The death toll from Hurricane Helene inched up to 227 on Saturday as the grim task of recovering bodies🍬 continued more than a week after the monster storm ravaged the Southeast and killed people in six US states.
Helene came ashore on September 26 as a Category-4 hurricane and c❀arved a wide swath of destruction as it moved northward from Florida, washing away homes, destroying roads and knock𒀰ing out electricity and cellphone service for millions.
The number of deaths stood at 225 on Friday; two more were recorded in South Carolina the following day. It was still unclear how many peoꦿple were unaccounted for or missing, and the toll could rise even higher.
Helene is the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U🎉S since Katrina in 2005. About half the victims were in Northꦐ Carolina, while dozens more were killed in Georgia and South Carolina.
The city of Asheville, in the western mountains of North Carolina, was particularly battered. Aও week later, workers used brooms and heavy machinery to clean mud and dirt outside of ♎New Belgium Brewing Company, which lies next to the French Broad river and is among thousands of city businesses and households affected.
So far, North Carolinians have receive🐎d more than USD 27 million in individual assistance approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said MaryAnn Tierney, a regional administrator for the agency. More than 83,000 people have registered for individual assistance, according to the office of Governor Roy Cooper.
In Buncombe County, where Asheville is located, FEMA-approved assistan🥂ce has surpassed USD 12 million for survivors, Tierne💙y said on Saturday during a news briefing.
"This is critical assistance that will help people with their immediate ♏needs, as well as displacement assistance that helps them if they cannot stay in their homes," she said.
She encouraged resid൩ents impacted by the storm to register for disaster assistance.
"It is the first step in the recovery process," she said. "We can provide immediate relief in terms of serious needs assistance to replace food, water, medicines, other life safety, critical items, as well as displacement a📖ssistance if you cannot stay in your home."
Helene's raging floodwaters shocked mountain towns hundreds of miles inland and far from wh🌃ere the storm made landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast, including in the Tennessee mountains that Dolly Parton calls home.
The country music star has announced a USD 1 million donation to the Mountain Ways Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to providing immediate assistance to Hurr൲icane Helene flood victims.
In addition, her East Tennessee busin🐎esses as well as the Dollywood Foundation are combining efforts, pledging to match her donation to Mountain Ways with a USD 1 million contribution.
Parton said she feels a 💮close connection to the storm victims because so many of them "grew up in the mountains ju♔st like I did".
"I cannot stand to see anyone hurting, so I wanted to do what I could to help after these terrible floods," she said. "I hope we can all be a little bit of l🌊ight in the world for our friends, our neighbours -- even strangers -- during this dark time they are experiencing."
Walmart US president and CEO John Furner said the company, including Sam's Club and the Walmart Foundation, would increase its commitment and donate a total of USD 10 million to hurricane relief effo♕rts.
In Newport, an eastern Tennessee town of about 7,000, resident𒀰s continued c💜leaning up on Saturday from the destruction caused by Helene's floodwaters.
Mud still clung to the basement🐷 walls of one Main Street funeral home. The ground-fಌloor chapel of another nearby was being dried out, a painting of Jesus still hanging on the wall in an otherwise barren room.
Newport City Hall and its police department also took on water from the swollen Pigeon river. Some of the modest, one-story homes along its banks were destꦫroyed, their walls crumbled and rooms exposed.
Farther east in unincorporated Del Rio, alongও a bend in the French Broad river, residents and volunteers toiled to clean up. The smell of wood hung in the air as people used chainsaws to cut through downed trees, and Bobcats beeped as they moved mangled sheet metal and other debris. Many homes sustained damage, iꦫncluding one that slid off its foundation.
