Topline

Officials in North Carolina still cannot confirm how many people are missing in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, although deaths have been reported in 20 counties and at least 115 storm-related fatalities have been reported in the state, by far the highest death toll in the state. all southeastern states hit by the storm two weeks ago.

Key facts

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Big number

1,412. That’s the number of missing people reported to volunteer Ellie Erickson, who created a Google Sheet to keep track of the missing. Erickson, who lives in Hawaii and has helped find missing people after last year’s Maui wildfires, has been collecting information from those who have reached out to report missing loved ones and updates the sheet when someone is found, according to People. Those still listed as missing are mainly from North Carolina, but the list also includes people from Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia.

Tangent

While the total number of missing people has not yet been determined, individual family members are speaking out about their still missing loved ones in hopes of finding answers. The family of missing teacher Kim Ashby, who was swept away by swift waters in the Elk River, has said the search for her has ended in North Carolina and is now in the hands of Tennessee officials, who are considering the possibility of her being the state has been swept. lines. John Norwood, who was sheltering in a neighbor’s home in Marion, North Carolina, said he has not seen his fiancée Julie le Roux since a collapsing roof separated them on the day of the storm. “It happened so quickly,” Norwood, 32, told the News & Observer. “All I remember is a lot of popping noises, and then I was underwater, and that was it.” Fori McLean and her husband, Ron McLean, told The New York Times that their son Drew has been missing since the day of the storm: “God’s hands are on Drew, if he’s still on earth,” Ron said.

Crucial quote

“Our search and recovery have not stopped. We try to do that 24/7,” Miller told the News & Observer on Friday. “We cannot stop. We have to keep moving forward.”

Surprising fact

Bizarre social media rumors spreading in North Carolina have created “a very large obstacle that we have to overcome” amid recovery efforts, Buncombe County spokeswoman Lillian Govus told media Thursday. She said disinformation — such as 2,000 people trapped in a church in Candler, North Carolina, and 1,000 unidentified dead bodies piled up in an Asheville hospital — “takes away the time and resources that allow us to carry out those critical lifesaving maneuvers in our prisons. community.” Misinformation about Hurricane Helene is a problem at the federal level, largely spread by former President Donald Trump and his allies. They falsely claimed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency could not appropriately respond to the storm because it had so much would transfer money to helping migrants. Billionaire Trump supporter Elon Musk also falsely claimed on

Important background

Hurricane Helene made landfall near the town of Perry in the Big Bend area of ​​Florida on Thursday, September 26 around 11:10 PM EDT as a Category 4. The storm moved north into Georgia and South Carolina before continuing to dump heavy rain as it approached . the border of Tennessee and North Carolina. Floods and landslides have destroyed thousands of roads, including the major highways I-40 and I-26 that remain closed and require extensive repairs before they can reopen. Biden flew over the hard-hit area of ​​Asheville last week, but he did not stop for a visit because damage to the city’s roads made it impossible for his motorcade to gain access. Nearly 50,000 people in North Carolina are still without power, according to PowerOutage.US.

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