One of the deadliest hurricanes in the past 50 years: what you can do to help.
By Maya Ravishankar
In times of catastrophe, the borders that divide us fall away. In 1847, the Choctaws who had just arrived after the trail of tears sent a donation of $5,000 in today’s currency to Ireland, then suffering from a potato famine. In 2020, the Irish wanted to “pay it forward”, donating a sizable amount to the Navajo and Hopi communities who were struggling from the pandemic. Similarly, the many Americans who are struggling with the effects of Hurricane Helene today are looking to us for help.
According to the National Weather Service, “Hurricane Helene made landfall in the Big Bend area of the Florida Gulf Coast as a Category 4 storm late in the evening of September 26, 2024. Helene's largest impacts were across the southern Appalachians where widespread severe and unprecedented flooding occurred with hundreds of fatalities and billions in property damage. Strong wind gusts damaged property and blew trees and power lines down in a swath from the Gulf Coast to the North Carolina mountains.”
Yale Climate Connections further reports that “The death toll wreaked on the Southeast U.S. by Hurricane Helene, as tracked by CNN, reached 180 on Wednesday morning, October 2. The toll pushes Helene above 2022’s Hurricane Ian (156 U.S. deaths) and makes it one of the three deadliest hurricanes of the past half-century across U.S. states and territories. The only hurricanes in that period that took more lives than Helene were Katrina (2005) and Maria (2017). Going back even further, the only other hurricane deadlier than Helene over the past 60 years was Camille (1969) – a storm that resembled Helene in that the majority of Camille’s 259 U.S. deaths came from flash flooding across the Appalachians (in Virginia), following a Category 5 landfall that was itself catastrophic.These numbers include both direct and indirect deaths. A direct death occurs due to a storm’s winds, rains, and storm surge directly, while an indirect death can be due to traffic accidents during an evacuation, lack of lifesaving medical care due to a power outage, and so on.”
FEMA reports some ways that we can help:
Volunteer to help. Sign up to volunteer with a reputable group or organization. Do not go by yourself to a disaster area. Look up volunteer opportunities on the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster website.
Cash is the best donation. It’s important to donate responsibly. When people support voluntary organizations with financial contributions, it helps ensure a steady flow of important services to the people in need after a disaster.
Identify what is needed. Before donating supplies connect with organizations working in the affected area to find out how much is needed and when it is needed.
To apply for assistance:
“You can apply for assistance in three ways:
online by visiting disasterassistance.gov
call 800-621-3362. If you use a relay service, such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service, or others, give FEMA the number for that service.
download the FEMA app”
To find more information on mental health services, ways to help, and disaster-related tools, visit:
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