(NORTH CAROLINA) — Six months after Hurricane Helene destroyed communities across the Southeast, five people remain missing in North Carolina due to the storm, according to officials.
The missing include one person from Avery County, one from Mitchell County and three from Yancey County — all of whom have not been in contact since the Category 4 hurricane hit North Carolina in September, officials confirmed to ABC News.
Alena Ayers from Mitchell County has been missing since the hurricane’s start, according to Sheriff Donald Street.
Yancey County Sheriff Shane Hilliard said Lenny Widsawski, Yevhenii Segen and Tetyana Novitnia have also been missing since Helene devastated the area.
Avery County Sheriff’s Office could not confirm the name of the individual missing since the beginning of the storm.
Names continue to be removed from the list of missing, with one found as recently as last week.
On March 28, an individual who had been missing since Helene’s destruction was found and identified as 66-year-old Russell Wilber, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services confirmed on Wednesday.
Wilber was recovered in Avery County after he had “washed into the Toe River from a campground,” officials said.
As of Tuesday, there have been 107 “verified storm-related fatalities in North Carolina,” officials said.
On the six-month anniversary of the hurricane, North Carolina Rep. Dudley Greene filed “Alena’s Law,” which allows for a “presumption of death in instances where the disappearance and continued absence of a person coincides with a disaster declaration,” the bill said. It is still working its way through the House before a vote.
Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region on Sept. 26 as a Category 4 hurricane. Days later, in Asheville, North Carolina, the storm caused historic flooding that devastated roads, bridges and structures.
The storm also ravaged through Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.
More than 230 people have died from the storm, which has become the deadliest mainland hurricane since Katrina in 2005.
On March 27, “Good Morning America” returned to Asheville and announced $3 million in donations to the community from corporate sponsors including Lowe’s, Food Lion, Samsung, BetterHelp, Bojangles, Red Ventures, Armstrong Flooring, 84 Lumber, Family Dollar, Honeywell, Starbucks and Hanes.
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