Present but his desired out of the way, President Joe Biden flew over storm devastated regions of North and South Carolina on Wednesday.
Briefed in Raleigh on emergency operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Biden landed in Greenville, S.C., and met with emergency officials, then went to Raleigh before getting an aerial tour over Buncombe County and Asheville. Fifty-seven have been confirmed killed in the county, nearly one-third of the 178 across six states and more than half of North Carolina’s 90.
“This natural disaster is incredibly consequential,” Biden said before boarding Air Force One. “The last thing we need on top of that is a man-made disaster – what’s going on at the ports.”
He referred to the longshoreman’s strike that began Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. Thirty-six ports on the East Coast and off the Gulf of Mexico are impacted.
Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer was in South Carolina to greet him. Biden amended disaster assistance to North Carolina, increasing the level of federal funding to 100% of total eligible costs for 180 days starting from Wednesday of last week.
He also made disaster declaration increases in Florida and Georgia on Wednesday.
Early projections of damage costs range from $95 billion to $160 billion, pending on the source and metric inclusions.
Eight hurricanes since 1950 – nearly three-quarters of a century – have killed 100 or more people. Helene is only eclipsed – so far – by Katrina (2005, deaths 1,392), Audrey (1957, deaths 416), Camille (1969, deaths 256), Sandy (2012, deaths 219), and Diane (1955, deaths 184).
Water, food, power utilities and infrastructure have all been compromised. Former President Donald Trump took a call from state Sen. Danny Britt, R-Robeson, and made another to friend Elon Musk that jump-started broadband connectivity through aerospace giant SpaceX subsidiary Starlink.
Major communications companies were saying Wednesday their restoration efforts are at about 60%.
Opposite that high tech end of the spectrum, mules were carrying provisions through the Appalachian Mountains to stranded survivors. Trained canines were involved in the search for people. An updated number of those unaccounted for – it was 600 on Monday, said Homeland Security Adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall – was not available.
More than 1 million were without power at the peak of the storm. Gov. Roy Cooper’s office said restoration has gone to more than 500,000, with about 408,000 still without power. More than 1,600 personnel, including 55 search and rescue teams, have rescued more than 500 people and 150 pets.
The state Department of Transportation has erected 8,000 barricades and signs; used 1,600 employees and 68 contracted crews in recovery; and operated more than 1,000 chainsaws and 1,500 trucks, graders, backhoes and loaders.
Asheville, at 94,589, is easily the largest city in the state west of Winston-Salem near the Virginia border and Charlotte toward South Carolina, has a city water system damaged. At 9 p.m. Wednesday, the number of roads closed in North Carolina because of Helene was up to 511. It includes three interstates, 32 federal highways, 48 state roads and 428 secondary roads.
Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, aboard Air Force One en route, said more than 4,800 federal workforce personnel are deployed to the impacted areas, including 1,000 from FEMA. He said more than 8.8 million meals and 7.4 million liters of water have been shipped; 150 generators and more than 225,000 tarps have been sent to the region.
Six thousand National Guardsmen are deployed in six states.
Mayorkas said the recovery is multiple years and a multibillion-dollar recovery.
“We have towns that have disappeared, literally,” he said.
One thousand active-duty soldiers have been deployed to support delivery of food.
