(The Center Square) – Eighty-eight are reported dead and more than 100 may be unaccounted for in North Carolina.
No stranger to hurricanes, a 10-term congresswoman says her beloved mountain region has seen “nothing like this.”
Hurricane Helene came ashore in Florida on Sept. 26 and eventually dumped what seems like a Biblical proportion of rain on the Appalachian Mountains. U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., told Fox News Radio on Thursday, “It’s really one of the saddest things I have ever seen.”
Helene has killed at least 230 across six southeastern states, the fourth most in the last three-quarters of a century. Only Katrina (2005, deaths 1,392), Audrey (1957, deaths 416) and Camille (1969, deaths 256) were worse.
In the interview with Jessica Rosenthal, Foxx shared the range of emotions hurricane recovery elicits and is more commonly known in the eastern part of her state. The biggest difference is indeed location, where rugged mountain terrain and October’s steady drop in temperature combined with the loss of infrastructure in a way rarely experienced.
At 2 p.m. Thursday, DriveNC.org reported 628 road closures statewide from Helene. The breakdown is three interstates, 46 federal highways, 54 state roads and 525 secondary roads. The number is climbing, up six in 48 hours, as search and rescue moves to the cusp of a third week.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Thursday signed legislation authorized by the General Assembly a day prior that appropriated $273 million in state aid. Lawmakers said it’s the first of many fiscal steps.
“The temperature is predicted to drop here in the Boone, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock area down to 36 degrees next week,” Foxx said, speaking of a time that is usually the end of peak “leaf season.” “I have told people we often have a major snowstorm around Halloween. It turns cold usually the end of October.
“So, I am very concerned that people will not have heat in their homes because many of them heated with outside heat coming into the home, kerosene or oil or propane. And that’s going to be a major issue, getting heat into people’s homes so they can be warm.”
The number unaccounted for has become somewhat elusive. On Tuesday afternoon, the newspaper in Asheville reported more than five dozen in the Lake Lure and Chimney Rock communities alone.
“I keep hearing the number over 100 that are unaccounted for,” Foxx said. “I don’t know whether that’s in my area or down west from me, but in my area, I think there are still many people that we haven’t been able to get to because of the washout of the roads.”
And yet, help has poured in from government agencies both federal and state, and untold volunteers.
“There are people stranded who can’t get out,” Foxx said. “There are folks who are going in and helping every way they can.
“Utility workers, first responders, firefighters, all the fire departments are the hubs of the little communities that are out there. So everybody’s working very well together. It warms your heart to see individual citizens doing what they’re doing.”
