Photo : Collected
The death toll from powerful storm Helene jumped to at least 93 on Sunday, with one county in North Carolina alone reporting 30 deaths, authorities said, as rescuers battled to reach people in need across the southeastern United States.
The storm left a swathe of damage across several states, some of them key battlegrounds in the November presidential election, prompting Donald Trump to announce a visit to a hard-hit area on Monday -- a clear bid for political capital.
High winds and torrential rain pummeled towns and cities across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Homes were destroyed, roads flooded out and power cut off to millions.
"We're hearing (of) significant infrastructure damage to water systems, communication, roads, critical transportation routes, as well as several homes that have been just destroyed by this," the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Deanne Criswell, said Sunday.
At least 93 people were killed in the extreme weather -- 37 in North Carolina, 25 in South Carolina, 17 in Georgia, 11 in Florida, two in Tennessee and one in Virginia, according to tallies from local authorities compiled by AFP.
"We have another devastating update. We now have 30 confirmed losses due to the storm," Quentin Miller, the sheriff in North Carolina's Buncombe County, which includes the tourist city of Asheville, told a briefing.
Flash flood warnings remained in effect in parts of western North Carolina, National Weather Service director Ken Graham said, adding that they were due to the risk of dam failures.
The weather was expected to ease in the affected areas by around Tuesday, he said.
Nearly 2.3 million households remained without power on Sunday, according to tracker poweroutage.us.
US Department of Energy official Matt Targuagno said that crews were working hard to restore electricity but warned it would be "a complex, multi-day response."
Thousands of people continued to seek assistance in shelters run by the American Red Cross, organization official Jennifer Pipa said.
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