On Thursday, September 26th, Hurricane Helene, a category four hurricane, reached Florida’s Gulf Coast. It made its way through Florida as well as causing major flooding in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. What started as a warning by the National Hurricane Center in Miami for the north-western Caribbean Sea soon turned into a Category Four hurricane with winds exceeding 130 mph. The hurricane then began to tear through the southern eastern region of the country bringing mass destruction to homes and families. The aftermath of the storm was second to none with flooding, massive trees and mudslides cutting off sections of the road, and taking out power lines. Families were left without the ability to contact 911.
North Carolina has been most affected by this destruction, especially the town of Asheville. Asheville was considered a safe heaven from natural disasters. Massive flooding and ferocious winds has also caused damage to the many houses leaving families homeless and in need of aerial or water rescue. The hurricane crossed 500ft of the southeast, resulting in many civilians being unaccounted for. Rescue teams are in the process of trying to locate missing individuals but with the death toll at 200 and rising it is very unlikely that those who are unaccounted for have survived. President Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris have contributed to helping the survivors with FEMA donating over $20 million to the efforts of search and rescue and providing 5,000 personnel to join the cause including 1,500 FEMA personnel. FEMA has also donated over 9.3 million meals, over 11.2 million liters of water, 150 generators and 260,000 tarps to survivors. Medical organizations such as the Red Cross are at the scene working against the destruction along with local officials and nonprofit agencies. Many have provided food, shelter and clothing but there are still several thousand survivors that have yet to be reached due to the roads being cut off by massive destruction from Helene.
If you would like to know more of what you can do to help, go to the American Red Cross website regarding Hurricane Helene. There are instructions on how you can donate in helping those impacted by Helene’s havoc.