US southeast faces costly cleanup as death toll from Helene rises

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STORY: Heartache across large parts of southeastern United States, as residents faced the daunting task on the weekend of cleaning up from the deadly Hurricane Helene.

It’s one of the most powerful and perhaps costliest storms to hit the country, with dozens of deaths reported – as worries loomed that more bodies would be discovered across several states.

In the small Florida coastal town of Horseshoe Beach, Charlene Huggins was left in tears as she checked out what’s left of her family home.

“Five generations lived in this house, from my grandmother, my father, myself, my daughter, son, and my granddaughter. We were raised in this house. So it’s, there’s a lot of memories here. It’s just, it just, it breaks your heart. It just devastates you.”

Damage estimates from Helene range from $95 billion to $110 billion, making it potentially one of the most expensive storms in modern U.S. history, according to the chief meteorologist of the forecasting firm AccuWeather.

At least 3 million people remained without power on Saturday afternoon across five states, with authorities warning it could be several days before services were fully restored.

Helene was downgraded late Friday to a post-tropical cyclone.

But the storm’s remnants continued to produce heavy rains, sparking massive flooding and threatening to cause dam failures that could swallow entire towns.

Some of the worst downpours hit western North Carolina and residents near the Lake Lure Dam were among those at risk.

George Carter described what it was like when the hurricane hit.

“Power went out. Cell phone went out… So, there’s no way to talk to anyone. Some of the neighbors came and knocked on doors and we sort of communicated with each other, in the pouring rain. I walked across the street to go check on a house that is a friend of mine’s, and the water was at least ten feet up from, where it should be.”

On Saturday, President Joe Biden called the storm’s devastation “overwhelming”.

According to the White House, Biden directed emergency officials to focus on speeding up support to storm survivors and send additional search and rescue teams to North Carolina.

In the meantime, communities like Adam Jackson’s in Mill Spring are making sure to help each other out.

“There’s probably 50 trees blocking my neighbors from coming out. I started helping them yesterday, the neighbors at the other end of the road. We got us out, but the other neighbors are trapped. Our little area and community… We’re not stepping over each other. We’re not jumping lines to buy the last candy bar. That’s the way the world needs, we need community back.”

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