Current:Home > MyDeath toll from Hurricane Helene rises to 227 as grim task of recovering bodies continues -Nova Finance Academy
Death toll from Hurricane Helene rises to 227 as grim task of recovering bodies continues
View
Date:2025-04-17 16:00:43
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — 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 states.
Helene came ashore Sept. 26 as a Category 4 hurricane and carved a wide swath of destruction as it moved northward from Florida, washing away homes, destroying roads and knocking 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 people 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 North 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.
North Carolinians so far have received more than $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 Gov. Roy Cooper.
In Buncombe County, where Asheville is located, FEMA-approved assistance has surpassed $12 million for survivors, Tierney said 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 can’t stay in their home,” she said.
She encouraged residents 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 assistance if you cannot stay in your home.”
Helene’s raging floodwaters shocked mountain towns hundreds of miles inland and far from where 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 $1 million donation to the Mountain Ways Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to providing immediate assistance to Hurricane Helene flood victims.
In addition, her East Tennessee businesses as well as the Dollywood Foundation are combining efforts, pledging to match her donation to Mountain Ways with a $1 million contribution.
Parton said she feels a close connection to the storm victims because so many of them “grew up in the mountains just like I did.”
“I can’t 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 light in the world for our friends, our neighbors — even strangers — during this dark time they are experiencing.”
Walmart U.S. 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 $10 million to hurricane relief efforts.
In Newport, an eastern Tennessee town of about 7,000, residents continued cleaning up Saturday from the destruction caused by Helene’s floodwaters.
Mud still clung to the basement walls of one Main Street funeral home. The ground-floor 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 destroyed, their walls crumbled and rooms exposed.
Farther east in unincorporated Del Rio, along 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, including one that slid off its foundation.
___
Associated Press journalists Jeff Roberson in Newport, Tennessee; Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa; and Denise Lavoie in Richmond, Virginia, contributed.
veryGood! (5)
Related
- Intel's stock did something it hasn't done since 2022
- The Daily Money: What's Amazon's Just Walk Out?
- Hawaii lawmakers take aim at vacation rentals after Lahaina wildfire amplifies Maui housing crisis
- Taylor Swift's 'Tortured Poets Department' and when lyrics about dying, grief, heartbreak trigger you
- Biden administration makes final diplomatic push for stability across a turbulent Mideast
- Iraq investigates a blast at a base of Iran-allied militias that killed 1. US denies involvement
- Tori Spelling Shares She Once Peed in Her Son's Diaper While Stuck in Traffic
- 8 shot including 2 men killed at a party with hundreds attending in Memphis park, police say
- Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
- Horoscopes Today, April 20, 2024
Ranking
- The company planning a successor to Concorde makes its first supersonic test
- Man dies after setting himself on fire near Trump trial courthouse in NYC. Here's what we know so far.
- Nebraska’s governor says he’ll call lawmakers back to address tax relief
- Tennessee schools would have to out transgender students to parents under bill heading to governor
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- Trader Joe’s basil recall: Maps show states affected by salmonella, recalled product
- Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian and Ye feud timeline: VMAs to 'The Tortured Poets Department'
- Record numbers in the US are homeless. Can cities fine them for sleeping in parks and on sidewalks?
Recommendation
All That You Wanted to Know About She’s All That
Melania Trump, long absent from campaign, will appear at a Log Cabin Republicans event in Mar-a-Lago
A conspiracy theorist set himself on fire outside of Donald Trump's hush money trial: cops
White Green: Gold Market Trend Analysis for 2024
Macy's says employee who allegedly hid $150 million in expenses had no major 'impact'
Who dies in 'Rebel Moon 2: The Scargiver'? We tally the dead and the reborn. (Spoilers!)
How Blacksburg Books inspires its Virginia community to shop local
Taylor Swift fans speculate her songs are about Matty Healy and Joe Alwyn – who are they?