Deaths from Hurricane Helene pass 200 a week after storm

A week after Hurricane Helene made landfall in the US, search-and-rescue teams are continuing to search for missing people in parts of the south-east that were devastated by the storm.

- Anna Betts

Officials have reported at least 191 deaths across six states as a result of the storm, and have said the death tollis expected to rise as many people remain missing and recovery efforts continue, according to CNN.

A separate NBC News tally found that at least 202 people are known to have died as a result of the devastation wrought by the hurricane, including at least 98 deaths in North Carolina, 19 in Florida, 33 in Georgia, 39 in South Carolina, 11 in Tennessee and two in Virginia.

Hurricane Helene made landfall last Thursday in Florida's Big Bend region as a category 4 hurricane. It then weakened to a tropical storm and moved through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, bringing strong winds, rainfall, storm surge and devastating flooding to the region, destroying communities.

The storm was one of the three deadliest US hurricanes this halfcentury, with only 2005's Katrina and 2017's Maria taking more lives. Helene has also caused power outages and disrupted cellular service in many towns and cities.

As of yesterday morning, more than 350,000 people were without power in South Carolina, just under 300,000 people were without power in North Carolina, and in Georgia, about 260,000 had no power, according to PowerOutage. us. Some in North Carolina have been cut off since last week. Several areas inFlorida, Georgia Tennesseeand Virginia were under boil water advisories.