Hurricane Helene death toll rises, Wisconsinites look to help
MILWAUKEE (CBS58) -- Hurricane Helene has left some communities in the southeast part of the country picking up the pieces and others completely destroyed.
The Red Cross and other agencies are helping, including some from right here in Wisconsin. CBS 58 took to Facebook to find out if any of our viewers or anyone they know have been impacted by Helene.
Sure enough, they flooded our comments telling us they know people dealing with downed power lines, no internet, flooding, debris, and trees that have crushed homes.
The Red Cross has hundreds of volunteers coming from all over the country, like Dave Nelson from Eau Claire. He's been in the northern part of Florida for a week helping with clean-up and managing shelters.
Nelson says this is one of the toughest disaster recoveries he has been a part of.
"There's a terrible amount of destruction, especially in the coastal areas. The hardest hit counties are Taylor County and Dixie County here in the state of Florida. Steinhatchee is probably the hardest hit because that is where the eye of the storm came through and those communities are totally destroyed, there's not much left in those counties," said Nelson.
Hartland native Scott Huenink and his wife Heather decided on Monday morning they wanted to help. Originally their plan was to take their motorcycles and ride Tail of The Dragon, a popular motorcycle road in Southern Tennessee, just an hour away.
That all changed when they realized how severe the situation is in the Carolinas. They are working to get as many supplies donated as they can by this Thursday.
They will be driving a truck and trailer down to the western part of North Carolina. Huenink says for most of the eastern part of North Carolina, supplies can only be airlifted in.
"Just be able to fill that trailer as full as we can fill it. I would love to open that door and just have stuff fall out of it. We don't want to be part of the problem, we want to be part of the solution, so we just want to bring supplies to Murphy, North Carolina where our initial plan was to be anyway. I found out that they are taking supplies there and then taking it to the devastated areas directly," said Huenink.
As of Monday afternoon, 102 people have died.
"There's a lot going on because we have this and then North Carolina, it is really stretching our resources tremendously. But we are here to continue to do the work as long as we need to," said Nelson.
Nelson says that number is growing every day. He says if you're able to donate blood, or money, to call 1-800 Red Cross.
Huenink and his wife are having an event atWisconsin Harley Davidson in Oconomowoc this Wednesday, Oct. 2, from 3-6 p.m. if you want to donate supplies.