Helene left at least 128 people dead and communities ‘wiped off the map.’ Now, survivors are struggling to get food and water
By Holly Yan and Steve Almasy, CNN
(CNN) — The magnitude of devastation wrought by Helene intensifies by the hour as search crews discover more bodies and floodwaters slowly recede – revealing more neighborhoods obliterated by the storm.
The death toll across six states soared to 128 Monday, days after Helene made landfall in Florida as a monstrous Category 4 hurricane. Almost 2 million customers still don’t have power. And countless families have no idea whether their loved ones survived, as Helene’s rampage shredded communication infrastructure.
Most of North Carolina’s 56 deaths happened far inland. In Buncombe County, at least 40 people were killed, County Manager Avril Pinder said. The county includes Asheville, the scenic mountain city now engulfed by murky brown floodwater.
As the water slowly retreats, “We are seeing just piles of people’s houses that were destroyed. Buildings that were destroyed. Cars overturned,” Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer said Monday.
“The power lines look like spaghetti. It’s hard to describe the chaos that it looks like. It really feels like a post-apocalyptic scene.”
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Many shellshocked survivors can’t even begin the arduous task of rebuilding because they don’t have basic necessities such as clean drinking water, food, cell phone service and electricity.
Three tractor-trailers full of water arrived in Buncombe County Monday morning, Pinder said. But it is only enough to supply each resident with one day’s worth of water.
Compounding the tragedy, some roads and bridges that are desperately needed to carry aid or reach trapped victims are now impassable or no longer exist.
“We are cut off from highway access from 3 of the 4 major highways into Asheville,” the mayor said. “Some resources are having to be flown in. … I can’t even think about a time frame for how long it’s going to take to recover from this storm.”
Why the death toll will likely keep rising
Hundreds of people are reported missing, though it’s not clear how many succumbed to the storm and how many survived but lack communications access.
“We know that death toll will rise,” Asheville’s mayor said. “We’ve heard accounts of people seeing houses floating down the river with people in them.”
In addition to the 56 people killed in North Carolina, Helene also killed at least 30 victims in South Carolina, 25 in Georgia, 11 in Florida, four in Tennessee and two in Virginia.
“Devastation does not even begin to describe how we feel,” Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller said Monday. One of his deputies was among three North Carolina sheriff’s deputies killed by Helene.
Officials implored residents to avoid traveling to hard-hit areas so emergency responders can reach those in need.
“Consider the roads closed in western North Carolina,” Gov. Roy Cooper told CNN Monday. “We do not need sightseers coming in to observe the damage. We ask you not to come in unless you are on a specific mission to help with rescue.”
‘Not enough resources to reach everyone’
While images from western North Carolina look catastrophic, “things are even more devastating in person,” Marion resident Krista Cortright said.
She and her boyfriend typically drive 25 minutes to get to his grandmother’s house in Black Mountain. But on Sunday, they drove 2 1/2 hours to deliver supplies to his diabetic grandmother.
While visiting his grandmother, they noticed her neighbor’s driveway had vanished. So Cortright and her boyfriend gave them food and water, too.
“There’s not enough resources to reach everyone,” Cortright said. “My heart is broken for our people here.”
The governor and the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency visited decimated parts of western North Carolina on Monday. And thousands of US National Guard members have been activated to help with recovery efforts across the East Coast, the Pentagon said.
But help can’t come quickly enough, Asheville’s mayor said.
“We need emergency relief right now,” Manheimer said. “We need everything from food (and) water to port-a-potties to baby formula.”
‘Not expecting power for a really long time’
Four days after Helene ripped through northern Florida all the way up to Virginia, about 1.9 million power customers still had no electricity in the region, according to PowerOutage.us.
But the number of people without electricity is far higher, since each power customer could be a household or business.
In Weaverville, a town just north of Asheville, all the power lines have been destroyed, local middle school teacher Ben Sharp told CNN.
“We’re not expecting power for a really long time,” Sharp said. “I don’t think anyone expected this to happen because we don’t have stuff like this in Asheville.”
Asheville’s mayor acknowledged she doesn’t know how long it will take to restore electricity.
“This is an unprecedented, catastrophic event,” Manheimer said. “So we cannot yet estimate how long it will take to restore power to everyone.”
President Joe Biden will visit some of the hardest-hit areas later this week, “as soon as it will not disrupt emergency response operations,” the White House said Sunday evening.
The president has approved disaster relief and has been in contact with the governors where the damage was most severe.
Survivors share resources – even oxygen
In Asheville, strangers have stepped up to deliver water, diapers and other supplies to neighbors in need – including a family with a five-day-old infant.
Helene’s destruction “is the most devastating thing I’ve ever seen in our whole city,” said Michelle Coleman, executive director of the Asheville Dream Center.
“Our prayer is that people are just not losing hope because our community is coming together. Asheville is a strong community,” Coleman said.
Gary O’Dell, a disabled Vietnam War veteran, epitomized that generosity by sharing his oxygen tank with a neighbor.
“You don’t realize, oxygen is very important,” said O’Dell, who suffers from lung cancer. But he didn’t hesitate to give up some of his vital supply.
“My next-door neighbor ran out of oxygen,” O’Dell said. “He’s in worse shape than I am.”
More rain could impede recovery efforts
Helene dumped “staggering” amounts of rain, including 12 to 14 inches in South Carolina, 12 to 16 inches in Florida and 12 to 14 inches in Georgia, said Ken Graham, the director of the National Weather Service.
Much of the area affected by Helene could see showers Monday. Most of the showers are expected to be light but any new rainfall could exacerbate flooding and hamper aid and recovery efforts.
About 90 river gauges across Helene’s path are still at some sort of flood stage, with around 20 gauges at moderate or major flood stage.
It will take days for some river gauges to drop below flood stage, regardless of rainfall. Some river gauges downstream of the heaviest rainfall are still set to peak later this week and even into this weekend.
Then, after all the rain and flooding subside, the cities ravaged by Helene can start rebuilding.
But with “hundreds of roads destroyed” and “communities that are wiped off the map,” Cooper said, “we have to make sure that we … are smart about rebuilding, doing it in a more resilient way.”
CNN’s Andy Rose, Robert Shackelford, Sarah Dewberry, Alisha Ebrahimji, Rafael Romo, Jade Gordon, Raja Razek, Ashley R. Williams, DJ Judd, Sunlen Serfaty, Eric Levenson, Isabel Rosales, Taylor Galgano, Sara Smart, Conor Powell, Caroll Alvarado, Caroline Jaime, Artemis Moshtaghian and Paradise Afshar contributed to this report.
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