ATLANTA — Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said during a news conference Monday that the death toll in that state had risen from 17 to 25. A North Carolina county that includes the mountain city of Asheville reported 40 killed there.
In total, the death toll from the storm has surpassed 130.
On Monday, Sept. 30, Kemp and the first lady toured the damage in Richmond County and the surrounding area and met with those heavily impacted by Helene. Following their tour, the pair were joined by state, federal and local leaders and emergency management officials for a press briefing in Richmond County to provide updates on the state's ongoing storm response.
Phone and internet outages continue to plague recovery from Helene
In Georgia, 11 counties either had 911 outages or were operating with state support, state Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency Director Chris Stallings said Monday. That includes rural Emanuel County, where officials handed out an alternate phone number for people to report emergencies.
Stallings said 328 Verizon cell tower sites and 258 AT&T sites weren’t fully operational, while cell service provider T-Mobile was also reporting a significant number of outages.
U.S. Rep. Rick Allen said communication outages meant people were having trouble finding out where to go for water and food.
“The biggest problem we’ve had again is knowing where these sites are, knowing where there’s water and food, because communications are down, because we don’t have internet,” Allen said.
Local officials and community leaders meeting with Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock listed the restoration of cell service as one of their top priorities. But they also said aid wasn't flowing reliably to rural communities, which also need water, electricity and gasoline.
Response from President Biden
Biden said Monday that the federal government will be with survivors and others in the nation’s southeast affected by Helene for “as long as it takes.”
Speaking from the White House, Biden said he expects to have to ask Congress for additional money to cover federal disaster assistance to those who lost their homes and businesses by the “historic” wind, rain and flooding event, but he doesn’t yet know how much will be necessary to cover the damage.
Biden said he plans to visit hurricane-impacted communities in Georgia and Florida “as soon as possible.”