Hurricane Helene, a category four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, made landfall in the sparsely populated Big Bend region of Florida early Friday morning US East Coast states time. Soon after, it weakened first to a Category 1 and then to a tropical storm. Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, a total of 170 people had been killed by Sunday afternoon in Nepal in landslides and flooding caused by monsoon rains.
Helene kills at least 90 in the US
Southeastern parts of the US have launched a massive clean-up and recovery effort, with the death toll reaching 100 after Hurricane Helene knocked out power to millions, destroyed roads and bridges and caused severe flooding from Florida to Virginia.
Hurricane-force winds, rain and storm surges killed at least 90 people in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia, state and local officials said, according to Reuters. Officials fear more bodies will be found.
Hundreds of people are unable to contact loved ones and are listed as missing, and phone towers across the region are down.
Damage estimates range from $15 billion to more than $100 billion ($22 billion to $144 billion), insurers and forecasters said at the weekend, as water supplies, communications and crucial transport routes were affected. Property damage and lost economic output will be specified as officials assess the devastation.
In North Carolina, nearly all of the fatalities are in Buncombe County, where 30 people have died, Sheriff Quentin Miller said in a video conference.
The South is in ruins and blacked out
About 2.7 million customers in the South were without power on Sunday (local time), a US Department of Energy spokesman said. That’s down 40 per cent from Friday after unprecedented storm surges, ferocious winds and dangerous conditions spread hundreds of kilometres inland.
South Carolina reported 25 deaths, Georgia reported 17 and Florida reported 11, according to the governors of those states. CNN reported 93 dead across the South, citing state and local officials.
President Joe Biden plans to visit the affected areas this week as soon as he can do so without disrupting emergency services, the White House said.
Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris had planned to cut short a campaign trip to Nevada on Monday to give briefings in Washington on hurricane relief efforts. She will visit the region when it does not interfere with hurricane relief efforts, according to a White House spokeswoman.
Floods, landslides kill 170 people in Nepal with 42 missing
The death toll from floods and landslides caused by rain in Nepal has risen to 170, with 42 missing on Sunday, officials said.
A large area of eastern and central Nepal has been inundated since Friday, with flash floods recorded in some parts of the country. Floods and landslides have killed 170 people in Nepal, police said.
Home ministry officials said 42 people were missing due to floods, landslides and inundation. Home ministry spokesman Rishiram Pokharel said 111 people were injured in the floods. He said search and rescue operations were underway. Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force have rescued about 4,000 people affected by floods and inundation, Pokharel added.
National highways have been blocked since Saturday, with hundreds of people stranded on various highways due to landslides. Traffic on the Tribhuvan highway connecting Kathmandu with other districts has resumed, Pokharel said.
The flooding has damaged at least 322 houses and 16 bridges across Nepal. Eyewitnesses say they have not seen such devastating flooding and inundation in the Kathmandu Valley in 40-45 years.
