Hurricane Helene

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As the number of storm-related deaths climbed past 130 across the Southeast, authorities were rushing to airdrop supplies, restore power and clear roads after massive rains from Hurricane Helene left people stranded and without shelter.

President Biden said he plans to visit areas in North Carolina devastated by flooding from Helene on Wednesday, but will try to limit his disruption of ongoing recovery efforts.

Mr. Biden said Monday he would travel to Raleigh for a briefing with the emergency operations center, then take an aerial tour of the damage in Asheville.

Mr. Biden told reporters at the White House there were reports that 600 people were unaccounted for following the storm, which knocked out communications to affected areas.

"God willing they're alive, but there's no way to contact them," Mr. Biden said.

Mr. Biden's homeland security adviser, Liz Sherwood-Randall, told reporters Monday over 3,500 federal response personnel were deployed to the area and the number of urban search and rescue personnel would be up to 1,250 in the coming days.

Former President Donald Trump visited Valdosta, Georgia, just north of the Florida-Georgia state line Monday afternoon. Wearing one of his red Make America Great Again campaign hats, Trump shook hands and spoke with supporters and a group from Samaritan's Purse, the charity run by evangelist Franklin Graham.

Trump's rival for the presidency in November, Vice President Kamala Harris, intends to visit the region when it won't disrupt response efforts.

Hurricane Helene death toll
Helene killed at least 131 people, CBS News confirmed. The storm appears to have inflicted its worst damage in the Carolinas, where officials said more than 80 people have been found dead.

In the devastated city of Asheville, North Carolina, Megan Drye watched as her 7-year-old son Micah and her parents got swept away into the flood. They were stranded on a roof when it collapsed into the water. Megan Drye was rescued.

In Buncombe County, which includes Asheville, 40 deaths were reported. More than 95,000 Buncombe County homes and businesses had no power Monday afternoon, according to utility tracker Find Energy

In North Carolina, at least 56 people were killed, officials confirmed to CBS News.

"This is an unprecedented tragedy that requires an unprecedented response," North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said at a news conference Sunday. He added that more deaths were expected as rescuers reach isolated areas.

In South Carolina, 29 people died from the storm, Gov. Henry McMaster announced Monday. The deaths included two firefighters and two people who were killed when trees fell on residences, officials said earlier.

At least 25 people were killed in Georgia, according to a spokesperson for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency. A first responder was among the dead, Gov. Brian Kemp said Friday.

In Florida, 13 people were killed, officials confirmed to CBS News, including 10 people who died in Pinellas County. Statewide, crews have conducted thousands of rescue missions.

Six weather-related fatalities were confirmed in Tennessee.

In Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a Friday news conference that one person was killed. Another person was confirmed dead in Virginia on Monday.

Helene knocked out power to several million customers. Over a million and a half still had no electricity Monday night, Find Energy reported. But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday night that 99% of that state's homes and businesses had their power restored.

Where did Hurricane Helene hit?
Helene crashed ashore in Florida's Big Bend area on Thursday night as a dangerous Category 4 hurricane. Helene was the third hurricane to hit that region in the last 13 months.

From there, it quickly moved through Georgia, where Kemp said Saturday it "looks like a bomb went off" after seeing splintered homes and debris-covered highways from the air.

Helene then soaked the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains, sending creeks and rivers over their banks and straining dams.

The National Weather Service on Saturday reported the highest rainfall totals from Helene for each state. As of Saturday morning, the rural northwest North Carolina area of Busick had received the highest overall rainfall, with a staggering 30.78 inches.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, who traveled to Florida on Saturday to survey the damage, said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that the historic flooding in North Carolina has gone beyond what anyone could have planned for in the area.

"I don't know that anybody could be fully prepared for the amount of flooding and landslides that they are experiencing right now," she said.

Asheville was particularly hard hit as rising floodwaters damaged roads, led to power outages and cut off cellphone service. On Sunday, Cooper asked residents to avoid traveling on roadways in western North Carolina.

"Many people are cut off because the roads are impassable," he said.

Mr. Biden has issued emergency declarations for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, all of which free up federal resources that will go toward recovery and assistance efforts.

In East Tennessee, the flooding was so bad that two dams were at risk of failing. The Cocke County city of Newport was evacuated as a result, but both dams ultimately held.

Rescues have been made, attempts have been made, some people are stranded on the roofs of their homes and things like that," Cocke County Sheriff CJ Ball said.

The Gulf Coast community of Keaton Beach, Florida, was still recovering from Hurricane Idalia, which hit the area last year, and August's Hurricane Debby when Helene appeared to deliver the knockout punch. Taylor County officials estimated that 90% of homes in Keaton Beach are gone.

And further south in Cedar Key, officials said it is not safe for residents or rescue workers.

In the waters off Florida's Sanibel Island, a Coast Guard crew made a daring rescue, saving a man and his dog who were stranded on his 36-foot sailboat.

In the Big Bend fishing village of Steinhatchee, storm-weary residents prayed Helene would miss them, but the waterside docks and restaurants that once stood there are now gone.

The storm surge shoved buildings off their foundations. Linda Wicker lost the restaurant she had owned for 20 years. She seemed more shaken by what she saw across her village, homes torn apart by the wind and the deep water.

"If you let it play with your mind, you just can't go there," Wicker said. "You can't. It's horrible."

On historic Davis Islands in Tampa, streets were under water and boats had washed up on land. One home was gutted by flames. Marie Terry, who lives next door, would have been in the neighborhood unless her daughter had insisted she evacuate.

"I'm just in shock," Terry told CBS News. "It's just such a beautiful house, and to see it like this, it's like, what could have happened?"

In Atlanta, an apartment complex flooded, and neighbors had to rescue each other. Sam Oni, 83, was one of them.

"But I thought I would somehow escape it, but I did not…and I owe a lot to my neighbors," Oni told CBS News.

Exceptionally warm Gulf water fuels hurricanes
Record-warm water in the Gulf almost certainly acted like jet fuel in intensifying the storm. Brian McNoldy, senior research associate at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, recently noted that ocean heat content in the Gulf of Mexico is the highest on record. Warm water is a necessary ingredient to strengthen tropical systems.

Sea surface temperatures in the path of Helene were as warm as 89 degrees Fahrenheit — 2 to 4 degrees above normal.

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.

There are four primary manufacturers of IV fluids in the U.S. Baxter is the leader, accounting for about 60% of the market.

The company is the main supplier for Mass General Brigham in Boston, which uses more than 100,000 liters of IV fluid from Baxter every month.

On a call Thursday with reporters, Dr. Paul Biddinger, Mass General’s chief preparedness and continuity officer, said the health system received a letter from Baxter that said that due to the temporary closure, the system would receive only 40% of its usual supply from the manufacturer.

The letter prompted the health system to take steps to conserve its supply, including, in some cases, providing options like Gatorade or plain water to patients instead of giving them IVs.

Biddinger said that it’s “too early to tell” what actions the healthy system might need to take if the supply shortage continues for several more weeks but that it’s considering switching to other suppliers.

“Patients are still getting IV fluids when they need them,” Biddinger said. “We are continuing normal medical services but emphasizing conservation, and we are carefully monitoring this incident to determine how long it may last, how long we may need to conserve, and making sure we identified all areas of our enterprise where services are affected.”

Hard to fill the gap
In a statement published online Thursday, Baxter said it doesn’t yet have a timeline for when operations will be back up and running.

A part of the problem, the company said, is that bridges to its site were damaged in the storm, limiting transport in and out.

The Department of Health and Human Services and the agency’s Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response are working with Baxter to assess damage and help with recovery efforts.

A spokesperson for HHS said the government is focused on “reducing supply chain disruptions that may result from damage to the facility and surrounding infrastructure.”

In addition to Baxter, the spokesperson said, two other large manufacturers of IV fluids in the U.S. are also working to increase supply.

“FDA’s drug shortage office is in touch with Baxter about impacts to products manufactured at the facility and will continue to coordinate with FEMA to assist the company with cleanup of the facility,” the spokesperson said.

One of the manufacturers working to increase supply is B. Braun Medical, which accounts for about 23% of the IV fluids market, a company spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the company is looking to increase the supply of the “most critical products” or “hospital workhorses,” such as large-volume bags — 500 milliliters to 2,000 milliliters — of sodium chloride, sterile water and lactated ringers.

B. Braun Medical is also hiring new employees and hopes to be running 24/7 at two of its facilities in the coming weeks. It also has looked to bring in product from abroad; however, ports across the East and Gulf coasts are closed because of the port strike, compounding the issue.

Even so, it will be difficult to make up for the gap left by Baxter.

“We’re anticipating that there will be major constraints on the U.S. supply of IV fluids as a result of the production outage at Baxter’s North Cove plant,” the company’s spokesperson said in a statement.

Hospitals prepare
In the meantime, hospitals are taking steps to make sure patients still have the IV fluids they need.

RWJBarnabas Health, based in New Jersey, said it’s taking “appropriate conservation measures” across its health system as it assesses the supply affected by Baxter.

“At this time, there is no impact to patient care,” said Carrie Cristello, a spokesperson for RWJBarnabas. “We will continue to monitor the situation closely.”

In a statement, Oregon Health & Science University Hospital, which was also affected by the Baxter closure, said it’s keeping its community informed of any changes that could be needed in patient care, research or education missions.

The hospital is also using oral hydration options when possible, as well as evaluating each patient for the discontinuation of continuous IV fluids.

Northwestern Medicine in Illinois said its supply chain team is discussing conservation efforts, as well.

“We anticipate this will be a long-term issue,” said Jenny Nowatzke, a spokesperson

Severe flooding in western North Carolina as a result of Hurricane Helene has stirred up colonies of yellow jackets, raising the risk of stings.

The rain and floodwater most likely destroyed the insects’ underground nests, in addition to toppling trees or stumps that held nests, said Chris Hayes, an extension associate in urban entomology at North Carolina State University.

“Now they’re out of a home, just like many people are,” Hayes said.

North Carolina health officials said they have bought large amounts of Benadryl and EpiPens to address the problem.

“We are actively working to ensure Benadryl and epinephrine are readily available in western NC for those who may be allergic or have been stung,” Summer Tonizzo, a press assistant at the state Department of Health and Human Services, said in an emailed statement.

The medications will be distributed to residents through health care providers, hospitals and emergency medical services, Tonizzo added.

She said it’s normal for yellow jackets and other stinging insects to be temporarily disrupted after a hurricane.

Most people aren’t allergic to wasp or bee stings but may still develop pain, itching or swelling at the site. Benadryl, either in topical or oral form, can help reduce those symptoms. Epinephrine injections, or EpiPens, are reserved for people with severe allergic reactions — such as trouble breathing or swallowing — which can sometimes be life-threatening.

Hayes said people who are allergic to bees are usually allergic to yellow jackets, as well, though the scale of the reaction might differ.

Tonizzo said the North Carolina Board of Pharmacy “has flexibility so that people can get emergency refills on their prescribed allergy medicines.”

“We are working to issue a standing order for Epi-pens for people to get medicines if they do not have a prescription from a provider,” she said in the statement.

Yellow jackets are generally more aggressive than bees, and they are able to sting people multiple times. When the insects sense danger, they release pheromones that signal other yellow jackets to attack.

“They very quickly move to defend their hive and their colony from predators or any threat that they sense,” Hayes said.

That’s especially true in the fall, he added, since most yellow jackets — except for the young queens — die off when the first frost arrives.

“They tend to get more aggressive this time of year because food is becoming more scarce, populations are typically crashing, and they’re getting ready to overwinter,” Hayes said.

The storm’s effects may have aggravated some colonies even further, he said, since efforts to clear out felled trees could restrict yellow jackets’ access to food sources like nectar. In addition, if the severe weather killed a yellow jacket queen, the rest of her colony might be flying around aimlessly.

“Populations are just kind of spilling out, so you don’t have one yellow jacket, you have 300 of them on this tree,” Hayes said. “They can very quickly mount a response that can be very dangerous, even for people who are not severely allergic.”

Tonizzo said the North Carolina Board of Pharmacy “has flexibility so that people can get emergency refills on their prescribed allergy medicines.”

“We are working to issue a standing order for Epi-pens for people to get medicines if they do not have a prescription from a provider,” she said in the statement.

Yellow jackets are generally more aggressive than bees, and they are able to sting people multiple times. When the insects sense danger, they release pheromones that signal other yellow jackets to attack.

“They very quickly move to defend their hive and their colony from predators or any threat that they sense,” Hayes said.

That’s especially true in the fall, he added, since most yellow jackets — except for the young queens — die off when the first frost arrives.

“They tend to get more aggressive this time of year because food is becoming more scarce, populations are typically crashing, and they’re getting ready to overwinter,” Hayes said.

The storm’s effects may have aggravated some colonies even further, he said, since efforts to clear out felled trees could restrict yellow jackets’ access to food sources like nectar. In addition, if the severe weather killed a yellow jacket queen, the rest of her colony might be flying around aimlessly.

“Populations are just kind of spilling out, so you don’t have one yellow jacket, you have 300 of them on this tree,” Hayes said. “They can very quickly mount a response that can be very dangerous, even for people who are not severely allergic.”