Helene Death Toll Crosses 200 as Slow Recovery Continues

It has been a week since Helene roared ashore in Florida on its way across Georgia and the Carolinas. That name will definitely never be used again.

The official death toll has climbed past 200 now, with more than half of those in western North Carolina. The region has been absolutely decimated, with entire towns nearly wiped clean by the flood water, and hundreds more people are still missing. In the early days of the disaster, the toll of missing was in the thousands, but officials urged patience as many of those were likely just out of contact thanks to communications blackouts; that possibility is much diminished a week out.

President Biden has already visited North Carolina, and Kamala Harris made remarks on Wednesday in Augusta, Georgia. The administration sent 1,000 soldiers to assist with delivery of aid and other work in NC, especially in hard-to-reach communities, and governor requests for the federal government to cover cleanup costs have been granted.

But that cleanup is slow, and recovery is rife with missteps and obstacles. As of Thursday afternoon, close to one million customers were still without electricity across the affected states. Reports of police apparently more concerned with who owns a disabled truck’s pallets of bottled water than with an entire region’s lack of water access have arisen. And over on ex-Twitter, which used to be considered a useful beacon in the time of disasters, misinformation and conspiracy theories have drowned out any potential benefit.

“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,” Biden said on Wednesday in Raleigh, noting how a warmer atmosphere is juicing storms up in a variety of ways, leading to the sort of catastrophe the southeast continues to dig out of. “Nobody can deny the impact of climate crisis anymore. At least I hope they don’t. They must be brain-dead if they do.”