10/03/2024
From Chris Justus, WYFF 4 Chief Meteorologist
202 DEATHS AND 500+ UNACCOUNTED: The death toll from Helene has surpassed 200 people Thursday. 130 of these deaths are in our area in the Upstate and Western North Carolina. Unfortunately the number of missing continues to remain steady. Communication is so low that many are still unaccounted. I’m sharing and posting lists of family members as I see them.
Communities are banding together and roads that were impossible are becoming possible, but not ideal. For example, a main road to my family’s orchard was completely washed out before a bridge, but a good Samaritan dumped several loads of gravel down on it, and now cars can get through and to grocery stores and water hubs for fresh drinking water. Duke Energy tells us most of the power outages in our area should be resolved by late Friday.
Greenville County schools and others are telling us they are still assessing the safety and ability for students to travel on roadways next week and will make a decision on school for early next week within the next 24 hours. Another factor in that decision is electricity and Internet at schools and for e-learning.
My first responder friends in Asheville, Biltmore, Lake Lure, Chimney Rock and Hendersonville wanted me to pass along how thankful they are for your donations and encouragement.
They won’t say it, but I can tell you they are exhausted and morale is extremely challenging. Please pray for the mental health of these heroes. They have seen horror and faced life and death situations every single day this week. These are things that most people will never have to face in a lifetime.
I can tell you things will never be the same in our area. There will be before Helene and there will be after Helene.
We will recover, our communities will be rebuilt and we will slowly heal. But things will never be the same.
I want to thank you all for helping me use this platform to get the word out to so many. I see your comments, I see your messages and I’m trying to get back to every single one of them.
Communication is still extremely limited in the mountains. Remember short texts and avoid group messaging.
Many of these communities are receiving zero news of what’s going on due to no power and internet. One friend told me all they have heard are short text messages and the hum of helicopters going by hour after hour day and night. They are eating non-perishable food and getting drinking water from a hub in town that they had to hike to in order to get.
You can copy and paste this post and send to your friends for updates.
Please let me know of needs in your community and anyone you would like to spotlight as we are hearing so many stories of miracles and heroes. My prayers continue to be with you all. Stay strong. Tomorrow is a new day.
