Hurricane Helene death toll passes 80 as recovery efforts underway: Live updates

President Joe Biden says he will visit Hurricane Helene-impacted areas this week as long as it does not disrupt rescue and recovery operations.

Biden was briefed again on Sunday evening about the impact of the devastating storm on an enormous swath of the Southeast.

The president in a brief exchange with reporters on Sunday described the impact of the storm as “stunning” and said that the administration is giving states “everything we have” to help with their response to the storm.

The North Carolina County of Buncombe that includes the mountain city of Asheville reported 30 people killed due to the storm, pushing the overall death toll to at least 84 people across several states.

Supplies were being airlifted to the region around Asheville. Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder pledged that she would have food and water into the city — which is known for its arts, culture and natural attractions — by Monday.

“We hear you. We need food and we need water,” Pinder said on a Sunday call with reporters. “My staff has been making every request possible to the state for support and we’ve been working with every single organization that has reached out. What I promise you is that we are very close.”

In Buncombe County, North Carolina, authorities said around 1,000 people were still unaccounted for.

“We have biblical devastation through the county,” said Ryan Cole, an emergency official for the county, which contains the mountain city of Asheville – which was torn apart in the wake of Helene. “This is the most significant natural disaster that any one of us has ever seen.”

Asheville, which is home to about 94,000 people and is a popular tourist destination, was largely cut off by flooding on Saturday after Helene ripped through the region as a tropical storm.

Shocking footage on social media showed how waters ripped apart the village, leaving a “road to nowhere.”

The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has said that the severe flooding and subsequent devastation caused by Hurricane Helene is linked to the climate emergency.

Deanne Criswell said that rising temperatures in the Gulf were causing conditions that caused “significant infrastructure damage” that had affected a multi-state area.

Deanne Criswell, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said the severe flooding caused by Helene was linked to the climate emergency.

“This storm took a while to develop, but once it did it intensified very rapidly – and that’s because of the warm waters in the Gulf that’s creating more storms that are reaching this major category level,” she said.

The conditions, Criswell said, were creating greater amounts of storm surge in the coastal areas and increased rainfall as the storms moved north.

“In the past, damage from hurricanes was primarily wind damage, but now we’re seeing so much more water damage and that is a result of the warm waters which is a result of climate change,” she told CBS’s Face The Nation.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said that the “historic flooding” in North Carolina from the remnants of Hurricane Helene has gone beyond what anyone could have planned for in the area.

“I don’t know that anybody could be fully prepared for the amount of flooding and landslides that they are experiencing right now,” Criswell said on Sunday, during an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have led calls for donations to relief funds in Florida communities hit hard by Helene.

A statement shared on social media by club chairman and owner Darcie Glazer Kassewitz, read: “The flooding caused by Hurricane Helene’s storm surge has been devastating to many throughout the state and specifically in our Tampa Bay community.

“There are many areas throughout our community that will require time and additional resources in order to begin the recovery. We offer our full support to those who have been impacted and are extremely thankful for the heroic and brave efforts of the many first responders and utility workers who have been working tirelessly to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our community during this difficult time.”

NHL team Tampa Bay Lightning also made donations of around $2 million, according to reports.