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A Charlotte City councilman has described the “post apocalyptic” scenes in storm-ravaged North Carolina after Hurricane Helene carved its way through the Southeast.
Looking out across Lake Lure, Tariq Bokhari described the storm as a “blender” taking out anything in its path, with its usually idyllic waters filled with debris. Bokhari speculated that its cleanup would take “years and years,” he told CNN.
At least 133 people have been killed after Helene crashed into Florida‘s Big Bend on Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane, before charting a path northwards through the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Virginia. The death toll is expected to climb.
As of Tuesday morning, the death toll in North Carolina’s Buncombe County alone stands at more than 40, as 600 people remain unaccounted for. Governor Roy Cooper told CNN on Monday that communities there were “wiped off that map”.
Hundreds of roads remain closed with five bridges near the Tennessee-North Carolina border on I-40 “completely gone”. More than 1.5m people are still without power.
President Joe Biden said he plans to visit North Carolina on Wednesday, while former president Donald Trump arriving in Valdosta, Georgia, to survey recovery efforts in the state.
