Power outages, water shortages emerge as Hurricane Helene smashes US' Southeast

President Joe Biden visited North and South Carolina to personally oversee the destruction caused by the hurricane Helene which left at least 189 people dead.
Helene is the deadliest hurricane to hit mainland US since Katrina, as per statistics from National Hurricane Center. Tens of thousands of North Carolina residents are still without running water six days after Hurricane Helene hit Florida and moved through the southeastern United States.
The storm caused severe flooding in the western part of North Carolina, damaging pipes, water plants, and cutting off power. Additionally, roads and bridges in the storm's path have been washed away.
President Biden will be visiting Florida and Georgia on Thursday, while Vice President Harris plans to visit North Carolina in the coming days.
President Biden has ordered up to 1,000 active-duty troops to assist in response and recovery efforts in regions affected by a severe storm. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced that nearly 6,000 National Guard members are already deployed across six states impacted by the storm.
Search-and-rescue teams have completed almost 1,500 structural evaluations. They have also carried out hundreds of rescues and evacuations. Mayorkas stated, "Search-and-rescue teams have conducted nearly 1,500 structural evaluations and hundreds of rescues and evacuations."
Over 1.1 million homes and businesses in the US' South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Virginia and Georgia were still without power on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Meanwhile on Wednesday afternoon Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said, power has been restored to nearly all affected residents in Florida after Hurricane Helene. He reported that around 2.38 million people have regained electricity in the state. Only 20,000 residents remain without power, mostly in remote areas such as the Big Bend region. "Most of those without power are in the more remote areas of the state including the Big Bend region," said DeSantis.
Hurricane Helene caused significant disruption when it hit the Florida Panhandle as a major hurricane. Communication networks faced widespread damage and outages, resulting in many people losing stable access to the internet and cell services.
While, Vice President Kamala Harris travelled to neighbouring Georgia. Biden plans to travel to disaster struck areas in Florida and Georgia.
Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, visited Georgia earlier this week to observe the damage caused by the recent storm.
In North Carolina, President Joe Biden took an aerial tour of the western parts of the state that were severely impacted by recent storms. Tens of thousands of residents in the region are still without running water.
A recent storm has resulted in fatalities across multiple states, including South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Heavy rainfall in North Carolina's mountainous regions led to significant damage, with homes and bridges being washed away. The extent of the impact is still being assessed.
Helene has led to the shutdown of mines in Spruce Pine, a small town notable for having the world's largest-known source of high-purity quartz.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reported that over 150,000 households have signed up for assistance following the recent storm in North Carolina. Frank Matranga, a representative of the agency, indicated that this number is expected to increase significantly soon.
FEMA has distributed nearly 2 million ready-to-eat meals and more than 1 million liters of water to the areas most affected by the storm.
The storm caused the worst flooding North Carolina has seen in a century, which resulted in some areas receiving over 2 feet (61 centimeters) of rain.
(With inputs from Reuters)