Gov. Roy Cooper reports progress in western NC's recovery from Hurricane Helene

Gov. Roy Cooper said Thursday afternoon there are positives for western North Carolina in its recovery efforts after the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene.

Cooper said he and state leaders are working with local utility companies and hospitals.

“There is hope that 90% of the power could be back as early as [Friday], but I’m going to let them [the utility companies] say that,” Cooper said. “That’s something I heard a little earlier.”

PowerOutage.us shows 281,488 customers are still without power as of 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

Duke Energy is reporting the following outages as of 11 a.m. ET each day in both North Carolina and South Carolina:

• Friday, Sept. 27: 956,192
• Saturday, Sept. 28: 767,090
• Sunday, Sept. 29: 652,984
• Monday, Sept. 30: 557,102
• Tuesday, Oct. 1: 446,879
• Wednesday, Oct. 2: 388,935
• Thursday, Oct. 3: 299,380

“The widespread nature of the storm is astounding,” Cooper said. “So many communities have been hurt.”

Cooper acknowledged state data shows at least 60 people died because of Helene.

“We know that, that number will go higher,” Cooper said.

Taking state data and Buncombe County data, WRAL News estimates the total to be at least 96 people killed in North Carolina.

NBC News is reporting North Carolina’s total at more than 100 people dead from Helene. At least 202 people are dead from Helene nationwide.

Cooper said Thursday the state has 31 aircraft with search-and-rescue efforts.

A reporter asked Cooper about his message to people in western North Carolina who lost everything.

“To wake up one morning and everything you own be gone is a tragic situation,” Cooper said. “This is an unprecedented situation that is going to require an unprecedented response.

“We are working to turn on every avenue of resources that we can to help people.’

Cooper encouraged people to apply for FEMA assistance.

“We’ve got people actually in just about every county as it stands now, supporting the state side by side,” said FEMA Regional Administrator Robert Samaan.

Samaan estimated that FEMA has about 500 workers throughout western North Carolina to help with assistance.

As of Thursday, FEMA has distributed $6.2 million to Helene survivors. More than 40,000 people have applied for FEMA disaster assistance too.

“We know that the people of western North Carolina are resilient,” Cooper said. “This is going to be a strong short-term response and a strong long-term recovery.”