Important Takeaways:
- Authorities in North Carolina on Monday confirmed at least 94 storm-related fatalities from Hurricane Helene but still could not account for the number of those who remain missing or unaccounted for.
- Fatalities were reported across 20 counties, according to a morning update from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS).
- The vast majority of those fatalities were reported in Buncombe, with 42 deaths, followed by Yancey and Henderson, at 12 and 7, respectively.
- NCDHSS said there are no missing persons numbers at this time because there are different sources of where missing persons and welfare check requests were reported during the storm.
- Justin J. Graney, Chief of External Affairs and Communications for North Carolina Emergency Management, told Fox News Digital there are “wide area searches taking place since [Hurricane Helen] took place.”
- “This includes grid searches, vehicle searches, damaged structure searches, and searches around areas where debris have collected. Hundreds of responders have conducted said searches,” Graney said.
- On Thursday, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signed the state’s first relief package to address Helene’s devastation, allocating $273 million for immediate needs and giving flexibility to agencies and displaced residents.
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Important Takeaways:
- More than two dozen are still missing in New Mexico wildfires as residents allowed to return
- As the search for more victims continues, residents of Ruidoso, New Mexico, were allowed to enter the village Monday for the first time since a pair of wildfires converged on the community, causing massive destruction.
- Two people were confirmed dead and 29 identified as missing as of Monday, Crawford said. A large section of the village where searches continue has been designated a “no entry” or “exclusion” zone, he added.
- The South Fork and Salt Fires, which began last week, have destroyed more than 25,000 acres, with the South Fork Fire 37% contained and the Salt Fire 7% contained, according to the Southwest Area Incident Management Team. More than 1,000 firefighting personnel are battling the wildfires, and FBI special agents are helping figure out what started them.
- The fires keep burning as the nation grapples this week with more extreme heat – the deadliest form of weather globally and one that makes wildfires more likely and destructive.
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Important Takeaways:
- People in southern Brazil, already reeling from deadly floods, are bracing for more disruption as meteorologists warned of 12 straight hours of heavy rain Friday and more throughout the weekend.
- The storms have affected more than 1.9 million people in Brazil, and displaced hundreds of thousands, many of whom are staying in temporary shelters. Over 140 people are still missing.
- Scenes of the devastating weather event have been beamed all over the world, including video footage of a horse that had to be rescued after being stranded for several days on a rooftop.
- Uruguay has also been flooded by the storms. More than 1,300 people there have been displaced there, while thousands more are without electricity
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Important Takeaways:
- The death toll from Indonesia’s Marapi volcano eruption jumped to 22 on Tuesday as rescuers found more climbers who had perished near the crater, the head of the West Sumatra rescue agency said on Tuesday, up from 13 earlier in the day.
- About 200 rescuers will resume search operations on Wednesday for one further missing climber.
- The 2,891-metre high volcano in West Sumatra erupted on Sunday, spewing gray clouds of ash as high as 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) into the sky.
- “We are now evacuating the dead bodies from the peak of the volcano,” said the head of the search and rescue team, Abdul Malik.
- Still, there were 75 climbers on the volcano when it erupted, rescuers said.
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Important Takeaways:
- Nearly 100 dead and missing in Mexico from hurricane -state governor
- The number of people dead and missing due to Hurricane Otis, a Category 5 storm which hammered the Mexican Pacific resort city of Acapulco last week, has risen to close to 100, authorities in the state of Guerrero said on Monday.
- Otis battered Acapulco with winds of 165 miles per hour (266 km per hour) on Wednesday, flooding the city, tearing roofs from homes, hotels and other businesses, submerging vehicles, and severing communications as well as road and air connections.
- Evelyn Salgado, governor of Acapulco’s home state of Guerrero, said 45 people were confirmed dead and 47 others were missing, citing figures from state prosecutors. Salgado had said on Sunday morning the death toll stood at 43.
- On Sunday afternoon, Mexico’s federal civil protection authorities said there were 48 dead, consisting of 43 in Acapulco and five in nearby Coyuca de Benitez.
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Important Takeaways:
- Hurricane Otis caused 27 confirmed deaths and left 4 missing, Mexican authorities report
- Mexican authorities gave the first human toll for Hurricane Otis’ destruction along the country’s Pacific coast Thursday: at least 27 dead and four missing.
- Tens of thousands of residents in damaged homes without electricity awaited help more than a day after Otis roared ashore in Acapulco.
- López Obrador said the destruction was so complete that not a single power line pole remained standing in the impact zone. Small farmers had their corn crops devastated by Otis’ wind and pounding rain, he said. Restoring power to the area was a top priority, he said.
- The early images and accounts were of extensive devastation, toppled trees and power lines lying in brown floodwaters that in some areas extended for miles. The resulting destruction delayed a comprehensive response by the government, which was still assessing the damage along the coast, and made residents desperate.
- Many of the once sleek beachfront hotels in Acapulco looked like toothless, shattered hulks after the Category 5 storm blew out hundreds — and possibly thousands — of windows
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Important Takeaways:
- As Storm Daniel pounded the area with torrential rains, dams above the Wadi Derna river valley collapsed, sweeping away entire neighborhoods and the families who lived in them.
- The floods have left thousands dead, missing and displaced.
- 16,000 children are among the displaced and warned that many more lack access to basic services such as health and schooling.
- International and local search and rescue teams and survivors continued the work of recovery
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Important Takeaways:
- Health authorities have been sounding the alarm over the spread of waterborne diseases in the affected areas, particularly in the hard-hit city of Derna.
- Experts have warned that floodwaters have severely contaminated water sources with sewage, rendering them unsafe for consumption and exposing communities to grave health risks.
- The response has ranged from evacuating stranded residents and providing medical aid and essential supplies to securing safe water and sanitation equipment in order to prevent diseases from taking hold.
- Aid groups are also calling people to avoid rushing towards mass burials or carrying out mass cremations
- In a joint statement, the WHO and the ICRC said the bodies of victims of natural disaster “almost never” pose a health danger but also warned that “bodies should not be left in contact with drinking water sources” as they may leak feces that could lead to contamination.
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Important Takeaways:
- Storm Daniel has wreaked havoc across Libya with 2,000 people feared dead as the devastating floods have broken dams and swept away neighborhoods.
- Worst hit was the city of Derna in eastern Libya, which had become inaccessible, and many of the thousands missing there were believed carried away by waters after two upstream dams burst.
- Ahmed al-Mosmari, a spokesman for the country’s armed forces based in the east, told a news conference that the death toll in Derna had surpassed 2,000. He said there were between 5,000 and 6,000 reported missing.
- Al-Mosmari attributed the catastrophe to the collapse of two nearby dams, causing a lethal flash flood.
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Important Takeaways:
- Maui’s wildfire death toll officially 114, but locals running out of body bags reckon it’s closer to 500, with thousands still missing
- Maui Police Chief John Pelletier indicated early last week that rescuers accompanied by scores of cadaver dogs were working their way through the aftermath, over 85% of which had been covered by Sunday, according to Hawaii Gov. Josh Green.
- Locals, whose morgues have reportedly run out of body bags, indicated that the actual number of deaths is the neighborhood of 500.
- Allisen Medina told the Daily Mail, “I know there are at least 480 dead here in Maui, and I don’t understand why they’re [the authorities] not saying that. Maybe it’s to do with DNA or something.”
- The FBI announced Friday it would be opening a DNA matching site to speed up the process.
- “No one has ever seen this that is alive today. Not this size, not this number, not this volume — and we’re not done,” said the Maui police chief.
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