NORTH CAROLINA — Six months after Hurricane Helene struck the Southeast, five people remain missing in North Carolina, ABC News reports.
The missing individuals include one person from Avery County, one from Mitchell County, and three from Yancey County, all unaccounted for since the Category 4 hurricane hit in September.
Alena Ayers from Mitchell County has been missing since the hurricane’s start, according to Sheriff Donald Street.
Yancey County Sheriff Shane Hilliard confirmed that Lenny Widsawski, Yevhenii Segen, and Tetyana Novitnia have also been missing since the storm. The Avery County Sheriff’s Office could not confirm the name of the individual missing from their area.
Recently, the name of one missing person was removed from the list when 66-year-old Russell Wilber was found deceased in Avery County. Wilber had washed into the Toe River from a campground, according to officials.
As of Tuesday, there have been 107 verified storm-related fatalities in North Carolina. On the six-month anniversary of the hurricane, North Carolina Rep. Dudley Greene filed ‘Alena’s Law,’ which allows for a presumption of death in cases where a person’s disappearance coincides with a disaster declaration.
Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region on September 26 and later caused historic flooding in Asheville, North Carolina. The storm also impacted Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee, resulting in over 230 deaths, making it the deadliest mainland hurricane since Katrina in 2005.
On March 27, ‘Good Morning America’ announced $3 million in donations to Asheville from corporate sponsors.
The ongoing search for the missing and the legislative efforts like ‘Alena’s Law’ highlight the continued impact of Hurricane Helene on North Carolina communities.
VIDEO: ‘People lost everything’: EMS worker recalls first day on the job when Helene hit
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