Helene's brutal toll: More than 100 dead; Biden to survey damage: Monday updates

Editor's Note: This page is a summary of news on Hurricane Helene for Monday, Sept. 30. For the latest on recovery efforts, view our live updates file for Tuesday, Oct. 1.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? President Joe Biden is sure to get a first-hand look at the devastation is Asheville when he visits North Carolina on Wednesday as part of his tour of the Southeastern states ravaged by Hurricane Helene, which caused more than 100 deaths and left nearly 1.6 million customers without power as of Monday evening.

Biden is less likely to see communities like Lake Lure and neighboring Chimney Rock, not only because they're more than 30 miles away and much smaller, but because they're barely there anymore.

Chimney Rock was largely submerged, its buildings swept away by the water and their debris blocking entry points into the village of 140 residents, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported.

“What was once a town is now a river,'' said Tracey Stevens, who worked at the Chimney Rock brewery, now also wiped away. "It’s beyond anything I can imagine.”

Lake Lure, a resort town of 1,400 people, also took a severe blow from the storm, which destroyed the town hall, police station and pier while washing away businesses.

The scene is not much prettier in normally picturesque Asheville, county seat of Buncombe County, or for that matter in much of the Southeast. Hundreds of water rescues have taken place across Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Virginia since Helene's brutal landfall in Florida's Big Bend region late Thursday.

Atlanta totaled more than 11 inches of rain in 48 hours, smashing a record that stood for almost 150 years. Western North Carolina took the brunt of the devastating rains, and more than 30 inches was recorded in some areas. Houses floated away from subdivisions, bridges crumbled, and semi-trucks were tossed into mangled piles. Mud, tree branches and food from local grocery stores flowed into the streets. The Associated Press reported at least 133 people have died because of Helene.

Forty of those fatalities have been confirmed in Buncombe County, County Manager Avril Pinder said in a Monday afternoon briefing, raising the total in North Carolina to nearly 50. Officials have received about 600 missing persons reports, although many are expected to be resolved when communications are restored.

"We don't have water and we do not have power across most of the county," Pinder said. "The roads are still incredibly dangerous."

Some supplies were being airlifted because ground transportation was limited with so many damaged roads, and the county planned to begin distributing food and water Monday.

Gov. Roy Cooper activated more than 500 soldiers and airmen from the National Guard. More than 200 vehicles and aircraft, including hoist and emergency aviation assets and high-water response vehicles, were feverishly working to save lives.

On the ground: How flood damage is cutting off North Carolina communities from emergency relief

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Developments:

? AccuWeather has increased its estimate of the total damage and economic loss from Hurricane Helene to between $145 billion and $160 billion. Helene is expected to be one of the costliest storms in U.S. history because of its overwhelming storm surge, winds and flooding, the weather service said.

? Vice President Kamala Harris will cut short a campaign trip and plans a visit to the storm-ravaged Southeast, her office told Reuters. Former President Donald Trump, who said he will visit the region, has criticized Harris for campaigning as the tragedy unfolded. He has also continued to hold rallies.

? The South Carolina Department of Public Safety has confirmed 29 storm-related deaths, many involving fallen trees. Impassable roads and lack of stable power has forced several school closures in the state, some lasting through Friday.

? Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Helene killed a minimum of 25 people in his state. In Tennessee, the state Department of Health has confirmed six weather-related fatalities across four counties, and about 100 people are reported missing. The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency noted several county health departments have been closed due to the storm's impact.

? Helene is one of the deadliest hurricanes to make landfall on the U.S. mainland in modern history. Since 1950, only eight hurricanes have claimed more than 100 lives in the contiguous 48 states. Hurricane Harvey, which flooded Houston and the surrounding region in 2017, killed 103.

? Energy production in the Gulf was recovering. Only 3% of crude oil and 1% of natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico remained shut down in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said late Sunday.

Storm tracker: Hurricane Center tracking Tropical Depression Joyce, 4 other systems

Asheville water system severely damaged

In the days after Helene swept through western North Carolina, Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer cautioned that those in the county waiting for the water system to come back online must prepare for the long term.

"And I’m not talking about days," she told the Citizen-Times. "We want them to plan for longer than that.”

With the city's water system "severely damaged" — which feeds not only the city of Asheville, but also Buncombe County and the northern portion of Henderson County — officials said that restoring service to the full system could take weeks.

Assistant City Manager Ben Woody described the damage as "catastrophic" and said crews are still attempting to access infrastructure buried by debris or underwater.

Water distribution began on Monday with four county run sites and one city site. As federal and state supply delivery lagged, though it eventually reached the county for its sites, the city spent "hundreds of thousands" of dollars to purchase water through a private provider, said City Manager Debra Campbell.

— Sarah Honosky, Asheville Citizen-Times

Biden sends FEMA chief to Asheville 'until the situation has stabilized'

Biden sent FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell to be on the ground in Asheville, North Carolina, "until the situation has stabilized," the federal agency said Monday. FEMA teams are deploying to Mission Hospital and are currently treating patients, while another team is moving to Blue Ridge Regional Hospital in Spruce Pine.

Ten federal search and rescue teams are on the ground in the region and another nine teams are on the way, for a total of 900 active personnel, FEMA said. Also being being brought to the region: 25 trailer-loads of meals, 60 trailer-loads of waters, and C-17 cargo plane full of food, water and other essentials.

According to a news release, 200 federal ambulances have been provided to the state. The agency has also supplied 40 Starlink satellites to help with responder communications, and 18 helicopters are on standby to help deliver additional resources to affected areas.

? Will Hofmann, Asheville Citizen Times

Devastation like a scene from 'War of the Worlds'

Residents in parts of western North Carolina where help has not arrived are fending for themselves. Taylor Shelton said her husband spent two days cutting through large fallen trees with a chainsaw to open a passageway for the couple and their three children to drive out of their darkened house in Yancey County, which abuts Buncombe County.

The devastation they saw along the way left them awestruck.

"It looks like 'War of the Worlds.' Very, very big trees are down everywhere," she said. "We saw houses that are just washed away."

Shelton said the couple still hasn't been able to get in touch with her husband's parents in nearby Burnside, which was also battered by the storm.

Manheimer echoed the sentiment, noting that she was experiencing the same things — no power, no water, no Wi-Fi and limited to no cell reception — as many others in the county.

“We are so lucky. Our house did not get hit," she said. "Our neighborhood looks like a war zone.”

In the hours after Helene lashed the county, Manheimer and her youngest son donned backpacks and went looking for her dad, who lives a mile-and-a-half away. The scene, she said, was "unbelievable."

They picked through the wreckage of the neighborhood, navigating fallen trees, and downed lines, shimmying through gaps where they could. Her family, once everyone was accounted for, was safe, she said

DeSantis sends rescuers for Floridians in North Carolina

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered rescue teams to mobilize air lifts for people from Florida who may be stranded in western North Carolina in areas with blocked roads and power and cellphone outages.

“Operation Blue Ridge” launched Sunday, an effort similar to one he’d ordered almost a year ago to help Florida residents in Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas, and from Haiti earlier this year amid that country’s political violence.

Recovery efforts are ongoing in Florida in the aftermath of Helene. At least 11 people were killed in the state, including at least nine in Pinellas County ? hundreds of miles from where the storm made landfall.

DeSantis said he missed a call from Biden because he was in the air viewing damage. The governor added that the federal government should concentrate its efforts on helping those in western North Carolina, though he said Florida might ask for more federal assistance in the future.

? Gray Rohrer, Tallahassee Democrat

'Biblical devastation': Helene leaves trail of destruction

'It's a race against time': Historic town begins digging out

MARSHALL, N.C. ? Days after flooding devastated this tiny town of less than 800 people, cleanup crews on Monday worked to remove thick mud and debris while business owners pulled belongings from waterlogged downtown buildings. The historic town, set along the French Broad River north of Asheville, was slammed by a deluge that reached to the first-floor roof of some downtown buildings. It also damaged a water-treatment plant across the river.Most of the town was without power and cellular service. The damage extended to some businesses that in recent years have become part of an artistic renewal in the downtown area. As excavators and equipment buzzed around him, Chad Adamowski and his friends were shoveling mud out of his tattoo and music store, hoping to tear out walls before mold set in. “It’s a race against time,” he said.

? Chris Kenning

Loss of cell service 'crippled' North Carolina town

When Helene inundated and isolated communities across the Southeast, it knocked out cell phone service in Canton, North Carolina, at the moment residents needed it most, according to the town's mayor.

The loss of service "crippled" the town's ability to communicate during and after the devastating storm, leaving residents few options to get crucial updates and check on their loved ones, Mayor Zeb Smathers told USA TODAY.

“I must also express my deep frustration and anger with the failures in cellular communication, particularly the inability to rely on services when we needed them most,” he said in a statement. “From the very start of this crisis, our ability to communicate with basic emergency services was crippled, and there is no excuse for this.”

Making cell communication accessible during a disaster should be something these companies have the resources and know-how to offer, the mayor said.

Major cellular providers have said they are working around the clock to provide temporary solutions and fully restore service. But the reality on the ground has been harrowing for people stuck without means to reach their loved ones or get help.

Communications in the region could be impacted for days, weeks or even months, and large companies need to do more to prepare for communication breakdowns triggered by disasters fueled by climate change, said Alyssa Provencio, a professor who oversees the disaster management certificate program at the University of Central Oklahoma.

“Communication failure is not a matter of 'if,' it's a matter of 'when,'” Provencio said. "We know that extreme events are occurring more frequently and with more intensity, and so whether you're talking about hurricanes, earthquakes or tornadoes, it's something that will impact you and impact your communications." Read more here.

– N'dea Yancey-Bragg

World Central Kitchen distributing food in Asheville

Disaster relief organizations are providing free food and supplies in the Asheville area amid massive, urgent need. Global relief organization World Central Kitchen began distributing free meals for the public on Monday. WCK is also providing meals in Florida and Georgia. The organization was founded by celebrity chef José Andrés in 2010 to provide fresh food on the frontlines of humanitarian disasters in the United States and around the world.

"Asheville, we are here," the group tweeted Monday. "WCK is in North Carolina working to reach flooded communities and families stranded by Hurricane Helene."

? Tiana Kennell, USA TODAY NETWORK

More: Power outage maps: Mass outages remain in Carolinas, Georgia, Florida after Helene

Worry for neighbors amid communication blackouts

In Burnsville, North Carolina, Suzanne Vale on Monday posted the names of her neighbors in a group Facebook chat in hopes someone knows how they’re doing. She is among hundreds of people turning to social media for help to contact friends and loved ones in parts of the Southeast that were battered by Helene. Communication blackouts created by Helene's fury have made obtaining information difficult.

As the storm approached Florida, Vale and her husband drove from their Burnsville home in the Blue Ridge Mountains to their house in Dunedin, a coastal town west of Tampa. While their Florida home was unscathed, their worry immediately became centered on Burnsville, where washed-out bridges and roads have left residents trapped with no means to communicate with the outside world.

“No one’s been able to get a hold of anyone up there. I’m sure they’re OK, it's just not knowing,” she said, speaking about her friends and neighbors. “It's beyond comprehension what’s happened.”

? Christopher Cann

'The whole side of the mountain came down'

RED HILL, N.C. – James Waters watched Helene's torrential rains and fierce winds decimate his farm among the hilly slopes of Appalachian North Carolina, snapping trees, ripping out fences and causing a landslide.

It took him a full day to dig to the main road with a farm excavator. He found windy roads strewn with downed power lines, fallen limbs, thick mud and debris. In some areas, cars were washed into ditches. One neighbor found a dead body near a riverbank, he said.

No one had cell service or power. People couldn’t find out whether their relatives were alive or dead. Waters knew he had a huge recovery ahead of himself. But his family had survived. So, like others in the area, he first grabbed his chainsaw to help clear roads and check on neighbors.

"The whole side of the mountain came down," he said. "Then it filled up the valley with mud." Read more here.

? Chris Kenning

North Carolina town bands together: 'That's what we do'

Helicopters, thermal drones used in some rescues

Dale Buckner, CEO of Global Guardian, said his international security firm has supported and evacuated over 400 people from disaster areas across the Southeast. Some of the rescues required helicopters and even thermal drones, he said.

"While we’ve seen the highest demand from clients in the North Carolina region, we are actively conducting wellness checks and delivering food and water supplies along the storm’s path," he said. "The devastation ... and its impact will be felt for months to come."

Did the historic Biltmore Estate flood from Helene?

The Biltmore Estate in Asheville is assessing damage and will remain temporarily closed because of "significant flooding, impassable roads and widespread power outages in our region," according to a statement on the social media account for the historic house and museum. Museum officials were asking people to check biltmore.com/weather-update for the latest. As of Sunday, a message on the website said officials were "working to reopen" but provided no timeline.

George Vanderbilt’s 250-room French Renaissance chateau, which took six years to build in the late 19th century, was the "largest undertaking in residential architecture in the nation," according to the estate website. The home contains more than four acres of floor space, 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms and 65 fireplaces. Read more here.

? Juan Buitrago, Asheville Citizen Times

Hurricanes on repeat: Floridians grow weary, wary

CEDAR KEY, Fla. ? The innkeeper wonders whether it’s worth rebuilding this town dotted across a small archipelago ? again. The clam farmer worries about impact on his harvest. And the business leader contemplates what Mother Nature will throw at them next as the climate changes.

Tens of thousands of residents of Florida’s Big Bend region are confronting the same fears in the wake of Hurricane Helene. And those feelings are increasingly shared by coastal residents from Alaska to California and Maine as stronger, more frequent storms and rising ocean levels upend their lives and livelihoods. Many insurers already have curtailed coverage or withdrawn entirely from some areas, indicating the long-term risk.

“Natural disasters are natural disasters,” said innkeeeper Ian Maki, who has lived through five hurricanes since moving to the island community southwest of Gainesville in 2018. “But these don’t feel natural anymore.” Read more here.

? Trevor Hughes

Hurricanes on repeat: Natural disasters 'don't feel natural anymore'

Anxious relatives gather outside emergency room

People waited outside the emergency room at HCA Healthcare’s Mission Hospital in Asheville, checking the conditions of relatives who had been admitted. Shawn Hensley, 47, of Black Mountain, told the Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK, his 65-year-old mother arrived at the hospital the night before because she was running low on oxygen. Hensley and neighbors had to chainsaw a tree blocking his car so he could get out of his neighborhood.

“It looks like Mother Nature just stomped all over that little town,” Hensley said. “It’s just destruction everywhere you look.”

Biden expected to visit the region affected by Helene

Biden plans to visit the areas ravaged by Helene this week once he can do so without disrupting emergency services, the White House said.

"It's tragic," Biden told reporters on Sunday, pledging recovery assistance after declaring major disasters in Florida and North Carolina and emergencies for Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and Alabama. "You saw the photographs. It's stunning."

Trump planned to visit Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday to receive a briefing on storm damage, his campaign said.

More storms developing in Atlantic Basin

The National Hurricane Center is tracking five systems in the Atlantic basin. The biggest concern to Florida and the U.S. is a disturbance in the Caribbean Sea, which could become a tropical depression later this week as it follows a path similar to major Hurricane Helene. Forecasters are advising residents along the Gulf Coast to closely monitor the system.

Another system, Tropical Storm Kirk, was expected to become a "large and powerful" system later this week, the hurricane center said. Current models show it curving north into the middle of the Atlantic, well away from the U.S. Read more here.

– Cheryl McCloud, USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida

How to donate and assist Helene victims

As authorities assess Helene’s destruction along a large portion of the country, rescuers and other emergency workers have been deployed to hard-hit and isolated communities. Relief efforts and funds have also been created to help victims and survivors.

Federal officials have advised against sending unsolicited donated goods or heading toward disaster-affected areas. The Federal Emergency Management Agency noted there are no requests, at the moment, for donations other than money.

Here are some organizations that accept donations to help those impacted by the storm:

• American Red Cross: Red Cross volunteers from Florida to Tennessee are helping communities by providing food, disaster supplies, shelter, and additional assistance. The organization is taking donations to fund relief efforts.

• The Salvation Army: The organization has deployed teams to provide emergency aid, food, and long-term recovery services for survivors and rescue workers. To contribute to its efforts, visit its Hurricane Helene relief donation page here.

• GoFundMe: GoFundMe has set up a dedicated hub with verified fundraisers for people and communities affected by the storm’s devastation. The company also has its own Hurricane Relief Fund, which provides cash grants to those who need help.

• Americares: The nonprofit focuses on emergency medical relief and has set up a donation page to help communities recover from Helene.

• All Hands and Hearts: The volunteer-based organization assists in short-term and long-term disaster recovery efforts and has launched a Helene fund to help with its 12-month response.

Contributing: Jacob Biba, Sara Honosky, Will Hofmann, and Iris Seaton, Asheville Citizen-Times; Doyle Rice, USA TODAY; Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Helene damage updates: Death toll rises amid rescue efforts