100 dead in storm Helene damage, flooding across US southeast

VALDOSTA, United States: At least 100 people have been killed after destructive floods ripped through the US southeast, officials said on Monday, with the emergency response effort fast becoming a political football in a region that could decide the presidential election.

Rescue operations sought to find survivors and deliver supplies across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee in areas where torrential rains brought by Hurricane Helene caused havoc.

Residents face power cuts, supply shortages, blocked roads and broken communication lines in often mountainous terrain. Republican candidate Donald Trump will late on Monday visit Valdosta in Georgia -- an epicentre of the flooding destruction, and also a key state in the tight election being held in just five weeks´ time. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said Monday that hundreds of roads had been destroyed and many communities “wiped off the map.”