‘There Were Bodies In Trees’: South Decimated By Hurricane Helene As Death Toll Rises

Daphne Moon 0 2 min read

As hurricane Helene made landfall on Thursday night, it brought with it a trail of destruction and devastation to the Southeast region. The death toll continued to rise, with a combined total of 132 fatalities and nearly 600 individuals reported missing as of Monday. The catastrophic impact of the storm was fully revealed on Monday, leaving a scene of utter devastation in its wake. Homes were shattered, cargo containers were crushed, and highways were engulfed in mud, according to reports from The Associated Press.

Infrastructure failures in Western North Carolina have plunged the area into crisis, cutting off roads and disrupting power and communication. This has forced residents to stand in long lines for fresh water and to send messages to their loved ones to confirm their safety. The severity of the situation prompted the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) to declare a state of emergency in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

During a Monday briefing, White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall stated that as many as 600 individuals are unaccounted for, with some. In response to the devastation, President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit North Carolina on Wednesday to assess the damage and coordinate federal response efforts.

Relief efforts are currently underway in Asheville and Western North Carolina, according to the Citizen Times. However, the full extent of the damage is still unclear, with updates expected as the situation progresses.

Residents of Black Mountain, a village located just 12 miles from Asheville, spoke of the traumatic events they witnessed during the storm. Alyssa Hudson said, “There were bodies in trees. They were finding bodies under rubble. We started seeing videos of our house posted to Facebook. Our floors are caved in, our walls are gone. We had a shed in our backyard that they found two miles away,” as reported by the New York Post.

One couple, Kimberly and Jimmie Scott, risked their lives to navigate through the devastated Black Mountain in order to rescue their daughter from Montreat College, where over 1,000 students were stranded without power. Kimberly described the damage they saw, saying, “All along the road, there were downed trees, downed power lines, structures collapsed, cars pushed over, train tracks destroyed. Buildings collapsed on the road,” as reported by The Post.

Ed Broyhill, a GOP national committee member and local homeowner, described the impact of the storm on Chimney Rock, North Carolina. He reported that the community’s tourism-driven businesses have been washed away into Lake Lure, as reported by Fox News. Broyhill stated, “The saddest thing in the world is that a lot of the folks have etched out a living catering to tourism … They have everything from hotels and motels and restaurants and nice stores and souvenir stores and clothing stores, and all of that was washed away. Every bit of it, all of it, was washed into the lake.”

As the recovery efforts continue in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, the true extent of the damage and loss is still unfolding. The devastation has left many communities in shock and mourning, and it will take time and effort to rebuild and recover from this disaster.

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