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Hundreds of homes and dozens of businesses were damaged or destroyed in Southwest Virginia as the remnants of Hurricane Helene ripped through the region, causing widespread flooding and wind damage.
By Friday, one week after the devastation, federal, state and local emergency management agencies had determined that 519 homes had been damaged. That number includes 44 homes that were destroyed, 161 that sustained major damage, 146 that sustained minor damage and 168 that were affected. And 83 businesses, from small businesses up to large manufacturers, were determined to be damaged or destroyed. That number includes four businesses that were destroyed, 23 that sustained major damage, 28 that sustained minor damage and 28 that were affected.
Those numbers are expected to rise as agencies continue to conduct assessments.
Two Helene-related tornadoes were confirmed to have touched down in Pittsylvania County, Gov. Glenn Youngkin said during a press briefing on Friday morning. His team is working to get that locality, along with others, added to the list, he said.
Flanked by representatives from federal and state agencies, Youngkin addressed reporters and a room full of dozens of disaster response workers in North Chesterfield on Friday. The workers had been toiling around the clock to dispatch help to people most in need after the storm.
“This is going to be a long restoration and rebuild process,” Youngkin said. “Southwest Virginia will rebuild stronger than it was before,” he said.
When asked about efforts to prevent future disasters in the region or provide additional state support for individual residents in the area to rebuild, the governor said he is focused first on disaster response and the continued assessment of the damage from Helene.
Youngkin was slated to visit first responders and disaster relief volunteers on the ground in Smyth and Washington counties later that day.
The number of FEMA personnel on the ground in Southwest Virginia will increase from 150 to 200 on Friday, he said, and more are expected to come over the course of the next week. FEMA will send people out to go door-to-door through the region to help residents fill out the forms needed to receive aid.
Homes destroyed, power still out for thousands in Virginia, one week after Helene
As of Friday morning, 13,700 customers in Southwest Virginia were still without power. That number is a 90% improvement from the peak of the storm when 310,000 customers were without power, Youngkin said. Update: On Sunday, Appalachian Power said it had restored power to all its customers in Virginia. Only a few scattered outages remained among customers of other utilities.
Youngkin said damage remains to infrastructure in areas that are hard to get to, where helicopters are needed to fly in utility poles and where foundations for those poles will need to be hand-dug to reconnect those areas to the power grid, he said.
“This was a comprehensively damaging storm, and it just took out everything that we hold dear, not just in life lost but houses destroyed and infrastructure [mangled],” he said. “The damage to the infrastructure in some of these areas was far more extensive than might have been thought last Friday.”
Twenty-eight water systems in the region remain under a boil advisory, and the governor’s team is working to advise all residents, especially those who use wells, to flush their water systems and to get new pumps where necessary from their localities.
“We still have to boil the water because folks, it’s just not safe yet,” Youngkin said. “It’s great that it’s running, but we’re asking everyone to be very careful.”
At the peak of the storm, 287 cellphone towers were knocked out. As of Friday, 14 remained out.
Two primary roads in the Southwest remain impassable and closed, and 52 secondary roads are also closed. U.S. 58, a main thoroughfare through the region, has a 1.5-mile stretch that is impassable and will be a long-term repair effort, Youngkin said. Crews removed debris from the roads throughout the week and are anticipated to continue that work into the near future.
More than $125 million in damage to farms and agriculture in Virginia
Helene-related damage and losses experienced by farms and other agricultural operations could exceed $125 million, according to an assessment by Virginia Tech’s Virginia Cooperative Extension.
“The economic and human toll of this storm is immense,” Mike Gutter, director of Virginia Cooperative Extension, said in a statement.
Agricultural losses include livestock, crops, farm buildings, equipment, feed and hay, fences, water cisterns, and other features that were washed away by floodwaters and damaged by high winds, falling trees and debris, according to information released by Virginia Tech on Friday.
“It’s catastrophic,” Kevin Spurlin, a representative from the extension based in Grayson County, said in a statement. “I’m 47 years old, and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The flooding was unprecedented and caused so much loss.”
Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, along with other members of Congress, cosigned a letter to request the United States Department of Agriculture’s swift approval of disaster aid for farmers and others affected by Hurricane Helene.
“Many of the farmers in Virginia’s Ninth District have been devastated by Hurricane Helene, and expedited relief for them is critical,” Griffith said in a statement.
Farmers and agricultural producers affected by Helene are encouraged to fill out a form online to outline their needs.
People interested in donating supplies to farmers and agricultural producers are encouraged to fill out this form to share what they offer.
Meals, medical assistance needed for residents in the wake of the storm
Medical needs for people in the region include emergency prescription medication for those that had been washed away and tetanus shots, along with oxygen tanks and mobility devices such as wheelchairs. Youngkin said the team is working at a swift clip to get residents those items.
The state and the Department of Corrections have provided residents with about 40,000 meals over the last week. Churches and nonprofit organizations have also been at work in the area to provide residents with food, though those numbers were not readily available.
“That is a testament again to Virginia and people coming together in order to serve one another,” Youngkin said.
People can donate to United Way of Southwest Virginia to provide financial support to victims of Helene.
Residents and business owners who sustained Helene-related losses in the counties of Giles, Grayson, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington and Wythe and the city of Galax can begin applying for individual assistance at https://www.fema.gov/ or https://www.disasterassistance.gov/, by calling 800-621-FEMA (3362) or by using the FEMA App.
