Hurricane Helene death toll climbs as storm devastates south-east US

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Rescuers are still searching for survivors after heavy rain and wind from Hurricane Helene devastated south-eastern US, leaving more than 60 people dead, destroying homes and causing power outages for millions.

Helene, which is now classified as a tropical storm, tore through Georgia and the Carolinas over the weekend after making landfall as a category 4 hurricane on Thursday, causing widespread flood damage.

The US government’s Federal Emergency Management Agency is co-ordinating a rescue and clean-up effort involving 3,200 personnel across six states where a state of emergency was declared.

As of Sunday morning, at least 64 deaths had been recorded due to the storm across five states, according to the Associated Press. The storm, which has weakened from its peak strength of 140mph winds, is expected to dissipate by Monday.

The worst-hit state was North Carolina, where at least 25 people were killed — the highest death toll from a storm in the state since Hurricane Hugo in 1989 — following the worst flooding in a century.

US President Joe Biden has declared major disasters for North Carolina and Florida, unlocking federal assistance programmes for the affected areas. Biden also approved emergency disaster declarations in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee, allowing federal resources to begin flowing to those states too.

North Carolina governor Roy Cooper posted on social media platform X on Sunday morning that the western part of the state “has been hit hard and we are working together rapidly to save lives, surge assistance and begin a difficult recovery”.

The US National Weather Service office in Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina, wrote in a statement late on Saturday that the storm was “the worst event in our office’s history”.

It added: “We are devastated by the horrific flooding and widespread wind damage that was caused by Hurricane Helene across our forecast area.”

Many people were left stranded or without shelter across the region, according to officials. About 2.5mn people were still suffering from power outages across five states on Sunday morning, according to data tracker PowerOutage.us.

The storm could result in up to $34bn in losses from property damage and reduced economic output, according to Moody’s. Forecaster AccuWeather’s preliminary damage estimate was even higher at between $95bn and $110bn, suggesting Helene might be one of the most destructive storms in US history.