Hundreds Still Missing A Week After Hurricane Helene

Written By Guest User

Plus, US ports reopen today after dockworkers agree to interim deal until January 15, 2025

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Happy Friday,

It might be the end of the work week, but we’re in the heart of the National Park Service’s “Fat Bear Week.”

  • What is it? The tournament is a celebration of the pounds brown bears at Alaska’s Katmai National Park packed on before winter hibernation.

    • Between October 2-8, anyone can go to fatbearweek.org to vote. So far, the 12 bears have been whittled down to 10.

    • Here’s the standing:

Have a good one!

Mosheh, Jill, & Lauren

PS: Don’t forget to refer friends & family to subscribe to the Mo Newsletter… you could get free Mo News merch — DETAILS at the bottom of this newsletter!

📌 HUNDREDS DEAD, MORE MISSING A WEEK AFTER HELENE HIT SOUTHEAST

A week after Hurricane Helene made landfall— and carved a path of destruction stretching 600 miles— search and rescue missions are still underway for the hundreds of people missing.

At least 220 people have been confirmed dead across six states, about half in North Carolina alone, making it the deadliest hurricane to hit the US mainland since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

  • Close to 1 million people still do not have power across southern Virginia to northern Florida, with the Carolinas and Georgia hardest hit.

And hurricane season is not over yet: It runs until Nov. 30, typically peaking in October. The National Hurricane Center is tracking a storm in the Gulf of Mexico that is expected to dump several inches of rain in the coming days across regions that are still reeling from Helene.

ON THE GROUND
President Biden on Wednesday authorized 1,000 active-duty US soldiers to North Carolina in efforts supporting “the delivery of food, water, and other critical commodities to communities impacted by Hurricane Helene.”

  • Hundreds of people are still missing and officials report challenges in identifying some of the dead.

    • “That has been our challenge, quite honestly, is no cell service, no way to reach out to next of kin,” Buncombe County official Avril Pinder said. With over 70 people killed in the county, she added that notifying next-of-kin as well as body identifications has been a major challenge.

    • She said the county is struggling to meet its water needs.

  • More than 3,500 personnel from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have been deployed– including 1,200 in North Carolina alone– to aid in rescue and recovery efforts. FEMA is making $750 immediately available to victims, but offers much more money in housing support and recovery, if people apply for disaster relief aid.

    • 🚨 However, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Wednesday that while FEMA can meet immediate demands, however the hurricane season is far from over and more funds may be needed to meet future storm damage.

      • Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) does not plan to bring the House of Representatives back early— with members now in their districts until the Nov. election— saying that a funding bill passed last week has enough money for FEMA.

      • Critics say hundreds of millions of dollars in FEMA funding went to helping feed and house migrants through a program Congress approved called SSP. For fiscal year 2024, FEMA made $640 million available as part of the program. That is about 2% of the overall $33 billion FEMA budget. [We have been diving into it on the Mo News Instagram account].

BUSINESSES & LOCALS STEP IN
Average citizens across the country, and neighbors not devastated by Helene, are taking actions to help get supplies to or rescue storm victims. Some have been connecting through social media and creating an informal network to get fresh water, food, and more to those hit the hardest.

Given the scope of the destruction, the government has still not been able to get to some areas, leaving volunteers from around the country to conduct rescues and provide aid.

  • 📲 Mo News community members reported from North Carolina that grocery stores are empty across Charlotte, “not because of hoarding, but because everyone in our community is buying whatever we can and getting it to brave organizations like these to distribute.” They added that, “I've never seen such a grassroots, humble effort to help others in a disaster.”

    • Another Mo News member said their aunt in Asheville said that MANNA Foodbank is doing incredible work on the ground.

  • Volunteer pilots logged nearly 600 flights to get supplies to trapped Hurricane Helene victims in two days.

  • Asheville, North Carolina restaurants Cúrate and La Bodega, owned by Katie Button, aren’t expected to have running water for another month, but chef José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen and the restaurants are partnering to deliver meals and water to those impacted.

  • SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service is providing free service for 30 days in areas hit by Helene.

✔︎ Mo News Reality Check: It is going to be a long road for the hundreds of thousands of people across parts of the Southeast. Making the journey harder: Only about 2% of those impacted in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia have FEMA flood insurance. Flood insurance is sold separately from homeowners’ insurance, which typically does not cover flood damage, and can cost a lot.

Available disaster assistance money typically goes to getting folks temporary shelter, food and water in the immediate aftermath of a storm— not to rebuild homes.

The heavy rainfall Helene brought is likely to become even more frequent and damaging with climate change, as warmer air can hold more moisture.

📌 EAST COAST PORTS SET TO REOPEN TODAY AFTER A DEAL REACHED

The union representing US dockworkers agreed Thursday evening to return to work today, ending a three-day strike that threatened to disrupt the American supply chain and economy.

  • The strike came at the peak of the holiday shopping season at 36 ports from Maine to Texas that handle about half the cargo from ships coming into and out of the US.

The deal extends the prior contract through Jan. 15, 2025 so the two sides can finalize details.

  • The United States Maritime Alliance, the employer group, agreed to give the International Longshoremen’s Association union workers a 62% raise over their new six-year contract— ending the stalemate. That would raise the top longshoremen's wage to just over $63 per hour at the end of a new six-year contract, from today's $39 per hour.

  • Up next: The two sides still need to finalize an agreement on port automation, which we dug into in yesterday’s newsletter.

⏳ SPEED READ

🚨NATION

📌 LA District Attorney is reviewing Menendez brothers case (NY POST)

📌 Melania Trump passionately defends abortion rights in her new memoir (GUARDIAN)

📌 A downed power line is officially blamed for last year’s Maui wildfire (NPR)

📌 Key takeaways from special counsel Jack Smith's unsealed filing in Trump's 2020 election case (CBS NEWS)

📌 Former Colorado county clerk Tina Peters sentenced to 9 years for election tampering (ABC NEWS)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

📌 Israel strikes Beirut, targeting one of the men who was set to become new Hezbollah leader (NY TIMES)

📌 Six migrants die after Mexico soldiers open fire (BBC)

📌 Britain hands Chagos Islands, home of secretive US military base, over to Mauritius (POLITICO)

📌 Israel rescues Iraqi Yazidi woman sold by ISIS to Hamas, and held in Gaza for a decade (TIMES OF ISRAEL)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

📌 Mark Zuckerberg is now 2nd richest man in the world, ahead of Jeff Bezos (CNBC)

📌 OpenAI gets $4 billion revolving credit line, giving it more than $10 billion in liquidity (CNBC)

📌 Bird flu kills 47 tigers, 3 lions and a panther in Vietnam zoos, state media reports (FOX NEWS)

📌 US school-entry vaccination rates fall as exemptions keep rising (AP)

📌 Tesla recalls over 27,000 Cybertrucks in fifth callback this year (REUTERS)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

📌 Garth Brooks accused of sexual assault and battery in lawsuit from hair-and-makeup artist who worked for him (CNN)

📌 Alec Baldwin’s ‘Rust’ to debut at Camerimage Festival three years after on-set death (CNBC)

📌 Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing, alongside Front Row Motorsports, file antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR and its CEO (PEOPLE)

📌 Pink Floyd sells recorded music catalog for $400M (FOX BUSINESS)

🎉 CHEERS TO THE FREAKIN WEEKEND

Guest User
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