Traumatized hurricane survivors are found standing in chest-deep water inside North Carolina home
Harrowing footage shows a group of Hurricane Helene survivors standing deep in water in a destroyed house, awaiting rescue.
The unidentified people were filmed in the flooded house in Hendersonville, North Carolina, late last week, standing in complete silence.
A woman was seen holding her cat, while another survivor kept a dog afloat.
Upturned furniture floats silently around the Helene victims, as the camera pans out to show deep water as far as the eye can see.
Footage was captured of the group of people inside what was left of a home in the city of Hendersonville
Another photo shows a woman holding her cat. The room is completely silent and there is no speaking
The camera pans around to show the exterior of the building, which, like the interior, is devastatingly flooded
The violent storm swept across the southeast of the country, leaving communities isolated and devastated.
The death toll reached 200 on Thursday and could rise further as searchers continue to make their way to the hardest-to-reach places.
Many are still missing and it is unclear whether they have died or are simply in areas where communications networks and utilities have yet to be restored.
These are now mainly the mountains of western North Carolina, where the storm has washed away roads and knocked out water, electricity and cell service.
In addition to the Carolinas, deaths have also been reported in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia.
The grim numbers were inflated after officials in Georgia and North Carolina updated their figures, making Helene the deadliest storm since Hurricane Katrina tore through Louisiana in 2005.
Electricity supplies are slowly being restored as the number of homes and businesses has fallen below 1 million for the first time since last weekend.
Most of the outages are in the Carolinas and Georgia, where Helene struck after crashing over Florida’s Gulf Coast on September 26 as a Category 4 hurricane.
In remote mountain areas, helicopters ferried stranded people to safety while search crews moved fallen trees so they could search door-to-door for survivors.
Cars are submerged in a flooded area at a used tire dealership after Tropical Storm Helene in Hendersonville, North Carolina, USA, September 27
Marisol Juarez and her children stand in front of their family’s destroyed mobile home, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in Hendersonville
Dave Marshall, executive pastor at First Baptist Church in Hendersonville, said the extent of the destruction left him “totally shocked.”
He said: ‘No one was prepared. We are shocked and devastated. Everyone knows a friend or family member who has lost a loved one.’
More than 6,700 Army and Air National Guard members from 16 states are now helping with the cleanup and rescue efforts, according to the National Guard.
President Joe Biden earlier this week toured areas of North Carolina, including Asheville, that were wiped out by the extreme weather.
President Biden said the federal government would cover 100 percent of all emergency response and debris removal in North Carolina for six months.
Debris can be seen here after the storm passed through Asheville, leaving the area devastated
He said he would do the same for Georgia and Florida over the next 90 days, with the head of the U.S. Homeland Security Administration warning they would struggle to help if another storm hits.
Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters earlier this week: “FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] doesn’t have the resources to get through the season.”
Outrage is now mounting after it emerged that FEMA spent $640 to support migrants in the 2024 budget year.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott wrote on
While former President Donald Trump posted on X in response to a report on FEMA spending and said, “WTF.”