What do you think are the biggest issues that Louisville is facing currently?
Hurricane Helene live updates: At least 215 dead as some communities struggle to get basic supplies At least 215 people have died and hundreds are still unaccounted for in the destruction wrought by Hurricane Helene since it made landfall in Florida on Sept. 26.
More than a week later, some residents and communities remain isolated, hundreds of thousands are without power, and spotty service has made communication difficult.
As people dig out of the muck and survey the damage to their homes and cities, stories of heroic rescues and devastating losses are coming to light.
If you would like to help donate to survivors of Helene, several organizations, including the Red Cross and National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, are seeking assistance from the public.
NBC News Lite, a lightweight version of NBCNews.com available in emergency situations when internet connectivity may be limited, has been turned on for readers in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama. Cumberland Gap National Historical Park in Kentucky continues to assess the damage from Helene more than a week after the storm.
The park’s visitor center, some roads and the Object Lesson Road, Wilderness Road, Tri-State and Daniel Boone trails have reopened, but other closures remain, the park said in an update yesterday.
“Hiking on any other trail in the park is not recommended. Hundreds of trees have fallen on trails in the park, and additional trees are still at risk of falling,” it said. “Trail washouts, damaged bridges, and other, unpredictable hazards are also likely. Park staff and resources are stretched thin and emergency response may be delayed.”
Horse and bike trails and all backcountry campsites are closed, and guided tours to Hensley Settlement have been suspended, it said.
There were no injuries from the storm at the 24,000-acre park, which is near where the borders of Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia meet,, and “preserves the historic Cumberland Gap, a key point for crossing the Appalachians that became known as the First Gateway to the West,” it said.
Additional information about conditions is on the park website. supplies to trapped Hurricane Helene victims
Corky Siemaszko
Like clockwork, one private plane after another taxied yesterday down the runway of a small regional airport in North Carolina to a hangar, where volunteers loaded them up with food, water, medicine and other badly needed basics.
Thirty or so minutes later, those planes were back in the sky and ferrying supplies from Concord-Padgett Regional Airport to communities across the flooded region, many of them almost completely cut off from the world by Hurricane Helene.
“Yesterday, we were moving so fast we were beating the turnaround times at O’Hare,” coordinator Shaun Carroll said, referring to Chicago O’Hare International Airport. “We were moving.”
Carroll is a member of Operation Airdrop, a relief organization founded after Hurricane Harvey in 2017 that enlists pilots with private planes and helicopters to deliver supplies to people stranded in isolated areas by natural disasters.Hospitals take steps to conserve IV fluid supply after Helene strikes critical factory
Berkeley Lovelace Jr. and Mustafa Fattah
Hospitals across the U.S. are taking steps to conserve their supplies of IV fluids after Hurricane Helene struck a critical manufacturing plant belonging to the country’s biggest supplier.
Baxter International, a medical technology company responsible for making IV fluids for most U.S. hospitals, said Sunday that it would temporarily close production at its North Cove, North Carolina-based facility because of flooding from Helene, raising concerns about a potential nationwide shortage.
IV fluids are used to deliver drugs or water with electrolytes directly into a patient’s bloodstream. They’re also critical for surgery, when a person is unable to eat or drink, to keep them hydrated. Baxter also makes specialty fluids, such as peritoneal dialysis fluid, which helps patients with kidney failure filter waste from their blood, as well as irrigation fluids, used during procedures to clean or flush wounds.
