Hurricane Helene: 81 people still missing in North Carolina

It’s been more than two weeks since Hurricane Helene flooded vast areas of North Carolina and the governor said that there are nearly 100 people still missing after the storm.

Gov. Roy Cooper initially said on Tuesday that 92 people were considered missing but that number was adjusted to 81 later in the day, USA Today reported.

“I want to caution that this is not a definitive count because the task force is continuing its work,” Cooper said, according to NBC News. “The number will continue to fluctuate as more reports come in and others are resolved.”

Search and rescue teams continued to look for missing people.

Hurricane Helene killed at least 118 in North Carolina and 243 total in several states after making landfall as a Category 4 storm on Sept. 26, according to NBC News.

Asheville and other areas in western North Carolina were still without power, water and roads this week, The New York Times reported.

Cooper said that about 13,000 people were still without power and 580 roads were closed. Immediately after the storm, there were one million people without power and 1,200 roads closed.

The governor said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other government entities are working through aid applications with more than 77,000 requests approved and $99 million paid, according to the Times.

The agency is paying for temporary housing for 1,900 people, USA Today reported.

FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said that agency employees are going door-to-door to help communities hard hit by the hurricane, The Associated Press reported.

The agency has more than 2,000 people on the ground in North Carolina, NBC News reported.

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