A crisis is brewing in western North Carolina, where residents stranded by washed-out roads and a lack of electricity and cellphone service line up for fresh water and have the opportunity to announce to their loved ones, several days after the storm, that they are still alive.
At least 133 deaths in six Southeastern states have been attributed to the storm that barreled from Florida’s Gulf Coast to Virginia’s Appalachian Mountains.
The toll continued to rise as rescuers reached areas cut off by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding. At a briefing Monday, White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall suggested that up to 600 people were unaccounted for as of Monday afternoon, and that some could be deceased.
President Joe Biden said he would travel to North Carolina on Wednesday to meet with officials and take an aerial tour of Asheville.
He previously said the federal government would stand with affected residents in the southeast of the country “as long as it takes.”
Authorities and aid organizations have scrambled to deliver supplies by plane, truck and even mule to the hard-hit region and nearby mountain towns. At least 40 people have died in the county that includes Asheville.
The storm caused the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. In some areas, precipitation has reached more than 61 centimeters since Wednesday.
Ten federal search and rescue teams were on the ground and nine more were en route, while trucks and cargo planes arrived with food and water.
Taiwan prepares for the arrival of Typhoon Krathon
Taiwan closed schools and offices and evacuated hundreds of people from vulnerable areas of the island on Tuesday, ahead of a powerful typhoon expected to hit its populated western coast after hitting the northern Philippine islands.
More than 500 people have been evacuated from mountainous regions prone to landslides. Nearly 40,000 soldiers were mobilized to participate in rescue operations, according to the Ministry of Defense.
Typhoon Krathon is expected to hit the major port city of Kaohsiung in the southwest of the island on Wednesday morning, then cross central Taiwan and head northeast toward the East China Sea, according to the Central Meteorological Administration. It is expected to be felt in the capital Taipei on Wednesday and Thursday.
In Kaohsiung, a city of 2.7 million inhabitants, many stores and restaurants were closed. Up to 80 centimeters of rain is forecast in mountainous areas.
The storm is heading toward the island with maximum sustained winds of 198 km/h (123 mph) and gusts of 245 km/h (152 mph), according to the weather administration.
Typhoon Krathon displaced nearly 2,000 people in the northern Philippines on Monday, where it blew away roofs of rural homes, toppled trees and caused widespread flooding.
The wind damaged an airport terminal and two light aircraft parked in Basco, the capital of the northernmost province of Batanes.
An airstrip and hangar were also flooded in Lingayen town in Pangasinan province, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines.
The government’s disaster response agency had no immediate report of casualties, but local officials said a resident was electrocuted Monday by a downed power line while he was driving. on a motorbike in the coastal town of Santa Ana, Cagayan province.
