Grieving families in North Carolina have been left with no choice but to bury their loved ones in their backyards, accusing authorities of downplaying the extent of the damage caused by Hurricane Helene. The official death toll reached 227 over the weekend, with half of the victims from North Carolina.
However, state and federal officials told The Spectator that this figure is far from accurate. The real figures are higher than what is being shown to the public. Many bodies remain unrecovered due to the widespread debris and flooding, and there are still numerous unidentified corpses. These bodies are being moved across the state in search of available morgue space.
Complete Negligence
"According to folks on the ground - fire, medical, law enforcement officials - they're way underreporting the numbers. All the morgues are full and they've hauled a ton [of bodies] to Greensboro," the state official said. "People are starting to bury them in their yards because they have no place to put them."
A person who was in Asheville when Helene struck told The Spectator, "It's so much worse than they're saying...I think there's a massive cover-up."
The devastation caused by Helene, along with the significant death toll across multiple states, comes just days before Category 5 Hurricane Milton is expected to hit Florida's coast.
Helene made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region on the night of September 26, before ravaging Georgia and the Carolinas with record-breaking storm surges and tornadoes.
North Carolina alone experienced six confirmed tornadoes on the morning of September 27, two days before 500 members of the state's National Guard were sent to assist with rescue operations.
Public Furious at Authorities
Locals are angry with General Major Todd Hunt, head of the North Carolina National Guard, for waiting a full 48 hours to deploy help on the ground.
Around this time, 5,500 National Guard members were deployed, including some from other states like Florida.
"That's why you saw the Florida National Guard and other units out there - and why private citizens stepped in, even as state and federal officials tried to shut down their efforts," an unnamed source familiar with the situation in North Carolina told The Spectator.
Prior to the deployment of North Carolina National Guardsmen, a four-year-old girl was killed in a car accident in Claremont, a town located about 40 miles north of Charlotte. Also, another person died when a tree collapsed onto their home in Charlotte.
According to the county manager, 40 people have died in Buncombe County, North Carolina.
Asheville, a well-known tourist spot in Buncombe County, was one of the most severely impacted towns, with widespread devastation throughout the area.
The small mountain town of Swannanoa experienced flooding levels not witnessed since 1791, with residents describing their community as being "completely wiped out."
