Some NC nursing homes still without water, 3 weeks after Hurricane Helene
(ASHEVILLE, NC) — More than three weeks ago, Hurricane Helene knocked out the power and running water at James Greene’s nursing home in Asheville, North Carolina.
Today, Greene, 84, and his fellow residents at Brooks-Howell Home still do not have regular access to safe, running water for their daily activities.
“For two weeks we’ve been unable to shower or wash hands,” Greene wrote in a letter to family and friends, which was shared with ABC News. “Maintaining hygiene with hand sanitizers is a constant must.”
“Another example is having to pour a bucket of water into the tank of the toilet in order to flush. And keep in mind that our residents are old and not used to such physical activity,” wrote Greene.
Greene’s nursing home is not the only one in North Carolina affected by the ongoing water crisis in Asheville. While bottled water is adequate for cooking and drinking, the lack of municipal running water places severe restrictions on activities like handwashing, showering and laundry.
In nursing homes particularly, infections can travel quickly, making access to clean running water an even more urgent necessity.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), floodwater from hurricanes can contaminate local water sources with “germs, dangerous chemicals, human and livestock waste” and other contaminants that can cause disease.
On Oct. 16, the City of Asheville Water Resource Department issued a Boil Water Notice for all water customers that is still in effect, meaning “there is contamination due to impacts from Hurricane Helene including the potential for untreated water in the distribution system,” according to the notice.
The elderly are particularly at risk of infection due to many factors, including reduced immunity, existing chronic illness, and exposure to pathogens in hospitals and nursing homes.
Kimberly Smith is the vice president of operations for Ascent Healthcare Management, a company that runs six retirement facilities in Western North Carolina. As of Oct. 18, three of the company’s Asheville locations still do not have running water, Smith told ABC News.
Even after running water returns, Smith said that she anticipates her facilities will be under the Boil Water Notice for quite some time.
Libby Bush, president and CEO of Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community, located in Asheville, said her facility is also currently under the Boil Water Notice.
“It has been challenging to keep up with the current and most accurate information,” she told ABC News.
Greene said he and other nursing home residents are deeply appreciative of the nursing home staff and government assistance in the wake of Hurricane Helene. While he now understands the scale of Helene’s destruction, Greene said in his letter that his initial days during and immediately after the storm were spent in seclusion, with the initial lack of internet, landline, and cell phone service contributing to “an utter sense of isolation.”
“The fact that no [one] called in, or could call out, made it worse,” he told ABC News.
Smith added that many nursing home residents suffered “an emotional toll” because they weren’t able to get in touch with their families.
Phone and internet services have been largely restored, Smith and Bush separately told ABC News.
Smith is also grateful for the shower trailers, portable toilets, hand washing stations and extra generators provided by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, the state’s Office of Emergency Medical Services, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
They brought “a lot of things that we tried to get on our own and couldn’t,” Smith said. “All the regulatory people have kind of come together to help the nursing homes.”
Still, there’s a long road to recovery ahead for senior care facilities in Asheville.
Greene visited a Red Cross/FEMA disaster assistance center in Asheville and was impressed by the resources provided.
“It distresses me and others to see the negative reporting on FEMA and the Red Cross,” he said.
“The senior citizens here, many of them retired deaconesses and missionaries, dealt well with the hardship conditions,” Greene added of his fellow nursing home residents. “No doubt we are a bit traumatized, but God was good to us.”
Sejal Parekh, M.D. is a board-certified practicing pediatrician and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
(WILMINGTON, Del.) — The federal judge who oversaw Hunter Biden’s conviction on gun charges in Delaware has again agreed to delay his sentencing.
At the request of prosecutors, Hunter Biden’s sentencing in Delaware will be pushed back one week, from Dec. 4 to Dec. 12, U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika ordered on Thursday.
Prosecutors in special counsel David Weiss’ office asked for the delay due to a conflict with their trial in the case against Alexander Smirnov, the FBI confidential source who is facing felony false statement and obstruction charges after authorities say he provided derogatory information about Hunter Biden and his father, President Joe Biden.
That trial is scheduled to begin Dec. 3.
Judge Noreika previously pushed back Hunter Biden’s Delaware sentencing date from Nov. 13 to Dec. 4, to allow Hunter Biden more time for his attorneys to gather materials for his sentencing memorandum.
Hunter Biden was found guilty in June on three felony counts related to his purchase of a firearm in 2018 while allegedly addicted to drugs.
Earlier this month, in a separate case, he pleaded guilty to nine federal tax-related charges in Los Angeles, where he is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 16.
(NEW YORK) — When Jordan Neely boarded the subway on May 1, 2023, he was homeless, ranting about having nothing to eat or drink and said he was willing to die, according to authorities. Perceptions of Neely’s final moments differ, but each account tells a similar story at its core: Neely appeared to be experiencing a mental health crisis when Daniel Penny put him in the chokehold that ended his life.
Opening arguments are set to begin in Penny’s trial in Neely’s death Friday. Penny, a former Marine, was charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in Neely’s death. He has pleaded not guilty. Jury selection began Monday.
Neely’s loved ones believe his story could have been different. To experts, Neely, who was known to city mental health professionals and law enforcement officials, has become a symbol of the need to look toward effective solutions to get homeless and mentally ill people off the streets and into care.
“Our system does not prioritize the seriously mentally ill,” Carolyn Gorman, a policy analyst at the public policy think tank Manhattan Institute, told ABC News. “Almost always, the individuals who are involved in these tragedies have a known mental illness, have been cycling through homelessness, through incarceration through the health care system. They’re known to authorities, and they haven’t fallen through the cracks. They’ve actually just been ignored by all of these systems.”
New York City’s clubhouses — member-run facilities that offer support to those with serious mental health conditions — are proving that recovery and rehabilitation are possible, with some lawmakers like Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., hoping to expand the availability and access to these institutions for more residents.
Fountain House, which touts itself as the pioneer of the modern clubhouse model, aims to put an end to the “punitive, ineffective and costly” approaches to those with mental illness, who cycle through jails, emergency rooms, shelters and the streets without proper care or support to lead healthy and happy lives, the organization said.
The goal is to give members a sense of stability and community. At the clubhouses, they get a helping hand to obtain an education, find work, achieve health goals while readily having access to clinical care, housing assistance and other supportive services.
“What we are looking to do is to help people truly recover, and so that means help them return to jobs, be neighbors, and live out in the community and to have meaningful relationships,” Ian Campbell, Fountain House’s Senior Director of Employment and Learning, told ABC News.
However, Gorman, of the Manhattan Institute, said that despite their effectiveness, clubhouses won’t be the solution for all people dealing with severe mental illnesses.
“Fountain House is definitely one model. And it’s a model that works well. But some patients just do need a higher level of oversight and intensive care than a place like the clubhouse model can provide. And that is inpatient treatment,” or hospitalization, said Gorman.
Clubhouses set an example for mental health care
What makes the clubhouse model so successful, Campbell said, is that they fill gaps not filled in a clinical setting. They support members with both economic barriers as well as the loneliness or isolation that patients are likely to also be experiencing.
“The U.S. has historically spent most of its mental health care dollars on clinical treatment, such as medication and therapy, with a fraction allocated to fund the community-based social supports people also need to manage their mental illness,” read a Fountain House report.
About 15% of people with severe mental illness successfully return to work, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness — but at Fountain House, 25 to 30% of their active membership has returned to work.
A New York University study on Fountain House found that its services save Medicaid costs by up to 21% by reducing hospitalizations and ER visits as well as increasing primary care visits, increased outpatient mental health visits, and increased pharmacy visits – “essentially a better adherence to other forms of treatment that can further support members’ recovery,” Fountain House said in a statement.
Researchers at Fountain House also found that the roughly 60,000 people clubhouses nationwide serve each year yield an estimated savings of over $11,000 per person — or at least $682 million total each year.
Fountain House also touts that members who enroll in degree or certificate-seeking educational programs have a 90% average semester completion rate.
For Torres, mental health care is personal.
“About 15 years ago, I found myself at the lowest point in my life. I had dropped out of college. I found myself struggling with depression. I even attempted suicide and underwent hospitalization for a period of time,” Torres told ABC News. “I felt as if the world around me had collapsed, and I never thought seven years later, I would become the youngest elected official in America’s largest city, and then seven years later, become a member of the United States Congress.”
He has called for more federal funding for community-based programs like Fountain House.
“The challenge of mental illness is often compounded by the problem of loneliness, and clubhouses represent the creation of a community,” he said. “It is an elegant solution to the problem of loneliness. It provides community where none exists. It fills the human gap that’s often left by isolation, and so I would love to see the proliferation of clubhouses across the country.”
And for those who may need more assistance than an outpatient resource can offer, Gorman believes the focus should be on the rehabilitative efforts, not punitive ones.
“Involuntary treatment and inpatient treatment are last resorts, they are only tried when everything else fails,” Gorman said. “I think if we do not consider those options, then we have to be ready to admit that we already are institutionalizing the mentally ill, but in jails and prisons. These are punitive settings, not therapeutic settings. So it’s hard to see how this is more humane.”
A clubhouse success story
Carmen Murray-Williams, now 65, had been homeless on-and-off since she was 14, when she left her home amid a “rough” and “uncomfortable” living situation with her family.
“There were times where I couldn’t find any help. I was so tired that I would get a cardboard box, flatten it down on the ground wherever I was, and sleep there. And once or twice, I woke up, and I found myself buried in snow,” Murray-Williams told ABC News. “I said, I really have to get out of the situation. And I kept knocking on doors … I prayed all the time. I mean, every chance I got, I prayed.”
She said she lived on the streets until she was about 17, when her grandmother found her, took her in, and convinced her to continue her education. She got her GED and was excited to start college, but her grandmother’s death left her both heartbroken and homeless once more.
“She’s my everything,” Murray-Williams said. “She got me to believe that life keeps going on and you don’t have to worry about your age and whatnot. Just keep on trying. I love my grandmother. I miss her.”
Life continued to present challenges for Murray-Williams, who had lost contact with the rest of her family. She recalls her past addiction to crack cocaine, an accidental fall from an apartment balcony that broke her back, and a boyfriend who opened credit cards from a joint bank account, putting her thousands of dollars in debt.
And one day, she said, “I absolutely lost my mind. I just started screaming and hollering or turn up things” and the police were called on her. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 42 following the outbursts.
After receiving inpatient treatment for her disorder, she was accepted as a member of Fountain House to get her back on her feet.
Fountain House members like Murray-Williams have access to supportive resources — including meals, job training, education, and housing assistance — while developing social supports to build relationships and reintegrate into their community.
“We’ll have a morning meeting and we decide who does what chores. After that, we start doing the chores that they give us. Chores could be putting data entry into the computer or could be cleaning up the front of the clubhouse,” Murray-Williams said. Clubhouse members help the organization function; they prepare meals, man the phones, and fundraise.
“If you’re in the horticulture unit, which is now ‘home and garden,’ you do the gardens. And we do a lot here. I go to the gym and wellness unit twice a week,” she said.
Murray-Williams has a jam-packed schedule, which includes running the Bingo gathering multiple times a week — “my favorite days of the week” — and helps lead a dance exercise group.
“Getting to 65 and still being here? I didn’t think I was gonna make it to 65,” Murray-Williams said. “But I’m just grateful for every day and every opportunity that I get.”
(NEW YORK) — The storm surge, wind damage and inland flooding from Hurricane Helene have been catastrophic, flooding neighborhoods, stranding residents, destroying homes and toppling trees in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.
Dozens have been killed.
Helene, which made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region Thursday night as a massive Category 4 hurricane, was the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the Big Bend on record.
Here’s how the news is developing:
FEMA has delivered 1 million liters of water and 600K meals to North Carolina
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper called the impact of Hurricane Helene on the state “absolutely catastrophic” in a statement Monday.
“This is an unprecedented response and an absolutely enormous coordinated effort by the state, federal and local partners,” Cooper said.
Cooper, who inspected the staging area at the Asheville airport Monday, said “Hundreds of thousands of pounds of supplies are being flown in, packed onto helicopters and flown into areas that can’t be reached by vehicles.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has delivered 1 million liters of water and 600,000 meals to people in North Carolina, Cooper said.
The governor added that there are 92 search and rescue teams working to help bring residents to safety.
Biden says he’ll travel to North Carolina on Wednesday
President Joe Biden told reporters from the Oval Office he will travel to North Carolina on Wednesday to survey the damage.
He said he plans to land in Raleigh for a briefing and then do an aerial tour of Asheville to avoid straining on-the-ground resources.
He said he will visit Georgia and Florida “as soon as possible after that.”
Asked by ABC News’ Karen Travers how Americans can help out, Biden recommended people reach out to the Red Cross — and gear up for a long recovery.
“There is a lot to do, and this is just beginning,” Biden said. “We’ve been through this before, but not — not like this. This is the worst ever.”
Harris to impacted communities: ‘Our nation is with you’
Vice President Kamala Harris called the storm damage throughout the Southeast the “worst destruction and devastation that we have seen in quite some time” during remarks from FEMA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., Monday afternoon.
“In coordination with state and local officials, President Biden and I will continue to make sure that communities have the support and the resources that they need — not only to respond to this storm and its immediate aftermath, but also the resources they will need to recover,” Harris said.
Harris said more than 3,300 federal personnel are on the ground to assist with recovery efforts, including deploying food, water and generators as well as helping to restore water and power.
“To everyone who has been impacted by this storm, and to all of those of you who are rightly feeling overwhelmed by the destruction and the loss, our nation is with you,” she said. “We will continue to do everything we can to help you recover and to help you rebuild. No matter how long it takes.”
Harris said she has spoken to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and plans to be “on the ground as soon as possible” without disrupting any emergency response operations.
Storm ‘unprecedented’ for western North Carolina
Helene is “an unprecedented storm” for western North Carolina, requiring an “unprecedented response,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Monday.
“We’re dealing with a situation that is unlike anybody’s ever seen in western North Carolina,” he said.
The damage is “extensive and devastating” and is “going to require significant resources, both in the short-term and the long-term,” the governor said.
Ninety-two rescue teams are out conducting search and rescues right now, Cooper said.
More than 300 roads are closed and some bridges have been destroyed, officials said.
Over 7,000 North Carolina residents have registered for FEMA individual assistance and that money is already flowing in, according to Will Ray, director of North Carolina Emergency Management.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell promised that the agency will “be here as long as it takes to finish this response and continue through the recovery.”
“We have the resources here in North Carolina to help,” Criswell said. “We will continue to send additional resources in.”
Full extent of damage still unclear: Homeland security adviser
Homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood Randall said the full extent of the damage from the hurricane is still unclear.
“It probably will take several more days, as communities begin to be opened up by the debris clearance on the roads, and we can get in, and really understand what’s happened to them,” she said.
Sherwood-Randall said about 600 people are unaccounted for.
“We’re very hopeful that some of those people just don’t have cellphones working and actually are alive,” she said.
Sherwood-Randall said 3,500 federal response personnel have been deployed to the region and additional personnel is expected to arrive in the coming days.
With communication remaining a major challenge, Sherwood-Randall said, “Today, FEMA will install 30 Starlink receivers in western North Carolina to provide immediate connectivity for those in greatest need.”
She also highlighted that in states that have received major disaster declarations, FEMA is working to distribute serious needs assistance, which gives “an immediate $750 direct payment to eligible households, to allow them to pay for essential items like food, baby formula, water, medications and other emergency supplies.”
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle
Sen. Rick Scott calls for Senate to reconvene to pass emergency aid
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is calling upon the Senate to reconvene to approve an emergency aid package for victims of Hurricane Helene.
“While I know from my experience with previous hurricanes that FEMA and [Small Business Administration] damage assessments take time, I am today urging Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to immediately reconvene the U.S. Senate when those assessments are completed so that we can pass the clean supplemental disaster funding bill and other disaster relief legislation, like my Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act, needed to ensure the full recovery of families in all impacted communities,” Scott said in a statement Monday.
Any additional funding, beyond the funding approved by President Joe Biden and able to be drawn down from FEMA, would need to be approved by both chambers of Congress.
The Senate let out on Wednesday after approving a stopgap funding bill to keep the government funded through Dec. 20. The Senate is not scheduled to return until Nov. 12. The House is also out of session and would need to return to approve any aid.
-ABC News’ Allison Pecorin
How to help
Click here for a list of charities and organizations that are supporting relief efforts, including the Red Cross and Americares.
Trump visits hard-hit Valdosta, Georgia
Former President Donald Trump visited hard-hit Valdosta in southern Georgia on Monday to distribute supplies and “stand in complete solidarity with … all of those suffering in the terrible aftermath of Hurricane Helene.”
“Valdosta has been ravaged,” Trump said. “The town is, very, very badly hurting, and many thousands are without power. They’re running low on food and fuel. We brought a lot of it down with us.”
“We’ll continue to help until you’re bigger, better, stronger than ever before,” Trump said.
The former president held a “moment of silence and prayer” for those killed in the storm.
Twenty-five people in Georgia have died in the storm, Gov. Brian Kemp said.
Trump said he’ll also visit North Carolina as the state works to recover from Helene.
Biden plans to visit storm zone Wednesday or Thursday
President Joe Biden said Monday that Helene is “not just a catastrophic storm — it’s a historic, history-making storm.”
Biden said he will travel to the impact zone as soon as possible, ideally Wednesday or Thursday. He said he’s been told it’d be disruptive to visit immediately, and he does not want to interfere with these areas accessing the relief they desperately need.
“Communities are devastated. Loved ones waiting, not sure if their loved ones are OK, and they can’t contact them because there’s no cellphone connections. Many more folks displaced have no idea when they’ll be able to be return to their home, if ever, if there’s a home to return to,” he said.
“There’s nothing like wondering, ‘Is my husband, wife, son, daughter, mother, father, alive?’ And many more who remain without electricity, water, food and communications,” he said.
Biden said he’s directed his team “to provide every available resource as fast as possible.”
Biden vowed, “We’re not leaving until the job is done.”
Helene ‘spared no one’ in Georgia, governor says
Hurricane Helene “literally spared no one” in Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp said Monday.
Twenty-five people in Georgia have died in the storm, Kemp said. The victims include: a 27-year-old mother and her 1-month-old twin boys, who died when a tree fell on their home; Leon Davis, an assistant fire chief from Blackshear, who died when a tree fell on his car while he was responding to a call; and a 7-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl who died when a tree fell on their burning house, he said.
More than 500,000 customers in Georgia remain without power after Helene damaged over 5,000 poles, the governor said. Kemp said Georgia Power officials are calling Helene the most devastating storm they’ve faced.
Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit hard-hit Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday.
35 dead, hundreds unaccounted for in hard-hit Buncombe County, North Carolina
Thirty-five people are dead and 600 people remain unaccounted for in hard-hit Buncombe County, North Carolina, which encompasses Asheville, according to county officials.
County officials said people will go door-to-door to check on those who have been reported missing.
Shelters are at capacity, officials said.
The city of Asheville has partnered with Verizon to establish a temporary cellphone tower, officials said.
-ABC News’ Alex Faul and Jessica Gorman
600 people still unaccounted for in hard-hit Buncombe County, North Carolina
Six-hundred people remain unaccounted for in hard-hit Buncombe County, North Carolina, which encompasses Asheville, according to county officials.
County officials said people will go door-to-door to check on those who have been reported missing.
Thirty people in Buncombe County have been confirmed dead from the hurricane, the sheriff said Sunday.
Buncombe County remains under a state of emergency.
-ABC News’ Jessica Gorman
Helene remnants move into mid-Atlantic
After dumping more than 30 inches of rain on North Carolina and producing the biggest local flood in recorded history, the remnants of Helene are forecast to move on Monday into the mid-Atlantic.
As southeastern United States worked to clean up from Helene, some of its remnants are moving into Mid-Atlantic today with heavy rain forecast for West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland.
There is an elevated flood threat on Monday in Virginia and West Virginia, where the already saturated ground could get additional 1 to 2 inches of rain, which could produce flash flooding.
-ABC News’ Max Golembo
Harris planning visit to communities impacted by Helene
Vice President Kamala Harris intends to communities impacted by Hurricane Helene “as soon as it is possible without disrupting emergency response operations,” according to a White House official.
Harris, who was briefed by FEMA on the federal response to the hurricane, reached out to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.
At a rally in Las Vegas on Sunday, Harris addressed those who were impacted by the hurricane by sending her “thoughts and prayers” and thanking first responders.
“I know that everyone here sends their thoughts and prayers for folks who have been so devastated in Florida, in Georgia, the Carolinas and other impacted states. And we know that so many have been impacted. Some have died, but I want to thank everyone for doing everything you can to think about them,” Harris said. “Send them your thoughts and your prayers. I want to thank the first responders who have done so much. I stand with these communities for as long as it takes to make sure that they are able to recover and rebuild.”
-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow and Will McDuffie
Gov. DeSantis says power restored to all but 111K in Florida
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis shared a major update on power restoration progress in the state on Sunday.
DeSantis said a post on X that most customers who lost power after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend area last week, have had their electricity restored.
The governor said power was back for 2.3 million customers, and 99% of the state has power.
He added that power remains out for 111,000 customers.
Biden intends to visit hurricane zone this week
President Joe Biden spent his Sunday evening receiving briefings on the damage from Hurricane Helene, and speaking to local officials from the impacted areas.
In a statement, the White House said Biden intends to travel to the impacted areas this week, “as soon as it will not disrupt emergency operations.”
Additionally, Biden spoke by phone Sunday with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Valdosta, Georgia, Mayor Scott Matheson and Taylor County, Florida, emergency management director John Louk, according to the White House.
The president also reached out to additional officials across North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida and South Carolina.
“In each conversation, the President received updates on response and recovery efforts, and he shared how the Biden-Administration will continue providing support to impacted communities – for as long as it takes,” the White House said in the statement.
-ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky
Trump to visit Valdosta, Georgia
Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday to receive a briefing on the damage caused by Hurricane Helene, help distribute supplies and deliver remarks, his campaign said.
President Joe Biden said Sunday that the photographs showing Hurricane Helene’s damage are “stunning.”
When asked by reporters about his message to the victims, Biden said, “It’s tragic.”
“My FEMA advisor is on the ground in Florida right now. … We’re working hard,” Biden said.
Asked by ABC News if there are more resources the federal government could be providing, Biden responded, “No, we’ve given them. We have pre-planned a significant amount, even though they didn’t ask for it yet — hadn’t asked for it yet.”
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart
25 dead in South Carolina
Hurricane Helene’s impact on South Carolina has been “devastating,” and the storm has claimed the lives of 25 people in the state, Gov. Henry McMaster said Sunday.
“We don’t want to lose any more,” McMaster said.
Nearly 1.3 million customers lost power in South Carolina at Helene’s peak. As of Sunday afternoon, more than 800,000 customers remain in the dark.
The governor emphasized that power companies are working around the clock to restore electricity. Thousands of workers are on the ground, but downed trees tangled in power lines are delaying efforts, he said.
-ABC News’ Jason Volack
FEMA sending more search and rescue teams to North Carolina
FEMA Director Deanne Criswell said the agency is sending more search and rescue teams to western North Carolina, where residents are facing “historic” flooding from Hurricane Helene.
“I don’t know that anybody could be fully prepared for the amount of flooding and landslides that they are experiencing right now. But we have had teams in there for several days. We’re sending more search and rescue teams in there,” Criswell told CBS’ Face the Nation.
Gov. Roy Cooper described Hurricane Helene’s damage in western North Carolina as “catastrophic.”
“This unprecedented storm dropped from 10 to 29 inches of rain across the mountains, leading to life-threatening floods and landslides,” he said Sunday.
Water systems have been impacted and some roads have washed away, hampering the ability for officials to set up food and water distribution sites.
“We have sent bottled water in, but we also have the Army Corps of Engineers that’s getting ready to start assessments today to see what we can do to help get those water systems back online quickly,” Criswell said.
“We’re also moving in satellite communications, Starlink satellites, into the area to help facilitate the lack of communication that part of the state is experiencing,” Criswell added.