USA More than 160 dead after Hurricane Helene

In the south-east of the USA, people continue to struggle with the consequences of the deadly tropical storm "Helene". According to the latest counts by US broadcasters CNN and CBS, at least 162 people have died as a result of the storm.

The storm, which made landfall in northwest Florida on Thursday evening as the second-highest category hurricane and then weakened somewhat as it moved north, left behind immense devastation in six states.

On Wednesday night (local time), around 1.3 million people were still without power, including almost half a million in the state of South Carolina alone, according to data from the US website PowerOutage.

The governor of the neighboring state of Georgia, Brian Kemp, temporarily suspended the gasoline tax by executive order on Tuesday. Kemp wrote on the short message service X that this is intended to relieve the burden on communities that are currently completely dependent on fuel to supply their homes and necessary equipment with electricity.

US President Joe Biden plans to travel to North Carolina and South Carolina today to get an idea of the situation in particularly affected areas. His Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, is planning a visit to Georgia. Her Republican opponent Donald Trump was already in Georgia on Tuesday.