More than two dozen people in North Carolina are still unaccounted for nearly a month after Hurricane Helene brought devastation to the western region of the state, officials said Monday.
Authorities said that 26 individuals remain missing, down from 92 last week, ABC News reported.
A local ABC affiliate reported Sunday that the death toll in western North Carolina has reached 95, with the majority being caused by drowning and landslides. The total Helene death toll is nearly 250.
Gov. Roy Cooper (D) called the hurricane “the deadliest and most devastating storm” in the history of the state.
As the region fights to recover, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has launched a “new initiative” to hire community liaisons to give people opportunities to work, administrator Deanne Criswell said Monday.
“We know that so many people have temporarily lost their jobs. We know that others just want to be able to give back, and we want to help keep people in these communities while they recover,” Criswell said, according to ABC News. “So these new community liaisons are going to work alongside us at FEMA to make sure that they are the local voice, the trusted voice in their community, and that they can share with us the local considerations and the concerns, so we can include them as part of this recovery.”
“They’re going to be embedded in every county, working directly with county administrators, mayors and community leaders, bridging their concerns with our FEMA staff. And these jobs are available for people to apply right now,” she added.
Updated to correct previous version that mistakenly referred to Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) as Republican.