Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (2024)

AP

TROPICAL WEATHER

  • JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press
  • Updated
  • 0

  • ASSOCIATED PRESS, TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY

Experts say more than 40 trillion gallons of rain drenched the Southeast United States in the last week from Hurricane Helene and a rainstorm that sloshed in ahead of it. One says the stunning number has the fingerprints of climate change on it.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Widespread devastation left behind by Hurricane Helene came to light Monday across the South, revealing a wasteland of splintered houses, crushed cargo containers and mud-covered highways in one of the worst storms in U.S. history. The death toll topped 130.

A crisis unfolded in western North Carolina, where residents stranded by washed-out roads and by a lack of power and cellular service lined up Monday for fresh water and a chance to message loved ones days after the storm that they were alive.

At least 132 deaths in six Southeastern states are attributed to the storm — a number that climbed Monday as a clearer picture emerged of the damage it inflicted on an area stretching from Florida's Gulf Coast northward to the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia.

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (1)

The toll steadily rose Monday as emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding.

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During a briefing Monday, White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall suggested as many as 600 people weren't accounted for as of Monday afternoon, saying some might be dead.

President Joe Biden plans to travel to North Carolina on Wednesday.

Government officials and aid groups worked to deliver basic supplies by air, truck and even mule to the hard-hit tourism hub of Asheville and its surrounding mountain towns. At least 40 people died in the county that includes Asheville.

Several main routes into Asheville were washed away or blocked by mudslides, including a four-mile section of Interstate 40, and the city's water system was severely damaged, forcing residents to scoop creek water into buckets so they could flush toilets.

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (2)

Others waited in a line for more than a block at Mountain Valley Water, a water seller, to fill up milk jugs and whatever other containers they could find.

Derek Farmer, who brought three gallon-sized apple juice containers, said he was prepared for the storm but now was nervous after three days without water. "I just didn't know how bad it was going to be," Farmer said.

Officials warned that rebuilding from the widespread loss of homes and property would be lengthy and difficult. The storm upended life throughout the Southeast, where deaths were also reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia.

Helene roared ashore in northern Florida late Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane and quickly moved through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains that flooded waterways.

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (3)

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said Monday that hundreds of roads were closed across western North Carolina and that shelters housed more than 1,000 people.

North Carolina's governor, Roy Cooper, took an aerial tour of the Asheville area and later met with workers distributing meals.

"This has been an unprecedented storm that has hit western North Carolina," he said afterward. "It's requiring an unprecedented response."

Officials implored travelers from coming into region for the next several days to keep the roads clear for emergency vehicles. More than 50 search teams spread throughout the region in search of stranded people.

The storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. Rainfall estimates in some areas topped more than 2 feet since Wednesday.

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (4)

Biden said the federal government would be with survivors and others in the nation's southeast affected by Helene "as long as it takes."

Ten federal search and rescue teams were on the ground and another nine were on their way, while trucks and cargo planes were arriving with food and water, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell surveyed damage with North Carolina's governor Monday.

Volunteers showed up too. Mike Toberer decided to bring a dozen of his mules to deliver food, water and diapers to the hard-to-reach mountainous areas.

"We'll take our chainsaws, and we'll push those mules through," he said, noting that each one can carry about 200 pounds and travel 2 mph.

Western North Carolina suffered relatively more devastation because that's where the remnants of Helene encountered the higher elevations and cooler air of the Appalachian Mountains, causing even more rain to fall.

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (5)

Asheville and many surrounding mountain towns were built in valleys, leaving them especially vulnerable to devastating rain and flooding.

Plus, the ground already was saturated before Helene arrived, said Christiaan Patterson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

"By the time Helene came into the Carolinas, we already had that rain on top of more rain," Patterson said.

Climate change exacerbated conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones, sometimes within hours.

Hurricane Helene inundates the southeastern US

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (6)

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Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (9)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (10)

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Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (12)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (13)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (14)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (15)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (16)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (17)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (18)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (19)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (20)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (21)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (22)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (23)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (24)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (25)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (26)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (27)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (28)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (29)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (30)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (31)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (32)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (33)

Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (34)

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Supplies arrive by plane and by mule in North Carolina as Helene's death toll tops 130 (2024)

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