Hurricane Helene Death Toll Far Higher Than Reported, Says Expert

As disaster response continues in the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Helene, a disaster management expert on the ground says there are 250 confirmed deaths in just one single county. Steve Slepcevic appeared on The HighWire to give an update into the disaster recovery and medical aid response from the Hickory airport in North Carolina.

Recent reports have stated there are now more than 200 deaths from Hurricane Helene, but Slepcevik said the number is far higher than is being reported in the media. “Just one county has 250 deaths confirmed,” Slepcevik said. “There’s also body bags that are running out. When you go back to even Hurricane Ike, the Coast Guard friends that I have, the amount of body bags that were brought in just their helicopters far exceeded [the reported numbers]. Tell me why consistently the numbers never match. The numbers are going to go up and even when they get those numbers up, it’s still not what actually is.”

During the conversation with Host Del Bigtree, Slepcevik criticized the slow response to the disaster. He said those with experience in emergency and disaster response could tell that the hurricane would cause significant flooding problems, and emergency response should have been ready to deploy. “Anybody who has handled any type of emergency response disasters knew this was going to unfold at this level or pretty close to this level,” Slepcevik said. “What happened on day six going into day seven should’ve happened on day 2.”

“The military, the government, the FEMA task force should’ve been here on day two,” Slepcevik said. “That didn’t happen. That was a complete disaster. So what happened is the people showed up. This is no different than what you saw happen in Maui when Archie Kalepa set up his EOC. The call went out, the people rose up and rose to the challenge. All these independent pilots started coming together. Through our network, we pulled all types of other pilots in, assigned our paramedics to those flights and sent them out there. Now they’re doing mass evacuations now.”

Secretary of Homeland Security Director Alejandro Mayorkas has been criticized after saying that FEMA has enough money to help the victims of Hurricane Helene, but doesn’t have enough to get through the rest of the hurricane season. One criticism is that the government has spent $600 million on shelters and services for immigrants. A DHS spokesperson said the money provided to that program does not impact FEMA’s budget.

Vice President Kamala Harris announced that individuals with immediate needs such as “food, baby formula, and the like” can apply online for $750 to meet those urgent needs. Harris said, “FEMA is also providing tens of thousands more dollars for folks to help them deal with home repair, to be able to cover a deductible if and when they have insurance, and also hotel costs.” She added that President Joe Biden signed off on a 100% reimbursement for local costs associated with the hurricane in Georgia.

Slepcevik’s colleague explained the difficulty with disaster relief when so many people have lost the ability to communicate. Recent reports state that 925,000 homes and businesses still have no power across five states, and tens of thousands do not have running water. The lack of water and communication adds to the urgency to find people that need access to clean drinking water and food.

FEMA sent out a press release detailing the $20 million in funding that it is providing for victims of Hurricane Helene and continued search and rescue operations in North Carolina. The press release states, “More than 5,000 personnel from across the federal workforce are deployed, including over 1,500 from FEMA. FEMA has shipped over 9.3 million meals, more than 11.2 million liters of water, 150 generators, and more than 260,000 tarps to the region.”

FEMA has also responded to several rumors regarding funds that will be provided for the victims of this natural disaster. The agency made clear that the $750 is not the only assistance it is providing, but it is being offered for immediate assistance for urgent needs like food and baby formula. The agency also states that it has “enough money right now for immediate response and recovery needs.”

Additional concerns were brought up during the conversation on The HighWire when Bigtree asked Slepcevik’s colleague Mike Saavedra, who is responsible for medical assistance. Bigtree asked how this situation is handled when there are many people who don’t have access to the medications they rely on.

Mike said, “For any medication that you take, whether it’s a cardiac drug or a blood pressure drug, it’s very important for you to know exactly how much of it you have and how long you can go until you need to get another dose sent to you. One of the scariest parts about responding to disasters, especially in the middle of a situation like this, is that we’re talking to you guys live from an airport that has been established as the one responding unit to go in and rescue people. If someone is a dialysis patient and now the dialysis center that they go to has been swept away, in 5 days, they’re going to be septic.”

The current situation is dire with hundreds of confirmed deaths, hundreds of missing people, and tens of thousands without the ability to communicate they need assistance. The disaster relief efforts and search parties will continue while the death count is expected to significantly increase. The deadliest hurricane on record in the last 96 years was Hurricane Katrina with 1,200 reported deaths.

Donations to SRP’s Hurricane Helene Recovery Fund can be made here.