Hurricane Helene: up to 600 people could have lost their lives, Joe Biden promises that the federal state will help “as long as necessary”
The American federal state will provide aid to those affected by Hurricane Helene “as long as necessary”, declared Monday Joe Biden from the White House, while the human toll reached 100 dead in the south-east of the country.
Published on 09/30/2024 at 9:46 p.m.
“We will continue to provide resources, including food, water, telecommunications and rescue equipment,” the US president said. “As I have said before, I will say again, we will be here as long as it takes to finish the job,” he added during a speech.
“Up to 600 lives could have been lost” following the passage of Hurricane Helene and the devastating floods it caused in the United States, said an adviser to American President Joe Biden, specifying that he This was a high estimate.
“There are 600 people we have no news about,” then clarified Liz Sherwood-Randall, the US president’s internal security advisor, saying she hoped that some of these people were “alive”, while the toll officially confirmed deaths currently stand at nearly 110.
The Republican camp criticizes the Biden administration for not intervening enough to help the victims.
I was in charge, I spent at least two hours on the phone yesterday, as well as the day before
“I was in charge, I spent at least two hours on the phone yesterday, as well as the day before,” retorted Joe Biden in response to a question from the media on these accusations. He reiterated that he would visit the site once his visit no longer disrupted relief operations.
Donald Trump, who arrived in a disaster area of Georgia on Monday, directly accused the federal state and that of North Carolina, in the hands of the Democrats, of “deliberately not helping people in Republican areas”, in a publication on his Truth social network.
Georgia and North Carolina, two states particularly affected by this natural disaster, are among the seven pivotal states that could swing the presidential election on November 5.
Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris has announced that she will visit the site soon and is holding a meeting on the subject in Washington on Monday. “We will support these communities for as long as it takes to ensure they can recover and rebuild,” she said on Sunday.
Violence very far from the sides
Helene made landfall in northwest Florida on Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane on a scale of 5, packing winds of 140 mph. As it progressed north, the hurricane lost intensity until it was reclassified as a storm but left behind immense damage.
Flash floods in the southern Appalachian Mountains caused the most impressive destruction. Images from around Asheville, North Carolina, show neighborhoods wiped off the map here, roads destroyed there by a flooded river. Due to lack of access by road, the authorities are sending relief supplies, water and foodstuffs by air.
Far from the mountains and its devastated highways, in southern Georgia, “there are just a few businesses open, with limited stocks. I am worried about families with children,” Steven Mauro, a resident of Valdosta, the city where Donald Trump is visiting on Monday, told AFP.
Hurricane Helene, “extremely dangerous”, hits Florida: “I have confidence in my faith and the fact that God will protect me” (video)
“This hurricane was like a tornado 400 kilometers wide,” said Brian Kemp, the governor of Georgia, emphasizing its “unprecedented” nature.
