Hurricane Helene leaves 95 dead, fears grow for 600 missing in North Carolina: Latest

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said that “it looks like a bomb went off” in the state after viewing the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Helene from the air.

At a press conference on Saturday, Kemp noted that “dozens and dozens” of counties have been hammered by Helene, declaring that it is “unlike any storm we’ve ever faced”.

At least 17 Georgians lost their lives in the storm, with Hurricane-force winds uprooting trees, downing power lines and destroying homes.

Former president Donald Trump is expected to visit the city of Valdosta in the state this afternoon.

At least 30 people have been killed in Buncombe County, North Carolina alone – making up almost a third of the death toll in the wake of Hurricane Helene ravaging the southeast US.

“We are still conducting search operations, and we know that those also may include recovery operations,” said Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller.

An additional 600 people are still unaccounted for, the city manager for Black Mountain John Harold told CBS 17 on Sunday.

“We’re pretty isolated due to the interstate being closed but we are starting to get resources in,” Harold said.

Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder shared a critical need for the supplies across the county.

“We hear you. We need food, and we need water,” Buncombe County manager Avril Pinder told ABC News.

More than 2m electricity customers are without power across the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida and Virginia, according to Poweroutages.us.

Hurricane Helene has taken the lives of almost 100 people – nearly a third coming from on city in North Carolina, caused mass destruction and plunged millions into blackout conditions.

About 752,000 homes and businesses are without electricity in South Carolina, 582,000 in Georgia, 457,000 in North Carolina, 132,000 in Florida and 100,100 in Virginia.

At Least 95 people have died across six Southeastern states from the fallout of Helene since it made landfall at Florida’s Big Bend as a Category 4 hurricane on Thursday.

Deaths have been reported in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.

According to state officials, at least 36 people are dead in North Carolina, at least 25 are dead in South Carolina,  at least 17 people have died in Georgia, at least 11 people have died in Florida, two people have died in Virginia, and four people have died in Tennessee.

Officials expect the death toll is expected to rise further.

Approximately “99 per cent of the state of Florida has power,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced on Sunday evening.

DeSantis claimed that about 2.3 homes and businesses have had their power restored after Hurricane Helene caused widespread blackouts across the Sunshine State.

The governor says that only 111,000 electricity customers are without power in Florida, while Poweroutages.US shows that more than 130,000 homes and businesses remain without electricity, as of Monday morning.

Taylor County, Madison County and Hamilton County currently have the highest proportion of outages.

Two other weather systems are being monitored by the National Hurricane Center, as the devastation from Helene continues to be assessed.

Hurricane Isaac is several hundred miles west-northwest of the Azores and and Tropical Storm Joyce is located over the central tropical Atlantic. Neither is expected to affect land.

Also in the Atlantic is a tropical wave with a medium chance to develop in the coming week.