prevented ambulances and emergency vehicles from rescuing patients and others there, the Unicoi County Emergency Management Agency said on social media. Emergency crews in boats and helicopters were used to conduct rescues.
Elsewhere in Tennessee, Rob Mathis, the mayor of Cocke County, ordered the evacuation of downtown Newport because of a potential failure at the nearby Walters dam.
The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings overnight for a swath of eastern Tennessee covering 100,000 residents, warning them to seek higher ground. The Nolichucky Dam in Tennessee's Greene County was on the brink of failure early on Saturday, officials reported, adding that a breach could occur at any time.
On Friday, Biden added Tennessee to the long list of states under declarations of emergency, which frees up federal funds and other assistance for recovery.
In western North Carolina, Rutherford County emergency officials warned residents near the Lake Lure Dam that it might fail, although they said late on Friday that failure did not appear imminent.
Multiple people in and around Chimney Rock, North Carolina, described the downtown as washed out, with images online showing inches of mud and sediment, uprooted trees and snapped telephone poles and buildings turned to debris.
"All right folks, listen up, Chimney Rock is gone, Flowering Bridge is gone," said poster Touristpov on TikTok, showing videos of the destruction. "I don't know what they'll do to get us out of here."
In nearby Buncombe County, landslides forced interstate highways 40 and 26 to close and parts of the highways were washed out, the county said on X.
WAKING TO DISASTER
The extent of the damage in Florida began emerging after daybreak on Friday.
In coastal Steinhatchee, a storm surge - a wall of seawater pushed ashore by winds - of eight to 10 feet (2.4-3 meters) moved mobile homes, the National Weather Service said. In Treasure Island, a barrier island community in Pinellas County, boats were grounded in front yards.
The city of Tampa posted on X that emergency personnel had completed 78 water rescues of residents and that many roads were impassable because of flooding. The Pasco County sheriff's office rescued more than 65 people.
A total of 11 people died in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis said on Saturday, speaking in Perry, Florida, which saw 15-foot storm surges, larger than hurricanes in recent years.
"If you look around here, you can see that some homes are just rubble," he said. "This stuff comes in, it's fierce and it's just unstoppable."
Deanne Criswell, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, joined DeSantis on Saturday touring storm damaged areas of the state.
"I just want to say on behalf of the president that we extend our deepest sympathies for those families that have lost loved ones," Criswell said.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp's office reported 15 storm-related fatalities in that state, while North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said there had been two deaths there.
At least 19 people died during the storm across South Carolina, the Charleston-based Post and Courier newspaper reported, citing local officials.
Reporting and writing by Rich McKay; additional reporting by Joseph Ax, Andrew Hay, Brad Brooks and Ismail Shakil; Editing by William Mallard, Bill Berkrot and Daniel Wallis
সর্বশেষ খবর
দাবিত্যাগ: XM Group এর সত্ত্বাগুলো শুধুমাত্র কার্যকর সেবা প্রদান করে এবং আমাদের অনলাইন ট্রেডিং সুবিধা গুলো উপভোগ করতে দেয়, সেইসাথে একজন ব্যক্তিকে ওয়েবসাইটে বা এর মাধ্যমে উপলব্ধ বিষয়বস্তু দেখতে এবং/অথবা ব্যবহার করার অনুমতি দেয় তবে এটি কোন পরিবর্তন বা প্রসারিত করার উদ্দেশ্যে নয় বা এমন কোন কারণেও নয়। এই ধরনের প্রবেশ এবং ব্যবহার সবসময় কিছু বিষয়ের সাথে জড়িত: (i) শর্তাবলী; (ii) ঝুঁকি সতর্কতা; এবং (iii) সম্পূর্ণ দাবিত্যাগ। এই ধরনের বিষয়বস্তু তাই সাধারণ তথ্য হিসেবে ছাড়া আর অন্য কোন উদ্দেশ্যে প্রদান করা হয় না। অনুগ্রহ করে বিশেষভাবে সচেতন থাকুন যে, আমাদের অনলাইন ট্রেডিং সুবিধার বিষয়বস্তুগু্লো আর্থিক বাজারে কোনো লেনদেন করার জন্য অনুরোধ বা প্রস্তাব নয়। কারণ যেকোনো আর্থিক বাজারে ট্রেডিং করলে আপনার মূলধনের সাথে একটি উল্লেখযোগ্য ঝুঁকি জড়িত থাকবে।
আমাদের অনলাইন ট্রেডিং সুবিধায় প্রকাশিত সকল বিষয়বস্তু শুধুমাত্র শিক্ষাগত/তথ্যমূলক উদ্দেশ্যে তৈরি করা হয়েছ এবং এতে আর্থিক, বিনিয়োগ কর বা ট্রেডিং পরামর্শ এবং সুপারিশ ধারণ করা উচিত নয় - আমাদের ট্রেডিং মূল্যের একটি রেকর্ড; অথবা কোনো আর্থিক উপকরণে লেনদেনের প্রস্তাব, বা অনুরোধ; অথবা আপনার কাছে অযাচিত আর্থিক প্রচার হিসেবে এটিকে ধারণ করা উচিত নয়।
কোন তৃতীয় পক্ষের বিষয়বস্তু, পাশাপাশি XM দ্বারা প্রস্তুত বিষয় বস্তু যেমন মতামত, সংবাদ, গবেষণা, বিশ্লেষণ, দাম, অন্যান্য তথ্য বা এই ওয়েবসাইটে থাকা তৃতীয় পক্ষের সাইটের লিংক গুলো "যেমন-রয়েছে" ভিত্তিতে সরবরাহ করা হয় সাধারণ মার্কেটের ভাষ্য হিসেবে এবং বিনিয়োগের পরামর্শ গঠন করবেন না। যেকোনো বিষয়বস্তুকে বিনিয়োগ গবেষণা হিসেবে বোঝানো হলে, আপনাকে অবশ্যই মনে রাখতে হবে এবং স্বীকার করতে হবে যে বিষয়বস্তুটি বিনিয়োগ গবেষণার স্বাধীনতার প্রচারের জন্য ডিজাইন করা আইনি প্রয়োজনীয়তা অনুসারে তৈরি করা হয়নি এবং এটি বিবেচনা করা হবে না প্রাসঙ্গিক আইন ও প্রবিধানের অধীনে বিপণন যোগাযোগ হিসেবে। অনুগ্রহ করে নিশ্চিত করুন যে আপনি অ-স্বাধীন বিনিয়োগ সংক্রান্ত আমাদের বিজ্ঞপ্তি পড়েছেন এবং বুঝেছেন। পূর্বোক্ত তথ্য সম্পর্কিত গবেষণা এবং ঝুঁকি সতর্কতা, যা এখান থেকে প্রবেশ করা যেতে পারে।
