Photo: CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP / Getty Images
The aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region last week as a Category 4 hurricane, has left over 215 people dead, making it the deadliest mainland hurricane since Katrina in 2005. The storm has caused widespread devastation across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee.
In Erwin, Tennessee, a small town united in grief as families of missing and dead Impact Plastics employees held a vigil to honor loved ones who died in the catastrophic flooding at the plastics factory. Four people from the factory have died in the Hurricane Helene floodwaters. Guadalupe Hernandez Corona, the sister of one of the dead workers, Monica Hernandez, tearfully paid tribute to her sister at the vigil. She urged people to work together to find those still missing from the factory.
In North Carolina, rescue crews and volunteers are working tirelessly to reach people still stranded or missing due to the storm's rampage. The state's remote mountains have been particularly hard hit, with swollen rivers and mudslides posing significant challenges. The death toll in North Carolina alone has reached 98, with dozens more killed in South Carolina and Georgia.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has launched a web page dedicated to pushing back on misinformation about the federal government's response to Hurricane Helene. The agency has confirmed that it has enough funds for disasters and is not asking for cash or turning away volunteers.
As the recovery efforts continue, the death toll is expected to rise. The storm has also left hundreds of thousands of customers in the South without power over a week after Hurricane Helene made landfall.