Important Takeaways:
- The White House said there are additionally more than 6,100 National Guard members and more than 7,000 federal personnel aiding in the effort.
- “These Guardsmen have been spearheading the response effort across the impacted region in support of their governors and communities, providing critical life-saving and life-sustaining support to the victims of this historic natural disaster,” the Defense Department press release read.
- The announcement, according to the White House and Defense Department, comes in response to requests from North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) and from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for additional troops.
- “The Department of Defense will continue to stay fully engaged with FEMA and the whole-of-government relief efforts related to Hurricane Helene, providing capabilities that best support needs on the ground,” the Defense Department press release said.
- The Biden administration pointed to the $137 million in federal assistance that it has directed to help “survivors jumpstart their recoveries” and said there is “more to come.”
- The administration touted its on-the-ground efforts and collaboration with local officials, noting that in the past several days, the Biden administration “has contacted nearly 450 state, city, and county officials in impacted states to ensure they have the support and resources they need.”
- The administration is also encouraging local residents to apply for FEMA assistance, and it has set up a website to combat misinformation surrounding the federal government’s response efforts.
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Important Takeaways:
- Communities are stranded, over 200 people have died with more expected, and more than 700,000 are without power
- Rescue crews in parts of the south-eastern US were still searching on Friday for those missing as they entered the eighth day since Hurricane Helene roared ashore in Florida and became the deadliest mainland hurricane in the US since Katrina in 2005.
- The death toll could grow higher, having surpassed 200 on Thursday, while the sheer scale of the devastation from wind and floods has slowed efforts to find many people’s loved ones and also get supplies to stranded communities and restore power to more than 700,000 people.
- Officials have reported at least 215 deaths across six states as a result of Helene and warned that more will be found dead in the coming days and weeks
- In hardest-hit North Carolina, thousands of residents were issued boil water advisories and said that 27 water plants were closed and not producing water.
- On Friday, the number of power outages in the south-eastern region fell below a million for the first time since the storm. Still, more than 250,000 people in South Carolina had no power as of Friday morning, according to poweroutage.us, as well as over 230,000 people in North Carolina, just over 200,000 in Georgia, 13,000 in Virginia and 10,000 in Florida.
- Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, has warned that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) does not have enough funding to make it through the rest of this hurricane season, which typically runs until late November.
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Important Takeaways:
- Hurricane Helene has left officials in six Southeastern states grappling to respond to the widespread destruction it caused after hitting Florida as a Category 4 storm last week.
- More than 500,000 customers were without power in South Carolina and nearly 380,000 others in Georgia were without electricity on Wednesday morning, per poweroutage.us.
- Over 349,000 in N.C., nearly 47,000 in Virginia and almost 41,000 in Florida also had no power, according to the utility tracker.
- The American Red Cross has received more than 3,000 requests for help from those looking for lost loved ones in the last 24 hours, and the agency reported more than 2,400 survivors in 75 shelters from Florida to North Carolina, Axios reported.
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Important Takeaways:
- On Monday, the North Carolina State Climate Office provided a picture of how the “monster storm” was nearly a “worst-case scenario for western North Carolina.”
- “Torrential rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Helene capped off three days of extreme, unrelenting precipitation, which left catastrophic flooding and unimaginable damage in our Mountains and southern Foothills,” a post from the office says. “… the full extent of this event will take years to document – not to mention, to recover from.”
- Water was already beginning to inundate cities, “all while the heaviest rain from Helene was just beginning to fall,” the climate office said. The more than 300 miles of tropical storm-force winds Helene produced only amplified the situation, pushing more moisture up mountains.
- From the start of the precursor frontal showers on Wednesday evening to the heart of Helene moving through on Friday morning, it was one of the most incredible and impactful weather events our state has ever seen
- In Buncombe County, home to Asheville, Emergency Services Assistant Director Ryan Cole told the Citizen-Times that “catastrophic devastation” didn’t accurately describe the impact the deluge had.
- “It would go a little bit further and say we have biblical devastation through the county,” Cole said. “We’ve had biblical flooding here and it has been extremely significant.”
- The day after Helene made landfall, at least six tornadoes were confirmed, including an EF3 in Rocky Mount that destroyed several buildings.
- Officials often retire hurricane names when they are particularly devastating, and while such action has yet to be announced, the climatologists suggest it may only be a matter of time.
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Important Takeaways:
- Authorities are going house-to-house and urging people below the dam of a popular lake in the western North Carolina mountains to evacuate as officials warn the barrier could be nearing failure.
- Relentless rain from what was once Hurricane Helene has resulted in catastrophic flooding from Florida to North Carolina as the storm moves inland across the Southeast.
- By Friday afternoon, officials said that the wall of the dam is currently holding but water from the flooded Broad River is overtopping it and support structures have been compromised.
- “Move to higher ground now!” NWS officials wrote in the warning. “This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation. Do not attempt to travel unless you are fleeing an area subject to flooding or under an evacuation order.”
- All of western North Carolina is under a high risk of flooding Friday, with as much as 20 inches of rain possible in some places before Helene moves away this weekend.
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Important Takeaways:
- A deputy U.S. Marshal, two North Carolina Department of Corrections officers and a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) officer were fatally shot in the line of duty on Monday afternoon in east Charlotte while serving a search warrant for a felon in possession of a firearm at a single-family home on Galway Drive.
- CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings on Tuesday said more than 100 rounds were fired between the suspect or suspects inside the house and responding officers. Investigators recovered an AR-15 and a .40-caliber handgun from the scene.
- “[T]hese were brave men that came out here to do a job to protect this neighborhood and these citizens.”
- Suspect Terry Clark Hughes Jr., 39, died at the scene Monday
- Two additional persons of interest – both female, one only 17 years old – were taken into custody. Authorities have yet to determine whether there are any additional suspects who can be charged in connection with the mass shooting.
- “As more and more comes out about this incident, not only when you see how brave they were,” USMS Director Ron Davis said Tuesday. “You will see examples of their courage and bravery. Let there be no mistake. They represent the best of us. They are truly America’s finest, and it’s just an honor to serve with them.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Tropical Storm Idalia keeps pounding the Southeast’s Atlantic coast, prompting flash flood warnings in North Carolina
- Thousands of homes are damaged in Florida – some with shredded walls and roofs, others with knee-high, murky floodwater that officials warn could be dangerous for days to come.
- Between 2 and 5 inches of rain have fallen in parts of southeastern North Carolina, including the Wilmington area, where a flash flood warning was in effect early Thursday, the National Weather Service said.
- South Carolina’s Charleston Harbor saw its waters spike to higher than 9 feet, making it the fifth-highest level ever recorded, the National Weather Service said.
- As of early Thursday, about 150,000 homes and businesses were without power in Florida. Another 110,000 outages were in Georgia, about 50,000 were reported in the Carolinas, PowerOutage.us reported
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Leviticus 24:17 “Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death.
Important Takeaways:
- Glenn Youngkin said he supports a 15-week ban, something he feels could satisfy both sides.
- Virginia is about to become one of the last states in the South with broad access to abortion after North Carolina and South Carolina took historic action to restrict the procedure.
- “I would say Virginia’s abortion laws are kind of more akin to China and North Korea than our neighboring states now,” Todd Gathje of The Family Foundation said.
- Gathje also worries that Virginia may become an abortion destination for the abortion industry.
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Leviticus 24:17 “Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death.
Important Takeaways:
- Most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy will be banned in North Carolina beginning July 1 after the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature successfully overrode the Democratic governor’s veto late Tuesday.
- Abortion is banned or severely restricted in much of the South, including bans throughout pregnancy in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. In Georgia, it’s allowed only in the first six weeks.
- Stricter bans across the South would heighten Virginia’s role as an access point and create a “ripple effect” as people travel from out of state to seek care
- Virginia currently allows abortions in the first and second trimesters. An abortion is allowed in the third trimester only if three doctors certify the mother’s mental or physical health is at serious risk.
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Leviticus 24:17 “Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death.
Important Takeaways:
- North Carolina’s GOP-led General Assembly overrides Democratic governor’s 12-week abortion ban veto
- North Carolina’s Republican-led General Assembly moved Tuesday to ban most abortions after 12 weeks, voting to override a veto from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.
- The bill – Senate Bill 20, dubbed the “Care for Women, Children and Families Act” – bans any licensed physician from performing surgical abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy.
- It provides exceptions in the case of rape and incest through 20 weeks of pregnancy or in the event of a “life-limiting anomaly” through 24 weeks.
- It takes effect July 1.
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