Brandon Drenon
American reporter

The arrival of Hurricane Milton comes at a vulnerable time for many Americans.

I recently returned from North Carolina, one of the many states in turmoil after Hurricane Helene tore through the southeastern US less than two weeks ago.

At least 225 people have been killed so far by the storm, which also hit South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia. North Carolina saw some of the most severe damage and had the highest death toll, with at least 116 deaths in the state.

As I drove through the state’s famously mountainous western region, I saw entire buildings reduced to rubble, massive trees split into pieces, and power lines strewn across streets lined with piles of trash.

Cinda Galgano, whose home was among a dozen houses in a caravan park destroyed by floods, said she had to be rescued by boat. Days later she returned to her home in Boone, where we met.

As she stood in the living room, the floor covered in mud and stuff strewn everywhere, she told me, “The bed, the mattress is broken. The floors are buckling. Water got into my refrigerator and my dryer. It got into everything .”

The freshness of Helene’s wounds is certainly still on the minds of those in Florida as Milton draws closer. “Unfortunately, some of the Helene victims are in the path of this storm,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said at a news conference yesterday.

Image source, BBC News/Brandon Drenon