Helene: Infrastructure progress significant; 101 dead, 7 missing
(The Center Square) – Infrastructure progress is significant in the fifth week of recovery from Hurricane Helene in the mountains of North Carolina.
Secondary road closures remain high at 252, though that is 73 less than Monday and down 91 from just a week ago. Only one water system, Linville Falls Club, is not operational; some still have boil advisories. Yancey County is down to only 1,092 customers without power.
The state Department of Health and Human Services has verified 101 storm-related deaths. Forty-three have been in Buncombe County, 10 in Yancey, nine in Henderson and five each in Haywood and Avery.
The state recorded 34 of the deaths by drowning, 23 by landslide and 21 from blunt force injuries. Those killed are as young as 4 and old as 91.
Justin Gainey, in an email to The Center Square, said the number missing or unaccounted for is seven. He’s the communications director for North Carolina Emergency Management.
Helene came ashore in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, dissipated over the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, and dropped more than 30 inches of rain in some locations. A solid 2 feet of rain fell in many places, and the terrain created rushing catastrophes not seen since at least the Great Flood of 1916 that was produced by hurricanes arriving just over a week apart, one from the Gulf of Mexico, the other coming ashore in Charleston, S.C.
Gov. Roy Cooper, in a 99-page recommendation for $3.9 billion funding by the state Legislature, said damage is estimated at $53 billion.
This year’s Rainy Day Fund surplus of nearly $5 billion – a roughly $6 billion turnaround in less than 15 years – has been tapped twice by the Legislature for nearly $900 million, and its respective leaders say that amount is merely an “installment” as more needs are assessed, and recovery progresses.
According to PowerOutage.us at midafternoon, the total without power in Yancey County is down about 700 from three days ago. In Macon County, the 1,263 without power on Monday have been restored. Mitchell County has 107 customers without power.
At the height of the storm the last weekend of September, more than 1 million lost power.
According to DriveNC.org, the total road closures because of Helene is 305. That includes one interstate, 22 federal highways and 30 state roads in addition to the 252 secondary roads. Three days ago, the total was 400 and includes two interstates, 32 federal highways and 39 state roads.
