Hurricane Helene – South Eastern and Appalachian United States

On Thursday, September 26th, Hurricane Helene landed in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 140 mph (225 kph).

From there, Hurricane Helene moved through Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee with torrential rains, sending creeks and rivers over their banks and straining dams. Western North Carolina was isolated because of landslides and flooding that forced the closure of Interstate 40 and other roads.

As of Monday, September 30th, at least 107 people in six states have been killed. A North Carolina county that includes the mountain city of Asheville reported 30 people killed. Georgia’s death count was raised Monday from 17 to 25. Over a million people across the six states are currently without power.

Hurricane Helene Relief Efforts

• The American Red Cross offers food, shelter, supplies, and emotional support to victims of crisis. It already has hundreds of workers and volunteers in Florida and has opened dozens of shelters for evacuees.
• All Hands and Hearts provides community-inspired, volunteer-powered disaster relief. All Hands and Hearts has deployed teams to Florida and North Carolina, initially focusing on Asheville and the surrounding areas. Teams are conducting field assessments, with some preparation to begin mucking and gutting homes damaged by the heavy rainfall. This will be a 12-month project with ongoing evaluations of the need for boots-on-the-ground efforts.
• World Central Kitchen has set up kitchen facilities and started serving thousands of meals to victims and responders.

Israel and Gaza

More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza, with nearly 100,000 injured. Over 80% of the population has been displaced and Israeli restrictions and ongoing fighting have hindered efforts to bring in humanitarian aid, fueling widespread hunger.

Israeli officials have reported at least 700 soldiers have been killed during the ground invasion of Gaza.

Israel and Gaza Relief Efforts

• The International Committee of the Red Cross is an impartial, neutral, and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict and other violence situations and to provide them with assistance.
• Doctors without Borders – Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) cares for people affected by conflict, disease outbreaks, natural and human-made disasters, and exclusion from health care in more than 70 countries.
• Save the Children Fund – Save the Children is an international, NGO that was founded in the UK in 1919, with the goal of helping improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization helps to raise money to improve children’s lives by creating better educational opportunities, better health care, and improved economic opportunities.